The final chapter of another storybook season for Bell County failed to produce a happy ending Friday night in a 21-8 Class 3A regional championship defeat at the hands of Lexington Catholic at Dudley Hilton Field on Log Mountain.
Senior Aven Blair scored all three touchdowns for the Knights and rushed for 134 yards on 17 carries to lead Lexington Catholic to its seventh straight victory.
Despite seeing its 11-game winning streak come to a bitter end, Bell got another standout performance from junior Kaleb Miller, who accounted for all eight Bobcats points and rushed for a game-high 160 yards on 32 carries.
Miller finished the season with 2,100 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns.
Things got off to a rocky start for the Bobcats, who fumbled away the football on their first offensive play of the game and set up the Knights at the Bell 16-yard line.
Blair scored four plays later from one yard out, and senior Finnegan Wedding followed with the first of his three successful point-after kicks to make it 7-0 before the game was three minutes old.
Bell answered immediately with a 15-play drive that spanned 81 yards, with Miller covering the final 18 yards on a scoring run that came after breaking two tackles near the line of scrimmage. Miller added the two-point conversion run.
After turning Lexington Catholic over on downs, Bell junior quarterback Blake Burnett engineered a lengthy, time-consuming drive that featured 17 consecutive running plays by the Bobcats.
Facing a 4th-and-2 from the Knights 11-yard line, Bell was stymied by Lexington Catholic, which took over at its 13-yard line with less than two minutes remaining until halftime.
Junior quarterback Brady Wasik drove a hurry-up Knights offense down to the Bell 14-yard line, before Wedding misfired on a 31-yard field goal try on the final play of the first half.
Bell forced the game’s lone punt on the first offensive series of the second half, and Burnett triggered a 14-play drive that stalled at the Lexington Catholic 28-yard line.
With time running out in the third quarter, Blair picked up 34 yards on four carries to set up the Knights inside the red zone, and he capped the drive on a 14-yard TD run on the third offensive play of the fourth quarter.
Bell turned the ball over on downs on its ensuing possession, and Blair added a 9-yard scoring run with less than two minutes remaining to cap the scoring.
Miller electrified the partisan crowd with a 58-yard return of the ensuing kickoff, but Lexington Catholic intercepted a pass two plays into the Bell drive to seal the Bobcats’ fate.
Bell rushed for 237 yards, including 38 yards by Burnett on nine carries.
Junior James Neal (5 carries, 17 yards) and senior Blake Evans (4 carries, 12 yards) teamed to replace standout junior Hunter Everage, who was injured during the first half and did not return.
Wasik completed seven of his 14 pass attempts for 88 yards and rushed for 57 yards on 11 carries.
Lexington Catholic collected 206 rushing yards and 294 total yards.
Lexington Catholic 21, Bell County 8
Lexington Catholic 7 0 0 14 — 21
Bell County 8 0 0 0 — 8
LC – Blair 1 run (Wedding kick)
BC — Miller 18 run (Miller run)
LC — Blair 14 run (Wedding kick)
LC — Blair 9 run (Wedding kick)
