[Allsports#1]

By RAY SCHAEFER For The Daily Independent

CYNTHIANA What Greenup County did Friday was like a college freshman making C’s during the semester quizzes and earning an A for the course by making the highest grade in the final.

Ryan Byrd sat atop the grading curve at Harrison County. The senior’s 45-yard run with 4:45 to go was just enough for the Musketeers to continue in the Class 4A playoffs by edging the Thorobreds, 17-15, and earning a rematch against Johnson Central next Friday in Paintsville.

For at least a weekend, the Musketeers could forget the six-point losses to Russell and Raceland and the four-point setback to Lawrence County. Instead, they can savor becoming the first Greenup County team since 2002 to win six games, and they can bask in being just the third team in school history to win a playoff game (joining the 1977 and 2007 squads).

Byrd ran 15 times for 120 yards, but was he the only Musketeer star? Hardly: quarterback Jared Hunt ran for 85 yards — including a 51-yarder that set up Eli Coldiron’s 22-yard field goal early in the third quarter — and he intercepted Brock Jenkins’ last-gasp pass to seal the win.

“It is a designed pass play,” Hunt said of his run. “They’d been blitzing all game. … On that particular play, I was backing up, and there’s just a big gap of daylight.”

There were two more things Greenup County could enjoy: gaining 309 of its 337 total yards on the ground; and the defense, by blitzing six and covering receivers with five, limited Jenkins (1,920 passing yards before Friday) to 122 and limiting Jovon Williams to four catches for only 21.

“But what made me the proudest was the way we fought the adversity in the game,” Greenup County coach Chris Mullins said. “We gave up the lead, we stopped ’em on a field goal, and we’re driving and we don’t get the first down. Time and time again, we overcame the adversity.”

Friday’s first quarter was as much about defense as Greenup County’s Jake Wright and his 38-yard touchdown run around right end (Byrd led him down the field).

Greenup County (6-5) likely had heard of Jenkins and his 1,920 passing yards. The Musketeers’ Caden Warnock apparently didn’t care a lot — he halted the Thorobreds’ first drive by flushing and finishing Jenkins for a 9-yard sack