The stakes didn’t get much higher than Friday night’s game at Corbin.

Casey County entered the game undefeated, and Corbin had just one loss to its name. Both teams were perfect in district play.

But it was Corbin’s steady pressure that finally paid off, taking down Casey County 35-14. The game was tied 14-14 early in the fourth quarter.

“I was very proud of how our guys competed,” Casey County head coach Steve Stonebraker said. “To have the game tied in the fourth quarter against the number two team in the state means that we did a lot of good things and that we belong. Our guys know they belong and that is as big as anything.”

Neither team could get points on the board early in the game, with the first score coming four minutes into the second quarter: Corbin quarterback Cameron Sizemore ran in from two yards out to give the Redhounds a 7-0 lead.

But the Rebels responded right away, with Preston Tucker scoring on a 13 yard pass from Austin Campbell just four minutes later.

Corbin’s Ethan Sims took the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown, but Casey again put a drive together, with Campbell finding Britt Pendleton from 15 yards out for a touchdown.

At halftime, the game was tied 14-14.

“Offensively, we did a good job of answering the call twice in the second quarter,” Stonebraker said. “They scored an offensive touchdown and then we drove down to answer. Then, they ran back the ensuing kickoff and we drove down to answer right back. I was proud of how we responded early in the game.”

The third quarter was much like the first, with neither team able to get points on the board.

“In the second half, we just didn’t do a good enough job of moving the football,” Stonebraker said. We lost field position and started two drives inside the ten in the third quarter. We would get a first down and then hurt ourselves with a penalty and back us up to punt.

“Our defense did a great job in the third quarter of keeping them out of scoring range, even though their backs were against the wall. We just missed too many tackles in the fourth quarter to keep them from scoring.”

Penalties were an issue for both teams, but Stonebraker said the penalties in the third and fourth quarters were back-breaking.

Sizemore would throw a touchdown to Austin Reynolds with 10:25 remaining in the game to take a 21-14 lead, and this time, Casey couldn’t respond.

Five minutes later, Chase Estep scored from two yards away and two minutes after that Cameron Maguet had a four-yard run for the Redhounds to score to put the game away.

“We made too many mistakes all the way around,” Stonebraker said. “Whether it be penalties, missed tackles, being late to the spot in coverage, fielding kicks or missing blocks, we just made too many mistakes.

“The great thing about this game is that we have another game next week and a big chance to improve with our practices, beginning Monday. That’s what we have to do now to get geared up for our playoff run.”

Casey will travel to Adair County (1-8) in its final game of the season this week before the playoffs start in November.

The Rebels have a good chance to visit Corbin again in the third round of the playoffs.