Hancock County made the short trip across the Ohio River Friday night and returned home with bragging rights, cruising to a 42-7 victory over rival Tell City.
The Hornets struck first when Brady Eubanks connected with Graham Shearn in the end zone, and Anthony Dubon added the extra point. Tell City answered early in the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7, but Hancock dominated from there.
Eubanks punched in a rushing touchdown less than two minutes later, and the Hornets piled on with three more scores before halftime. Tripp Hager recovered a botched long snap and returned it for a touchdown, Cooper Jones powered into the end zone on the ground, and Kyle Anderson added another rushing score to make it 35-7 at the break.
Hancock’s final touchdown came midway through the third quarter when Eubanks found Jones for a passing score, capping the 42-7 win.
The victory was a convincing one for Hancock County over their longtime rivals just across the river, as the Hornets moved to 4-1 on the season.
Head coach Bobby Eubanks said he was impressed with how his team bounced back after a tough performance the week before.
“Really proud of our effort and execution,” Eubanks said. “Our coaches put together a great gameplan and we challenged the kids to meet us halfway on that and they did that in a huge way. Tell City is a physical team and our guys up front matched that intensity and then took it up a notch. I’m extremely proud of the overall effort in all phases of the game.”
Eubanks said the Hornets were determined to prove themselves after falling to Apollo the previous week.
“Proud of how the kids responded after last week,” he said. “We did not play our best game against Apollo. They knew that and were ready to prove it. The message at practice was urgency. We had to get things turned around quickly. There’s nothing easy about our schedule. Our kids responded well.”
The Hornets (3-1) will hit the road again next week to face Union County.
“Union is a tough physical football team who is playing well,” Eubanks said. “We have to be prepared for another tough game.”
