East Jessamine defeats West Jessamine 32-20

NICHOLASVILLE — Any time East meets West in Jessamine County high school football, stakes are high.

Friday, though, the annual bragging rights took on added importance because of the excellence of both teams.

Seth Hunt and Austin Hager scored two touchdowns each as East successfully defended its home field with a 32-23 victory.

Both teams are now 6-1. The Jaguars have won eight of their last 11 in the cross-town rivalry.

"It means a lot. Last year, we lost (13-12)," said Jaguars running back Cameron Thomas, who ran for 136 yards on 25 carries. "Just coming back on our turf, keeping the winning streak on East, it's exciting."

While the Jaguars celebrated in one end zone, Coach Graham Heasley was consoling his Colts at the other end of the field.

"It's really tough. We have 15 seniors who have just worked really, really hard," he said. "They're the kids who have pretty much turned this program from what used to be a laughingstock into one that we're something to be counted on, and it's really hard for them."

West rallied from a 13-0 deficit late in the first half to pull to within 13-10 at intermission.

When Matt Carbol hit Robbie Irgang with a 34-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the third quarter, the Colts had a chance to tie with a two-point conversion. However, on a fake kick, Matt Hulsing was stopped in his tracks as he tried to sweep the right side, leaving East with a 25-23 lead.

That's the way it stayed until Hager's 3-yard TD in the final minute of the game.

"Tonight we were a little bit stronger up front," Jags Coach Mike Bowlin said. "Had a great effort by our kids. We told them all week if you hold on to the football, block and tackle, you'll win the game. It's not X's and O's. It's just coming out and you playing old slobber-knocker football.' And tonight was our night."

East came into the night averaging 43.5 points per game, with West at 41.1.

Hunt scored East's first two touchdowns.

He took a fourth-and-1 carry in for a 5-yard touchdown with 3:12 left in the first quarter.

On the Jaguars' next possession, he broke over the right side for a 53-yard score.

West got on the board with 3:04 left in the half, via a 7-yard pass from Carbol to Sean Donaldson.

After forcing a three-and-out, the Colts got the ball back on their 18 with 1:31 left.

Working the sidelines and connecting on seven of eight passes, Carbol drove the Colts to the East 22-yard line. Hulsing capitalized, booting a 39-yard field goal as time expired.

Hager's 6-yard TD run early in the second half made it 19-10.

Then, the quarterbacks traded touchdowns.

West's Carbol scrambled into the end zone from 3 yards out, and East's David Powers tallied on a 2-yard sneak to make it 25-17 for the Jaguars.

"I think we were just resilient in our team," Powers said. "We knew they were a good team. We just came out and just handled our business, just kept at it and it paid off."

West Jessamine 0 10 13 0—23

East Jessamine 7 6 12 7—32

EJ—Seth Hunt 5 run (Jared Cobb kick); EJ—Hunt 53 run (kick failed); WJ—Sean Donaldson 7 pass from Matt Carbol (Matt Hulsing kick); WJ—Hulsing 39 field goal; EJ—Austin Hager 6 run (pass failed); WJ—Carbol 3 run (Hulsing kick); EJ—David Powers 2 run (kick blocked); WJ—Robbie Irgang 34 pass from Carbol (run failed); EJ—Hager 3 run (Cobb kick).

Records—West Jessamine 6-1, East Jessamine 6-1.

This story was originally published October 9, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "East Jessamine defeats West Jessamine 32-20."