Bell County junior fullback Blake Evans battled for yardage in the Bobcats’ first-round playoff win Friday over Magoffin County.
Bell County running Daniel Thomas found room on the outside against Magoffin County in playoff action Friday. (Scott Warren)
Bell County senior tailback Daniel Thomas capped a memorable week as he ran for 336 yards and four touchdowns on Friday as the Bobcats rolled past Magoffin County 62-27 at Log Mountain.
Thomas has become the single season rushing leader in Bell history with 2,910 yards and 44 touchdowns. He was named district player of the year earlier in the week and was named KSR’s Shaun Alexander Running Back of the Year and KSR’s 2023 Mr. Football.
Bell County scored early and often in racing to a 34-0 lead, scoring on every offensive drive of the night except for the last one as time expired.
The first touchdown came on a 21-yard run by Kaleb Miller.
Thomas got on the board with 6:45 left in the first quarter on a 44-yard run, and he also added the conversion.
His second touchdown came with 19 seconds to play in the first quarter when he scored on a 13-yard burst. Hunter Everage added the two-pointer.
After forcing a turnover, Bell County got on the board again courtesy of Thomas’ 10-yard touchdown run. The conversion failed as Bell was unable to run the clock on that possession as the score stood 34-0.
Magoffin was able to get on the board on the next possession as quarterback Aden Barnett took it in from 1 yard out. He connected with Brock Montgomery on the two-point conversion.
Blake Evans countered on Bell’s next possession from 8 yards out on an inside run play. The conversion failed making the score 34-8. Bell County put one last scoring drive together and it ended on a Blake Burnett pass to Hayden Damron covering 6 yards. Everage was able to haul in a Burnett pass for the two-pointer making the halftime score 42-8.
The Magoffin quarterback was able to keep the crowd interested in the second half making several athletic plays to keep drives alive. On the first possession of the second half, he led his team to a score to stave off the running clock. He hit his wide receiver, Russell Cruz, for a 9-yard strike. The conversion failed and the score was 42-14.
Bell County finally got the clock running on its next possession when Burnett found Elijah Hampton deep down the middle for a 45-yard touchdown pass. Thomas put the game in a running clock situation with 8:21 to go in the 3rd quarter by tacking on the two.
The teams went back and forth scoring the remainder of the game. Magoffin’s Ian McCarty scored on a 5-yard run and Garcia kicked the extra point. Thomas then scored his final touchdown of the evening on a 28-yard run. The kick failed.
Bell’s Hagen Neal closed out their scoring on a 39-yard run. Cruz then added a 69-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Miller had 21 rushing yards to add to Thomas’ gaudy total. Neal and Evans both had 47 yards. Blake Lambert contributed 15 yards and Burnett had 14 yards. Burnett also passed for 121 yards going five for eight
Magoffin had 272 total yards of offense on the night.
Bell County was led in tackles by defensive back Hunter Everage with six tackles and two pass breakups. Josh Owens, Dameron, Cayden Huff and Luke Widener each added four stops. Dameron and Hayden Canady both had tackles for loss while Widener added a fumble recovery.
Magoffin’s season came to an end Friday night. Bell will continue to round two of the KHSAA state playoffs next week against Belfry.
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
BCHS
MCHS
TD
Kaleb Miller 21 Yd Run (Failed Two-Point Conversion)
