Crittenden County saw its postseason football run end at Kentucky Country Day in Louisville for the second straight year.
The Rockets trailed just 7-0 at halftime, but four second-half turnovers helped KCD pull away for a 35-7 victory in the Class A third-round contest.
The Crittenden defense played admirably, giving up just 198 total yards — 167 on the ground to the Bearcats’ vaunted rushing attack.
But the Rocket offense just couldn’t generate much momentum against Kentucky Country Day (9-1).
A big chunk of Crittenden’s 163 yards in the contest came on the final drive of the night after KCD had taken a 35-0 lead.
E.J. Dickerson and Drew Russell each had two touchdowns for the Bearcats.
Dickerson’s 6-yard run on the final play of the first quarter was the only scoring play of the first half.
Russell’s 10-yard touchdown run at the 7:09 mark of the third period helped extend the margin to 14-0.
Russell scored again just 1:35 later following a Rocket fumble.That made it 21-0 and put Crittenden squarely behind the 8-ball.
The Rockets were forced to try to open up the passing game in the fourth quarter — and that led to a pair of pick-sixes by the Bearcats to put the game away.
Dickerson returned an interception 43 yards for a score with 5:37 left in the game.
Nathan Caldwell took a pick 50 yards for a score with 2:46 to play to make it 35-0.
Crittenden (7-3) broke up the shutout late when Kaleb Nesbitt took a middle screen from Luke Crider and turned it into a 29-yard touchdown play. That came on fourth down. Noah Perkins kicked the extra point with 1:04 to play to account for the 35-7 final score.
Crittenden made the trip to Kentucky Country Day in the third round of the playoffs last season, but dropped a 36-22 decision to the Bearcats.
See complete game stats at http://crittendencountyrockets.blogspot.com/
