Eastern Kentucky title hopefuls deliver a battle worthy of its big billing
A slobber-knocker between two reigning state champions was promised, and that’s what was delivered when Pikeville hosted Belfry on Friday night.
The Panthers defeated Belfry 20-14 after taking their only lead on a touchdown catch by Zac Lockhart from Isaac McNamee with 10:21 to play in the game.
Belfry responded with a drive to Pikeville’s 22-yard line but the Panthers for the third — and most crucial — time kept the Pirates scoreless after allowing them to march within striking distance of the end zone. Pikeville converted two first downs to defeat their cross-county rival for the second straight season and only the third time since 2000, the last year they won back-to-back games in the annual series.
The Panthers’ only other win since the start of the decade came in 2014, also on their home field.
“We know the type of opponent that Belfry is,” Pikeville head coach Chris McNamee said. “A well-coached, physical football team, and I’m just really proud of our guys, the grit they showed tonight, and staying in there, bending not breaking for the most part.”
Pikeville kept Belfry star Isaac Dixon at bay on the Pirates’ final drive, tripping him up before he hit the marker on a fourth-and-3 rush. They stopped Belfry from scoring right before half, forcing two incomplete passes, and did so again with less than five minutes to play in the third quarter. The Panthers took over at their own 22 and went on to score their go-ahead touchdown soon after the final period started.
A 10-yard conversion from Isaac McNamee to Wade Hensley on a fourth-and-9 throw set Pikeville up in the red zone, enabling Lockhart to reel in the decisive score a few plays later. The junior receiver held onto the ball despite taking contact to his head and back from two different Belfry tacklers.
“I was making sure he was okay right after that,” Isaac McNamee said. “He got a little banged up. He was fine. He kept saying, ‘I’m good, I’m good, I’m good.’ I’m just proud of Zac, too. He’s amazing.”
Belfry took the lead about halfway through the first quarter on a run by Dixon. Pikeville answered quickly with a touchdown run by Blake Birchfield, a sophomore who scored the Panthers’ second touchdown on a 19-yard fumble return right after they turned the ball over on downs.
Birchfield played snaps in every game but wasn’t a major contributor during Pikeville’s run to the Class A title last year. He has made quite an impression two games into the new season; he rushed for 150 yards and two TDs on only 12 carries last week in a win at Raceland.
“I think (with) the coaches, I’m starting to earn a bit more trust through practice,” Birchfield said. “So I’m just seeing how the season goes, taking one game at a time.”
As of now, Pikeville is a third of the way through its regular season. The Panthers only have six games scheduled before the playoffs begin, and are off next week. Their next scheduled game is Oct. 2 at Campbell County, a Class 6A program in northern Kentucky.
The Panthers (2-0) still hope to fill out their schedule.
“I really think that’s unfair to our kids, to only play six games in a nine-game season, but 2020, it is what it is,” Chris McNamee said. “I told them we’re gonna prepare like we’re playing somebody next Friday, because there’s a chance with all this stuff going on, Thursday somebody may cancel and we may be on a bus going to play.”
Belfry, the defending state champion in Class 3A, fell to 1-1. It travels to Magoffin County (2-0) next Friday.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 11:14 PM.
