The Christian County Colonels still have hopes of hosting a first round playoff game. The Colonels kept those hopes alive by going on the road and coming away with a hard fought 18-14 win over Apollo Friday night.
The Colonels got off to a great start defensively in the game. They intercepted Apollo on the first play from scrimmage for the Eagles. However, Christian County was unable to take advantage of the turnover when they were stopped on a long 4th down at the Apollo 26 yard line.
Later in the first quarter, Apollo turned the ball over again, this time on a fumble. And, this time the Colonels made the Eagles pay, driving the ball down the field and scoring on a 20 yard touchdown run to go up 6-0 with 2:41 to go in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter it was the Apollo defense making play, as the Eagles picked off a Christian County pass. The Eagles took the ball down the field and scored on a 20 yard touchdown pass to take the lead at 7-6 with 6:23 to go in the 2nd. That would be the score when the two teams went to the locker room at the break.
The Colonels should have been in front at the break, but they had two long touchdowns called back due to penalties.
Apollo continued to have trouble with ball security in the 2nd half. The Eagles lost a fumble early in the 3rd quarter, but Christian County was unable to convert. Later in the quarter, it was a special teams mistake that cost the Eagles. On a punt attempt, the snap was high, and Christian County recovered the ball in the end zone to go up 12-7 with less than four minutes to go in the 3rd.
The back and forth pattern of the contest continued as the 4th quarter began. Apollo scored on a touchdown pass on the first play of the 4th quarter to go up 14-12, with 11:52 left in the game. Apollo had chances after two Christian County turnovers to put the game away in the 4th quarter, but were unable to do so, and that would come back to bite the Eagles in a big way.
After a short punt, Christian County took the ball over on the Apollo 46 with 3:04 to go in the game. The Colonels took the ball down the field and scored on a quarterback keeper from Jlin Powell with 1:06 left in the game to go up 18-14.
Apollo was not quite done and started a last ditch drive to try and get down the field and win the game. However, the Eagles were stopped on 4th down at the Christian County 46 yard line, as the Colonels held on for the district win.
Christian County improves to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the district. Apollo falls to 4-3 and 0-2 in the district.