Caysen Farley scored two first-half touchdowns and the Harlan County defense took over from there as the Bears edged visiting Knox Central 14-12 on Thursday in sixth-grade football action.
Knox took an early lead before Farley raced 50 yards to pull the Bears even.
Farley put HC ahead to stay with a 40-yard touchdown run followed by Hudson Faulkner’s two-point conversion.
Knox won 22-0 in the seventh-grade game and 28-14 in eighth-grade action.
Brayden Morris gave the Bears an early lead with a 15-yard touchdown run.
Knox built a 14-6 lead before Braydon Howard went in from the 1 and Morris added the two-point conversion to tie the game.
“It was two very evenly matched teams, and we didn’t show up on special teams,” Harlan County coach Scott Caldwell said. “We gave them two onside kicks that cost us two possessions. When you’re playing a quality opponent we have to execute in all phases, but we will learn from this and improve.”
Harlan County returns to action at Meece on Sept. 23 starting at 2 p.m.