LATE REBEL SCORE DOOMS ELIZABETHTOWN
Conditions : About mid 40’s with no rain in sight.
Patterns : For two teams which score a lot of points, it was the defenses which dominated until late, but there’s no question that Elizabethtown was playing at home and missed plenty of opportunities to score and set a tone early. The failure to do so would soon catch up to them in the end.
The Hero : You could make a good argument between the Boyle County Defense and running back Landen Bartleson. When the Panthers were moving the ball all over the field early, it was the defense that came up with several plays to keep it scoreless and then in the fourth quarter when the Panthers tied the score at seven-all and the Rebels were unable to move, the Boyle County defense came up with the play of the game with an interception and then later with the one that sealed the game. Bartleson was the beast of burden gaining a game high 73-yards and scoring the touchdown that put the Rebels ahead for good.
Turnovers : The two teams combined for four, but Elizabethtown’s two late in the game proved to be the difference as Kaden Gervacio picked off Tyler Durbin to set up a short field for the Rebels go-ahead touchdown. Then another interception on a trick play ended the Panther threat.
Ball Control : In a game which was actually dominated by Defense, Boyle County ran one more play (56 to ET’s 55) than the Panthers as both teams were bottled up until midway through the fourth quarter.
The Kicking Game : Both punters pretty much controlled the game although Elizabethtown did come up with a big play in the third quarter when they blocked a Rebel field goal attempt to keep the game scoreless.
The Big Play : Late in the fourth quarter with the score tied at seven, Elizabethtown’s Durbin attempted a screen pass to Jay Becherer on the right sideline , but Gervacio stepped in front of it to give Boyle County the ball on the Panther eighteen. From there, the Rebels ran on every play and finally scored on Bartleson’s fifth straight carry to go up 14-7 with 2:26 left in the game.
The Clutch : Trailing by seven, the Panthers began driving down the field, but Clete Hellyer picked off Jay Becherer’s flea flicker pass back to Durbin to end the game.
