On a night when their offense sputtered at times, the New Harlan Patriots stayed perfect with a strong defensive effort in a 30-8 win Thursday at Evarts in seventh- and eighth-grade football action.

Evarts (1-2) was limited to only one first down in the first three quarters and trailed 30-0 when Bryson North broke free for a 35-yard touchdown with 6:55 left in the game. John Long added the two-point conversion. A Zach.Burgan to Chuckie Blackshire pass and a nice run by North set up the Wildcats’ touchdown.

New Harlan’s defense dominated the game until the scoring driving, overcome several mistakes by the offense to keep the Wildcats off the board until the final period.

“I thought our defense played real well,” New Harlan coach Scott Caldwell said. “Evarts has a big, strong team, and they will run downhill right at you. Our boys knew that and did a good job. Our offense was a little sluggish, but they got it done in the end. Evarts put us in some third and longs. They play hard.”

Thomas Jordan continued his breakout eighth-grade season by running for three first downs on the Patriots’ opening series, capped by a 10-yard touchdown run. Tanner Griffin also picked up a first down in the drive. Ethan Rhymer threw to Jared Rhymer for the two-point conversion and an 8-0 lead with 2:19 left in the first quarter.

Ethan Rhymer teamed with Gavin Spurlock for a 37-yard pass play on the Patriots’ second drive. Spurlock went in from the 8 for a touchdown. Samuel Henson added the two-point conversion for a 16-0 lead with 11 seconds left in the opening period.

Jordan, Griffin and Henson each picked up first downs to set up Jordan’s 32-yard touchdown run with 2:09 left in the third quarter. Spurlock added the two-point conversion.

Tucker Saylor recovered a fumble for the Wildcats late in the first half and Long recovered one early in the third quarter, but the Wildcats were unable to capitalize on the opportunities.

Jordan ran 19 years to set up a 16-yard touchdown run by Josh Sergent with 1:25 to play in the third quarter.

North scored for the Wildcats in the fourth quarter.

New Harlan (3-0) returns to action Saturday at 11 a.m. against Lynn Camp in a bowl game at Bell County. Evarts plays Pineville on Saturday at Bell County.

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Jake Brewer ran for 57 yards and scored two touchdowns as New Harlan (2-1) won 28-0 in the fifth- and sixth-grade game. Hunter Napier ran for 14 yards and scored a touchdown. Connor Daniels teamed with Jayce Brown for a 60-yard touchdown pass. James-Ryan Howard ran for 13 yards and a pair of two-point conversion. Brennan Blevins ran for 65 yards on four carries. Brown added 41 yards rushing on eight carries.

Jason Fultz led the New Harlan defense with six tackles. Travis Burkhart added five tackles. Brewer and Jeremy Goldsberry each had three tackles. Brody Hensley and Daniels each had two tackles. Howard and Napier added one tackle each.

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Perry Central scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 26-14 win over visiting Cumberland (0-3) in seventh- and eighth-grade football action Thursday.

The Commodores led 6-0 when Cumberland’s Jonah Swanner scored on a quarterback sneak, then found Darius Akal for the two-point conversion and an 8-6 lead.

Perry went back on top before the Redskins reclaimed the lead for the final time when Swanner returned the kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown.

Cumberland (0-3) fell 26-8 to Perry Central in fifth- and sixth-grade action. Landon McLain scored on a 40-yard run for the Redskins and Liam Garland completed a two-point conversion.

Cumberland travels to Evarts on Thursday.