DANIEL INTERCEPTION PROPELS BEARCATS TO 44-12 WIN

Hackett was facing a fourth down at the Bearcat 29 in a one score game in the final minute of the first half Monday night when Hayden Daniel picked off a pass and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown.

Then up 20-6 at the half the Bearcats (7-2, 6-0) would go on to win the game 44-12, clinching no less than a share of a Conference 3A-1 title.

The junior high version of a chilly Monday night football was necessitated by a weather postponement of the conference game on September 21.

Hackett actually struck first in the game with a 27-yard touchdown pass with 2:50 left in the first quarter.

The Hornets had a chance to do further damage after a Bearcat fumble but did not do so because the Bearcats would force three second quarter turnovers.

The first was a fumble caused by Braxton Hubble that was picked up by Dalton Schmidt and returned to the Hornet 19-yard line.

Tayden Washburn took it from there, scoring on a one-play drive to tie the game at 6-6.

The touchdown by Washburn (shown), who ran for 74 yards in the game, started a streak of 44 straight points by the Bearcats.

Another fumble, this one caused by Elijah Draper and recovered by Avery Reno, gave the Bearcats the ball at their 39 with 4:48 to go in the first half.

Washburn moved the ball to midfield and two Brody Chambers carries covered the next 50 and it was 14-6 after a two-point run by Daniel.

Chambers carried seven times for 106 yards, giving him 996 on the season going into Thursday’s finale at Cedarville.

In front 20-6 Rylie Swint’s 35-yard kickoff return gave the Bearcats the ball at the Hackett 38 to start the second half.

Two carries by Washburn was all that was necessary and with Daniel’s second two point run it was 28-6.

A 3-yard punt by the Hornets gave the Bearcats the ball back, again in Hackett territory at the 37 and Chambers scored from there to make it 36-6 with Daniel’s third two-point conversion run.

Devon Ritchie made a fourth down stop on a completion that gave the Bearcats the ball back but the second Bearcat turnover would give it back to Hackett.

Still, by the end of the quarter the Bearcats had the ball again in Hackett territory.

Sadler Miller started the final quarter with a 19-yard run and it was 44-6 after Ritchie’s two-point conversion run.

Hackett used a long kickoff return and personal foul flag to set up a 23-yard scoring play to make it 44-12.