This article was written by Jacob Wilson of The Anderson News.

The Anderson County Bearcats suffered a hard fought loss in their home opener to the Harrison County Thorobreds 49-22. The loss moves the Bearcats to 0-2 on the young season.

The game started with Anderson striking first. Sophomore Camdon Higgins ripped off a big chunk play on a throw from Eli Castle from near midfield to give the home team an early 6-0 lead. The team failed to get in for a two-point conversion.

The opposing Thorobreds then scored an unanswered 21 points, taking the game to 21-6 at the half.

At that start of the third quarter, what potentially could have been a kickoff return for a touchdown was halted due to three personal foul penalties on Harrison, bringing it back to their 29 yard line.

The setback was not enough to throw them off course, however. The Thorobreds marched down the field and scored another TD, bringing the score to 28-6 with a successful extra point kick.

Cam Higgins was not done for the night, however. He came back with a monster run that ended up in the endzone for a touchdown. Nehemiah Wilson scored a successful two-point attempt, bringing the score to 28-14.

After a pair of unsuccessful drives, one for the opposing team and one for Anderson, the Thorobreds displayed their athleticism once more, scoring on a long run to make it 35-14.

In the fourth quarter, Anderson was knocking on the door of the endzone. A fourth and inches play on the goal line turned into a Bearcats fumble, recovered by Harrison County. They scored one more touchdown on a quarterback keeper to bring the score to 42-14 with 7:18 left in the fourth quarter.

Anderson would score once more, with Wyatt Drury finding the end zone and Malachi Zeller completing a two-point conversion, making the score 42-14.

Harrison’s last touchdown came on a scoop and score fumble recovery, with the score reaching the final of 49-22 for the night.

Higgins led the team on the ground, with 12 rushing attempts for 116 yards. Brady Klink ran four times for 28 yards. Nehemiah Wilson had 10 rushing attempts for 32 yards. Wyatt Drury ran six times for a net of 29 yards. Eli Castle stayed on the ground four times for 21 yards. Dawson Blacketer went six yards on his lone rushing attempt.

Through the air, Higgins led the team with two receptions for 63 yards, followed by Justin Barber with two catches for 36 yards. Conlee Cheak caught two for nine total yards, followed by Nehemiah Wilson with two receptions for eight yards and a single catch by Brady Klink for six yards.

Eli Castle completed nine of his 16 passing attempts for 127 yards and one touchdown throw. He threw two interceptions on the night.

The team’s offensive production sat at 242 net yards on the ground and 127 through the air, combined for 369 yards of total offense.

On defense, Brandon McGregor, Ethan Caldwell, Brady Klink, Dawson Blacketer, and Landon Cottrell each recorded a tackle for loss. McGregor led the team with four solo tackles and seven assisted, followed by Caldwell with two solos and five assisted. Klink recorded four solos and one assisted tackle. Cottrell earned the team’s lone sack of the contest.

Overall, the team had 55 tackles, five tackles for loss, 31 solo tackles and 24 assisted tackles. Layton Kareken recovered a fumble, with Tyler Meacham forcing the turnover.

Harrison had 223 net yards receiving and 286 on the ground for a total of 509 yards of total offense. They went three-for -four on extra point tries and two-for-two on two-point conversions. Klink was able to block an extra point try in the first half for Anderson.

The Bearcats are back in action on Friday night, facing the Mercer County Titans in Harrodsburg, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30..