Paintsville claws it out with Beechwood in battle of Tigers
Paintsville’s Jake Hyden connected on an 86-yard touchdown pass to Karsten Poe late in the third quarter to give the Tigers in blue a 19-14 lead and its defense held on for what felt like a massive win over perennial small-school power Beechwood on Friday night at Georgetown College’s Toyota Stadium.
“Beechwood’s a very good team, very physical, very fast, and we just put our foot on their throat,” said Paintsville senior standout John Walker Phelps. Phelps and Hyden both credited their offensive line for helping turn a 14-0 deficit into a win. “Our O-line bit down on their mouthpiece and went and hit them in the mouth, and that’s what we’ve got to do to win.”
Paintsville wanted a playoff-like atmosphere in the regular season. It wanted it so much the Tigers were willing to play anyone, anywhere. Thus, a deal was worked out to play the 14-time Class A champion in an unusual spot. Beechwood’s drive was cut from what would have been three hours plus to Paintsville to about an hour to Georgetown where a Paintsville assistant played college ball and got it set up.
“We want to play good competition, and you’ve got to come up here sometimes to play good teams,” Paintsville Coach Joe Chirico said. “It was awesome. It was an awesome atmosphere on a great field in a great place.”
Beechwood put together two scores in the second quarter as Cameron Hergott ran in touchdowns of 30 and 14 yards to give the Tigers in red a 14-0 lead. Paintsville was able to answer just before half with a 27-yard TD pass from Hyden to Poe put the Tigers in blue within striking distance, 14-7.
“I had a rough start at first. I threw a pick, but we just had to keep fighting,” said Hyden, who essentially ended the game as well with an interception with under two minutes to go.
Midway through the third, Paintsville capped a long drive with a 3-yard TD run by Phelps to cut it to 14-13 after a failed extra point. After forcing a Beechwood punt, Hyden then hit Poe for the big-play go-ahead score.
Meanwhile, Paintsville’s defense stymied any Beechwood momentum in the second half. When a penalty was called on what looked to be a go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter, Beechwood had to settle for a long field goal attempt that went wide left. Paintsville recorded seven sacks against Beechwood’s Hergott.
“I just think we realized we could play with them,” Hyden said. “We knew we could from the start, and we just never gave up. We kept fighting and fighting and fighting until we pushed over the edge.”
Poe had the stat of the night with 164 yards receiving and the two TDs.
Paintsville (2-0), remains a favorite to make a deep playoff run in Class A, but gets another stern test against Pikeville next week. Beechwood (0-1) has moved up to Class 2A. It next goes to Somerset.
This story was originally published August 31, 2019 at 1:15 AM.
