MONTICELLO — The Lawrence County Cougars celebrated homecomingby hammering the Forest Hill Rebels 61-18 Friday night. What wasbilled as a contest between Lawrence County’s power running gameand Forest Hill’s high-octane pass attack turned out to be nocontest at all. Lawrence County rolled to touchdowns on 9 of itsfirst 10 possessions, and held Rebel quarterback Jason Johnson tojust 1 passing yard.

With the win, Lawrence County improved to 8-1 overall, and 4-1in Region 6-4A play. Forest Hill fell to 2-7 and 1-4 on the season.It was the first-ever football meeting between the two schools.

“We had a good night,” said fourth-year Cougar coach Mike Davis,in quite an understatement. “We had a good night offensively, andour defense had a great night against Johnson. He’s rolled up somereally big numbers this year, but our guys did a good jobtonight.”

Lawrence County rushed for an incredible 618 yards, led byKendrick Hardy’s 202-yard, 4-touchdown night. Cougar quarterbackAdam Watson threw just 2 passes, but 1 of them went for 22 yardsand a touchdown. Meanwhile, Johnson, who came into the gameaveraging about 200 passing yards per game, completed just 5 of 22for 1 net yard.

His longest completion was a 5-yarder, and the Cougarsintercepted 3 of his attempts.

On the first play of the game, LCHS senior Isaiah Ferdinandswept the left side, untouched, for 56 yards and a touchdown. Itwas a sign of things to come.

Forest Hill also had a good first series, going 49 yards in 11plays, with Johnson scoring on an 11-yard run. That was the lasthighlight for the Rebels. They missed the extra point and trailed7-6.

Four plays later, Hardy scored his 20th touchdown of the season,a 19 yard run. Ferdinand’s 32-yard dash set it up. It was 13-6.After a Dontray Collins sack of Johnson, and a Miles Hillinterception, Watson passed to Josh Cameron for a touchdown.Cameron’s 23-yard run helped to set that one up. Ferdinand ran for2 points, making it a 21-6 game.

On the second play of the second quarter, Hardy scored on a3-yard run, setting it up with an incredible 45-yard run in whichhe broke a minimum of 5 tackles. It was 28-6. The LCHS defense thenheld Forest Hill on downs, paving the way for Hardy’s 18-yardtouchdown run 3 plays later. Cameron had a 21-yard bolt in thatbrief series. The Cougars led 35-6.

Next, a Forest Hill punt pinned the Cougars back on their own5-yard line. Very nearly trapped for a safety on first down,Cameron escaped and raced 36 yards down the LCHS sideline. Sevenplays later, Hardy scored on a 1-yarder, making it a 41-6 halftimescore. The Cougars would have likely scored again before halftime,after a Ferdinand pass interception. The half ended with theCougars on the Forest Hill 13.

Early in the third quarter, Cameron scored on a 1-yard plunge,making it 47-6. Moments later, the frustrated Rebels elected to gofor it, on fourth-and-16, at their own 24. They were notsuccessful. It took Lawrence County just 1 play to cash in, a24-yard run by Ferdinand.

After that, a Curtis Carr pass interception set up Mathew Wells’35-yard touchdown run, with 2:07 remaining in the third quarter.Mercifully, that closed out the Cougars’ scoring. Forest Hilltacked on 2 touchdowns against LCHS reserves in the fourthquarter.

With the win, Lawrence County secured second place in Region6-4A, thus clinching a home game in the first round of the state 4Aplayoffs. LCHS will close out the regular season, at home, againstPort Gibson Friday.