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LAWRENCEBURG, KY. — After climbing out of a 19-point hole in the third quarter, the South Oldham High School Dragons couldn’t stop Anderson County on a late drive as the host Bearcats held on for a 33-26 win Friday night in the first round of the Class 5-A state football playoffs.

Anderson County (9-2) now will advance to play the Cooper-Montgomery County winner in the second round.

The Dragons (6-5) fell behind 26-7 when Anderson County’s Spencer Ruggles caught an 80-yard scoring pass from Seth Carmichael with 4:35 left in the third quarter.

South Oldham coach Jamie Reed said he knew the game wasn’t over.

“Our guys just never give up,” Reed said. “We have a great group of guys. . . . That’s the kind of program we’re building in Crestwood.”

The comeback started when Marc Stephens took the ensuing kickoff from Anderson County and rambled 75 yards to the five-yard line. Two plays later, South Oldham’s quarterback went in from the four-yard line, slicing the deficit to 26-13.

Anderson County came back with a stellar return of its own as Ethan Kelly returned the kickoff 40 yards to the South Oldham 26. Two plays later, the Bearcats’ Carmichael hit Travis Phillips, who ran 13 yards to the 1, where he fumbled and the Dragons’ Darin Todd recovered.

From there, South Oldham marched 99 yards but most of it came on a 77-yard run by Dallas Bank, who took a pitch from quarterback Jack Sherry and went around the left corner before stumbling at the Anderson County 13.

Three plays later, Sherry lunged in from the 1, cutting the deficit to 26-19 with 11:57 remaining.

After forcing the Bearcats to punt, the Dragons needed just three plays to cover 28 yards and most of it came on the last play of the drive when Stephens took the handoff from Sherry and went up the middle, then bounced out a crowd and players, emerged in the clear by himself and then darted the rest of the 67 yards for the score with 9:22 left, tying the game at 26.

“The kickoff return (by Stephens) really changed the complexion of the game,” said Anderson County coach Mark Peach. “Once they got that (score), I knew it would be tough to shake them.”

Peach, though, credited his team for continuing to fight. “You can easily get rattled,” he said of losing a considerable lead. “But I thought both teams showed a lot of character and class.

“In the playoffs, sometimes it isn’t pretty,” Peach said. “But we advanced.”

After South Oldham tied the game, the Bearcats marched 57 yards in nine plays, capped by a four-yard TD run by Kelly with 4:50 left. It was Kelly’s second TD of the game. In the first half, he scored on a 39-yard pass from Carmichael.

Carmichael finished with 132 yards passing by completing 9 of 13 passes for three TDs.

On its final drive, South Oldham advanced to the Anderson County 34. But after two penalties pushed the Dragons back to the 44, that’s where they ran out of downs.

South Oldham 0 7 6 13 - 26
Anderson Co. 0 16 10 7 - 33
Anderson County – Spencer Ruggles 19 pass from Seth Carmichael (Bill Rose kick); Anderson County – team safety; South Oldham – Stew Williams 68 pass from Jack Sherry (Sherry kick); Anderson County – Ethan Kelly 39 pass from Carmichael (Rose kick); Anderson County – Rose 22 FG; Anderson County – Ruggles 23 pass from Carmichael (Rose kick); South Oldham – Sherry 4 run (run failed); South Oldham – Sherry 1 run (kick failed); South Oldham – Marc Stephens 67 run (Sherry kick); Anderson County – Kelly 4 run (Rose kick).
SO AC
Total yards 14 18
First downs 389 326
Rushes-yds. 35-259 42-194
Comp-Att-Int 6-21-0 9-14-1
Passing yards 130 132
Fumbles-lost 3-1 3-1
Penalties-yds. 9-69 5-30
Punts-avg. 2-27 3-31

http://saxo.highschoolsports.net/article...fs?Avis=B2