HEBRON ESTATES – With North Bullitt leading Bullitt East 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, fans on both sides of the field were looking quizzically at their neighbors.
But sleeping bears do not hibernate all of the time.
The Chargers took a deep breath and then reeled off 37 straight points over the next two quarters and rolled to a 44-12 victory over an Eagle team that was starting its third quarterback in as many games to open the season.
The victory was the fifth in a row for the red and gold over their county rivals and unfortunately, the fifth straight time that the game finished with a running clock. The last North Bullitt win in the series came in the 2020 thriller that the Eagles won 60-59 in overtime. That is the only win for the Eagles dating back to the 2016 season.
For Bullitt East quarterback Cole Cornell there was no worry with the slow start.
“I just told our guys that we would be fine,” the senior said on the field after the game. “I believe in our guys. It was going to be our game.”
Cornell had missed the previous game with a sprained ankle suffered in the opening loss to Boyle County. Bullitt East head coach Keegan Kendrick said that Cornell could have played against Franklin County, but the program is looking for bigger and better things down the road.
The Chargers struggled on the opening drive of the game and when punter Landon Roby bobbled the snap, he opted to run with the ball and was tackled at his own 36-yard line.
North Bullitt trotted out sophomore quarterback Josh Nunn for his first varsity start. The Eagles ran some misdirection plays that seemed to surprise the Chargers. Nunn also completed two passes, one going for 16 yards to Samuel Felix at the two-yard line. It took three plays, but Hunter Puckett powered in for the touchdown at the 3:17 mark.
When North Bullitt intercepted a long pass to end the next series, the first quarter belonged to the Eagles. But that was the high-water mark for the home team.
“That is what I was thinking,” first-year North Bullitt head coach Derek Cruise said in his office after the game. “The kids just do not understand that they have to do that for four quarters. They did not do anything we did not tell them they were going to do. We had a great effort that first quarter.”
But three quarterbacks in three games under a new head coach is a difficult situation for any program. Micah Hoke started the first game and did well but at 150-pounds he would not have lasted the season. Hunter Puckett started game two, but suffered a shoulder injury. That opened the door for Nunn with Hoke and Puckett moving back to wide receiver and running back, respectively.
Late in the game, the Eagles brought in another sophomore quarterback, Austin Coy.
With the revolving door at quarterback, installing a new system with a new coach is a slow process.
“We are just so one dimensional,” Cruise lamented at this point in the season.
On Monday of game week, Cornell got the news that he was going to play against North Bullitt before he had a chance to make his case to play.
“I told him I was good,” the player said. “I did not want to miss another game. That one game hurt me too much (a seven-point loss to Franklin County).”
Cornell did throw an interception late in the first quarter, but then the Chargers decided to stick to the game plan and keep the ball on the ground. Cornell did not throw a pass in the second quarter as his team scored 23 points, but he scored twice on runs of 54- and 38-yards. The second touchdown by Cornell came with 1:36 remaining in the half and capped a 16-point surge over just 80 seconds that saw Bullitt East score three times to take control of the game.
Cornell’s 54-yard run had pushed the lead to 14-6 at the 2:56 mark. North Bullitt started the next drive at their own 20-yard line after Easton Hughes’ kick sailed out of the end zone. The Eagles then went backwards on penalties and bad runs. Kendrick used all three of his timeouts.
On third down, Puckett had lost two yards and was tackled at the one-yard line. Puckett is also the team’s punter, but on that third down play, his helmet had come off and by rule he had to miss the next play.
To keep from something worse happening, North Bullitt told the officials that they were going to take the safety on the fourth-down play. It was a mute point when the snap sailed over the head of back-up kicker Hoke.
However, things did get worse for the Eagles after the free kick. On the first play after starting the drive at their own 45-yard line, a 10-yard run by Evan Butler and then penalties on each team with each foul being marked off, the ball ended up at the North Bullitt 43-yard line. After Cole Fackler ran for five yards, his 11th carry in the quarter, Cornell faked the hand-off to his running back and then kept it around the left side for his 38-yard touchdown.
From trailing 6-0 after one quarter, Bullitt East led 23-6 at halftime.
During that early deficit, Kendrick admitted that he had flashbacks to his very first game as the Chargers’ head coach, a loss to Spencer County to start the 2022 season. That team then won 14-straight games and the state championship. Adding to the déjà vu was the fact that Cruise was an assistant coach on that Spencer County team.
“They wanted to hold the ball and keep it out of our hands,” Kendrick said of Friday’s game. “We were a little lackadaisical.
“But I just had the flashbacks. I had thrown it too much in that game,” the coach recalled. “I told the other coaches not to let me move away from the game plan.”
Cornell only threw four passes before slightly tweaking his ankle on the opening drive of the second half and letting junior Garrett Stickdorn, who had played the entire game against Franklin County, take the controls.
Fackler, who did not start the game in the backfield, but entered for the second series and scored the first touchdown of the game for the Chargers, started the second half and scored three plays after the red and gold opened the half with an on-sides kick on a short run following a 22-yard carry and a 16-yard pass by Cornell to Christian Martinez.
North Bullitt’s next drive went backwards and after a punt, the Eagle defense did stop the Chargers with a pair of sacks of Stickdorn after the visitors got to the six-yard line. But, on the very next play, the Eagles fumbled and Bullitt East recovered at the 20-yard line. After an off-sides penalty moved the ball back, Stickdorn gave the ball three straight times to sophomore running back Isaac Payne, the last covering 24-yards for the touchdown.
On the fifth play of the fourth quarter, Bullitt East scored again to cap a 60-yard drive. Payne, who carried the ball on five of the eight plays in the series scored on a three-yard carry to push the margin to 44-6 and start the running clock for the final 9:50 of the contest.
North Bullitt did add a late touchdown on a 73-yard drive. Kevin Doe had the big run in the drive, a 36-yard carry. That set up a 22-yard run by Samuel Felix for the touchdown.
Next Games: Bullitt East will be at home on Friday to take on Bullitt Central in the second game of the Bullitt Cup. The Chargers can claim a fifth straight Cup with a win over the Cougars. Both teams come into the annual meeting with 1-2 record after the maroon and gray beat Breckinridge County 28-15 on Friday.
Game time in Mount Washington is set for 7:30 p.m.
After playing the two toughest foes on their schedule this season, the Eagles will be at home on Friday to battle Doss. The Dragons, who may have to play every game on the road this season as their turf field installation is behind schedule, has started the season 0-3 following a 28-12 loss to Jeffersontown. The Dragons have also lost to Southern and Butler, being outscored 104 to 18 in the three games.
Game time at North Bullitt on Friday is set for 7:30 p.m.