BELFRY — Jeremiah Austin and Chase Varney combined for 5 touchdowns to help the Belfry Pirates pull away in the fourth quarter and defeat the Russell Red Devils 35-17 in the regional finals of the KHSAA Class 3A playoffs on Friday night at CAM Stadium.
The Pirates (13-2) now advance to the state semifinals where they will face Union County next Friday night based on the RPI rebracketing. The other state semifinal game will be Lexington Catholic against Christian Academy of Louisville.
The Red Devils were able to bend but not break in the opening frame, stopping Belfry's first drive by stringing out an option play on fourth down and then Cayden Pennington broke up a fourth down pass to halt the second Pirate drive.
Following the defenses' first stop, Russell (9-4) would get a big offensive play through the air on their opening drive. Elijah Hankins let loose a throw down the Russell sideline to Jayden Pennington for a 38-yard gain to the Belfry 29.
But the drive stalled out at the 15, and the Red Devlis were forced to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Ben Totten. The senior split the sticks and gave the Red Devils an early 3-0 lead.
While the Red Devils would carry the lead into the second quarter, the momentum began to shift towards Belfry following a Russell punt.
Austin took a handoff on a dive off the left side and was pulled down from behind onto a pile of players at the 39, but he rolled off the top of pile and kept his balance, then took off past Russell defenders down the home sideline for the Pirates first score of the game. Nick Savage booted the extra point to give Belfry a 7-3 lead.
Austin led the Pirates on the ground with 25 carries for a game-high 183 yards and two rushing scores. The junior fullback added a second touchdown in the third to cap off a 7-play drive and give the Pirates a 21-10 lead.
Belfry extended their lead on their following possession with a quick 3-play drive. Varney stepped back on a fake to Austin, and hit a streaking Jaydon Muncy down the hash for a 65-yard touchdown pass to send the home crowd into a frenzy and make the score 14-3.
But back came the Red Devils with an answer of their own on their ensuing possession.
On the first play from scrimmage, Hankins dropped a pass over the shoulder of Jayden Pennington for 39 yards to set Russell up deep in Belfry territory. Hankins would follow up with a pass to a diving Caden Mitchell to convert a fourth-and-8 and keep the drive alive.
On the ensuing play, Kaiden Benge would knife his way across the goal line for the 5-yard score. Totten added the extra point to cut the deficit to 14-10 with 2:44 left before halftime.
Belfry got a big break on opening kickoff of the second half as the kick took a high bounce over the Russell returners head and rolled backwards. Despite still fielding the kick, the Red Devils found themselves in a hole starting at their own 10.
Russell couldn't move the chains and were forced to punt, giving the ball back to a hot Belfry offense.
The Pirates capitalized on a short field and Austin scored his second touchdown to cap off the 41-yard drive.
Russell would answer on their ensuing possession with a 66-yard drive to keep pace with Belfry.
During the drive, Hankins and Cayden Pennington would hook up 3 times in the drive en route to pay dirt.
The final play of the drive saw Hankins fake a handoff on second down and let fly a pass down field to Cayden Pennington, who hauled it in at the 5 and dove into the end zone for a 28-yard score. Totten added the point after to cut the Pirates lead to 21-17 with 2:55 remaining in the third frame.
Hankins would finish the game completing 13 of 18 passes for a game-high 160 yards. His two top targets were the Pennington twins, with Jayden catching 3 balls for 82 yards and Cayden hauling in 4 receptions for 61 yards.
But the Pirates would begin the finally pull away in the final quarter.
On the first play of the period, Belfry went to the play-action pass again, as Varney stepped back on an option fake and delivered a strike down the middle of the field to JB Woolum at around the 10 and the sophomore took it the rest of the way for the score. Savage added the extra point to extend the Pirates lead back out to 11.
After forcing the Red Devils into a three-and-out, the Pirates marched 64-yards in 12 plays to salt the game away. Austin carried the ball 9 times in the drive, and Woolum added a 16-yard burst on a jet sweep up the home sideline.
Varney finished things off with after nosing his way across the goal line on the final play for the final touchdown of the night. Savage added the extra point to make the final score.
Russell 3 7 7 0 = 17
Belfry 0 14 7 14 = 35
First Quarter
Rus — Ben Totten 32 field goal, 3:23.
Second Quarter
Bel — Jeremiah Austin 66 run (Nick Savage kick), 9:22.
Bel — Jaydon Muncy 65 pass from Chase Varney (Nick Savage kick), 6:23.
Rus — Kaiden Benge 5 run (Ben Totten kick), 2:44.
Third Quarter
Bel — Jeremiah Austin 5 run (Nick Savage kick), 6:25.
Rus — Cayden Pennington 28 pass from Elijah Hankins (Ben Totten kick), 2:55.
Fourth Quarter
Bel — JB Woolum 55 pass from Chase Varney (Nick Savage kick), 11:49.
Bel — Chase Varney 1 run (Nick Savage kick), 3:29.
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Rus Bel
First Downs 10 12
Rushes-yards 24-55 26-256
Passing yards 160 150
Total yards 215 406
Cmp-Att-Int 8-13-1 4-5-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 1-5 5-40
Punts-Avg. 3-32.0 2-19.5
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Individual Leaders
RUSHING — Russell: Elijah Hankins 7-15, Jayden Frasure 3-6, Jordan Rowe 4-12, Bent Totten 2-3, Kaiden Benge 12-40 TD, Team 2-minus 9; Belfry: Jeremiah Austin 25-183 2TD, Chase Varney 2-2 TD, Ace Caudill 7-11, JB Woolum 5-63, Team 2-minus 3.
PASSING — Russell: Elijah Hankins 8-13-1 164 TD; Belfry: Chase Varney 4-5-0 150 2TD.
RECEIVING — Russell: Grayson Kiser 1-5, Caden Mitchell 1-12, Jayden Pennington 3-82, Cayden Pennington 4-61 TD; Belfry: Ace Caudill 1-18, JB Woolum 2-67 TD, Jaydon Muncy 1-65 TD.
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