Bell County improved on their early season success Friday on the road. The Bobcats used a strong showing on the ground to pound out a 40-22 victory over Letcher County Central.

“We jumped on them pretty good. (Then) we made a couple of turnovers and gave them new life. They got excited on us, fought us hard and made a good comeback, but our kids are getting used to learning how to win now,” said Bell County coach Dudley Hilton. “We fought through some adversity and just hung in there and ended up beating them. But, turnovers kill you. If you’re going to make any turnovers, you have to play super defense. We just didn’t play very good there in some crucial situations.”

The offense was potent for Bell County, who rushed for 308 yards on the night. Colby Frazier and London Stephney led the way combining for 246 of those yards. Frazier tallied 124 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries. Stephney finished with 122 yards and a touchdown on four carries.

“I thought London had a really good game,” said Hilton. “I thought Colby ran the ball hard.”

Through the air, Stephney went 6-for-10 for 54 yards and a touchdown. On the receiving end, Jason Jones hauled in a team-high three catches for 20 yards. Tanner Asher caught two passes for 23 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, inside linebacker Adam Partin led the way. He finished the game with a team-high 13 tackles. Hunter Bailey showcased his skills and ended the night with nine tackles and four sacks. Chase Huff finished with nine tackles as well.

Stephney ended the game with one interception and five tackles.

One thing that Hilton feels like the team needs to improve on is keeping their responsibility.

“We’re not keeping our responsibility like we should, offensively and defensively. We’re just taking a few things for granted as coaches. We just got to stay on our kids a little bit harder,” said Hilton. “This is a game. That’s why you film them. That’s why you try to correct your films on Sunday and try to help your kids get better.

“You don’t want to lose to make you realize how you got to play. Right now, we have to learn from our mistakes as we win. Sometimes it’s harder to teach your mistakes when you win. It’s easier to teach your mistakes when you lose. I don’t want to lose and the kids don’t want to lose. We don’t want to learn the lessons the hard way. We have to start learning how to pay attention on how to improve ourselves and not be satisfied with where we are at.”

Up Next

Bell County (2-0) will host Pike County Central (0-1) in their home-opener on Friday.

Letcher County Central (0-2) will host Hazard (1-0) on Friday.