Pirates come close, but fall short by a touchdown.
STANTON – September 6, 2019 – Bradley Charles – BSN
The Powell County Pirates and the Bath County Wildcats
squared off in Stanton on Friday night. It was a close game throughout, but in
the end it was Bath County that took home a 19-12 victory. It was a game filled
with turnovers, fumbles, and injury timeouts. The Pirates fell to 0-3, while
the Wildcats advanced to 2-1.
Powell got the ball first and was forced to punt. The punt
was blocked, and Bath County got the ball deep in Powell County territory. The
Pirate defense held firm, and Bath County turned it over on downs. The
defensive stand set up an 82-yard touchdown pass from Holden Townsend to Jason
Mullins on a fade route. The Pirates took a 6-0 lead.
On the next possession, the Wildcats were able to get into
Pirate territory, but were forced to punt. The Pirates then turned it over on downs.
Bath County took advantage with a touchdown run by Dalton Nelson. The Wildcats
led 7-6 with 11:57 to go in the second quarter.
The Pirates responded with another touchdown pass from
Holden Townsend to Jason Mullins. This time, the touchdown came via a slant
route that went for 70-yards. With that, the Pirates took a 12-7 lead.
After each side was unable to score, Bath County’s Dalton
Nelson punched in another touchdown run. After a Powell County turnover near
the red zone, Bath chewed off the clock and took a 13-12 into halftime.
Bath County turned the ball over on the first possession of
the third quarter via a fumbled snap. The Pirates were able to setup for a long
field goal, but it was no good. Bath County took over but fumbled in Powell
County territory. The fumble was recovered by Chimaobi Ajuonuma.
On the next possession, the Pirates had the ball near
midfield on 4th and almost 30. The Pirates were able to convert with long pass
from Holden Townsend to Preston Wasson on a seam route. However, the Wildcat
defense stepped up, giving the ball back to their offense via a fumble
recovery.
The Wildcats committed a turnover which was followed by the
Pirates doing the same. Bath County then added to their lead by scoring a
touchdown. The Wildcats led 19-12.
The Pirates would turn the ball over on downs, giving it
back to Bath County with little time left in the game. The Wildcats got just
shy of the endzone before kneeling out the clock.
While an 0-3 start is not ideal, there were definitely some positives
to take away from last night’s loss. For example, Sophomore quarterback Holden
Townsend played a phenomenal game. Townsend threw for two 70+ yard touchdowns
in the first half of his debut game as a starter. How many players can say
that? Not many.
After the game, coach Kincaid was asked about Townsend’s two
long touchdown passes: “It was tremendous to see him do that. The sky is the
limit for that kid. … The team rallied around him. It’s so good to see a group
of seniors, 15 seniors, rally around a sophomore. Like I told them, we just got
to keep moving forward.”
When asked about his team’s overall performance, coach
Kincaid said, “I’m super proud of them, even though the scoreboard wasn’t where
we wanted it. One thing we did, we grew as a team tonight. We completely played
as a team. We had fun playing the game of football.”
Powell County is now 0-3 on the season, but as I’ve
mentioned in a previous article, that might not be as bad as it sounds. In
2015, Powell County started the year 0-3 and went on to finish the year with an
8-4 record. Similarly, in 2017 Powell County started the year 0-4, but finished
the year 8-5. The point here being, in the last five seasons, the Pirates have
twice turned an 0-3 start into an eight-win season. A slow start doesn’t always
entail a slow finish.
The Pirates now focus their attention on an 0-3 Prestonsburg
team. The game will be played at Prestonsburg on Friday, September 13th at
7:30.
