Casey County has continued its impressive trek through the eighth district in Class 3A.

The Rebels beat McCreary Central 70-30 on Friday to improve to 7-0 this season, matching their longest winning streak in school history (seven, last season).

The win guarantees Casey County a first-round home game in the playoffs for just the third time in school history (2010 and 2016).

“I was very pleased with the effort and the discipline of our kids,” Casey head coach Steve Stonebraker said. “I am very proud of how our run defense performed. We shut down an offense that averages over 200 yards rushing per night. However, we must do a better job in the secondary. We can’t have the lapses in focus and effort that we had tonight. We allowed them to take advantage of some things with deep balls that we should be able to defend and turn into low-percentage throws.”

But Friday’s game wasn’t a blowout from the start: Casey scored on its first three possessions and McCreary Central scored on its first two, making the score 21-12 after one quarter.

“It was once again good to see how our guys responded to being challenged,” Stonebraker said. “We never once panicked and continued to execute offensively.”

Britt Pendleton opened the scoring 69 seconds into the game on a 48-yard pass from Austin Campbell. Preston Tucker would score twice — a run from one-yard out and six yards out — in the first quarter.

At halftime, Casey led 35-18 after runs from Campbell and Dalton Summers.

McCreary Central was the first to score  in the second half, cutting the Casey lead to 35-24, but back-to-back touchdown passes from Campbell gave Casey a 49-24 lead.

McCreary Central would score again in the third to make it 49-30 after 36 minutes.

But the fourth quarter was all Casey, with runs from Tucker (six yards), A.J. Glenn (nine yards) and Summers (65 yards) putting the game away.

Casey finished with 320 rushing yards on 35 carries compared to McCreary Central’s 68 rushing yards on 27 carries.

Through the air, Campbell finished with 268 yards through the air on 19-of-30 completions — without an interception.

“I was pleased with how our offensive line responded again,” Stonebraker said. “To have over 300 yards rushing and nearly 300 passing can’t be accomplished without those guys up front.”

The Rebels won the turnover battle, losing one fumble to McCreary Central’s two. Casey also had two interceptions.

“I thought for the most part we took care of the football well and made good decisions at quarterback,” Stonebraker said. “Our fourth drive was an absolute fiasco — we had a holding penalty followed by a false start, which was followed by a low snap, compounded by an inability to get a handle on it and they recovered in the end zone for a defensive touchdown. That is absolutely unacceptable from a team like us.”

Stonebraker said his running backs have done a better job in the passing game recently — and not just with the ball in their hands.

“Our running backs are doing a much better job blocking,” he said. “They are obviously making some things happen with the ball in their hands, but it is great to see them improve in other aspects that can help our offense further.”

Casey’s offense is officially the highest-scoring offense in class 3A, with 344 points in seven games. The Rebels are just one of two teams in the class, along with LaRue County, that remain undefeated.

Casey will have a strong chance to make school history this Friday against 2A Betsy Lane (0-7). A win would give the Rebels their first-ever eight-game win streak and best start to a season in school history.

 

Box score

Casey Co.             21         14        14        21    –  70

McCreary             12           6         12        0     –  30     

 

Scoring by Quarter

1st Quarter:

CC (10:51) – Britt Pendleton 48 pass from Austin Campbell (Nick Wilkerson Kick)

MC (6:45) – Hunter Jones 22 pass from Ryan Jones (Kick Failed)

CC (4:42) – Preston Tucker 1 run (Wilkerson kick)

MC (3:31) – Hunter Jones 72 pass from Ryan Jones (run failed)

CC (2:44) – Tucker 6 run (Wilkerson kick)

 

2nd Quarter:

MC (10:46) – Jordan Williams fumble recovery in end zone (pass failed)

CC (9:31) – Campbell 12 run (Wilkerson kick)

CC (4:30) – Dalton Summers 4 run (Wilkerson kick)

 

3rd Quarter:

MC (8:09) – Ryan Jones 4 run (pass failed)

CC (6:38) – Pendleton 41 pass from Campbell (Wilkerson kick)

CC (6:19) – Tucker 31 pass from Campbell (Wilkerson kick)

MC (4:44) – John Cash 53 pass from Ryan Jones (run failed)

 

4th Quarter:

CC (9:47) – Tucker 6 run (Wilkerson kick)

CC (5:44) – A.J. Glenn 9 run (Wilkerson kick)

CC (2:45) – Summers 65 run (Wilkerson kick)

 

                             CC                  MC

First Downs             25                    11

Rushes-Yards       35-320             27-68

Fumbles-Lost         2-1                   2-2

ATT/COMP/INT    30/19/0            25/12/2

Passing Yards         268                  192

 

Casey County Rushing:

Tucker (17-143); Summers (4-88); Campbell (10-64); Tristan Elmore (2-12); Glenn (1-9); Jevic Coleman (1-4)

 

Casey County Passing:

Campbell (30-19-268-0)

 

Casey County Receiving:

Pendleton (7-139); Dustin Richards (4-39); Tucker (2-36): Summers (2-21); Adam Price (1-13); Tristan Elmore (2-10); Ivan Escalante (1-10)

 

Casey County Total Tackles:

A.J. Glenn – 15

Ethan Ammons – 10

Dalton Lawrence – 8

Luke Moore – 8

Austin Campbell – 5

Ethan Parton – 5

 

Casey County Interceptions:

Britt Pendleton – 2

Reece Brown – 1

 

Casey County Fumble Recoveries:

Tristan Elmore – 1 (unforced)

Luke Moore – 1 (forced by Lawrence)