Justin Haddix wasn’t the only one who saw it.

The Boyle County coach’s voice certainly carries the most weight, but he was not alone in his assessment that the Rebels fell far short of their standard in their second-round playoff victory Friday night.

They had no trouble brushing aside Letcher County Central to move on to the Class 4A quarterfinals, but they had a little trouble getting started and a few hiccups along the way to a 47-6 victory.

And they know they’ll have to work a little harder this week to make sure they stay sharp as the opponents get progressively tougher.

“We’re going to be in practice, we’re going to compete a little harder,” Boyle running back Demauriah Brown said. “We’re going to get after it a little more because that’s not Boyle County football in the first half.”

Haddix said he couldn’t ascribe Boyle’s lack of focus to anything in particular, but he could certainly see it in the first quarter of a game played before a sparse crowd at Rebel Stadium.

“Anybody can be beat any game. We’ve got a really good football team, but if we don’t play at our level then we can go down, too. So I hope it was a good wake-up call for us,” Haddix said.

Boyle (12-0) secured its 32nd consecutive win when it pulled away from a resolute Letcher team in the second quarter, scoring 28 unanswered points in less than 7 1/2 minutes to take a 41-6 lead.

The Rebels had 413 offensive yards at halftime, thanks in large part to four plays of more than 50 yards.

But the offense had trouble getting its engine going, as Boyle was stopped on downs on two of its first three series and three of its first five.

“Give great credit to Letcher County Central. They’re a good football team, and they played their butts off and we didn’t play great,” Haddix said. “But when you see the penalties and the dropped balls and the misreads and things like that, that’s a lack of focus on our part,”

Haddix said things took a turn for the better in the second quarter, but he said symptoms of the problem still persisted.

“We had opportunities to pick the ball off … and I think we probably dropped about six or seven interceptions. And offensively, we dropped some balls, we didn’t execute in certain positions,” he said. “I’m glad we were able to win the game, but we’ve got a big game next week (and) we’re going to have to play a lot better than we did tonight.”

Boyle hosts Covington Catholic this Friday in a rematch of last season’s Class 4A championship.

The Rebels advanced with their eighth running-clock victory in the past nine games and their ninth this season.

Brown led the second-quarter surge with 193 rushing yards on only four attempts, including one of the longest plays from scrimmage in school history.

He intercepted a pass at the Boyle 3-yard line with 1:13 remaining in the first half, and two plays later he burst through the line for a 97-yard touchdown run that is the Rebels’ longest offensive play of the season and probably their second-longest rushing play ever. Charles Mayfield holds the school record with a 99-yard run in 1969.

Brown, whose longest carry prior to Friday was an 81-yard touchdown run earlier this season against Taylor County, had a 76-yard run that set up a score on the Rebels’ previous series, and he ran 11 yards for a score earlier in the period. He finished with a season-high 226 yards on 13 carries.

“He made some big time plays,” Haddix said.

Brown said Boyle’s offensive linemen open the holes he needs to get into the back of the defense and beyond.

“It’s all the linemen,” he said. “The big men up front, they open holes and I’m just going to run and I’m going to hopefully score. I’ll give all the credit to the line.”

Boyle’s total of 328 rushing yards included a 57-yard touchdown run by Montavin Quisenberry and a 5-yard TD run by Brock Driver.

Quisenberry and Seneca Driver caught TD passes from Baylor Murphy, who was 7 for 14 for 125 yards, and Nathaniel Schepman caught a 7-yard scoring pass from Guy Turner. Seneca Driver had four receptions for 95 yards.

Letcher (6-6) drove 56 yards for its only touchdown in the second quarter when Gunner Holbrook completed six of seven passes and scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak.

The Cougars had 146 yards in the first half and 211 in all; the Rebels finished with 460 yards.