Pikeville LB Brendan Anthony and company has gained a load of respect over the first few weeks as the best linebacking core in the Mountains, well they showed why on Friday night. Against the reigning 3A State Champion Belfry Pirates Brendan Anthony, Carson Wright & Devin DeRossett combined for 53 tackles, Anthony accumulated 20, Wright tallied 17 and DeRossett checked in with 16. This trio of hard hitting Panthers are all ranked in the “Top5” in tackles within Class-A, Anthony has 50 tackles on the season, Wright is nipping on his heals with 49 and DeRossett is far behind with 47.
In Friday night’s 48-13 win over the rival Belfry Pirates, safety Sam Wright also had a great game with 11 tackles, Luke Ray had 10 tackles and TE Grant Scott showed he does more then just catch touchdowns as he chipped in with 6.tackles for the Panthers defense.
Running-back Blake Birchfield ran wild on the Pirates, he carried the ball 26 times for 180 yards and struck paydirt 4 times. Brendan Anthony produced on the offensive side of the football as well, he caught 1 pass from quarterback Isaac Duty for a 74 yard touchdown.
The win made 4 consecutive victories over the decorated group from “Pond Creek”, things don’t get any easier for the Panthers this coming Friday with 2A power Lexington Christian rolling into Pikeville.