MANCHESTER — Harlan County overcame a one-hour lightning delay and a string of early penalties with three scoring drives in the second half on the way to a 21-7 district victory Friday at Clay County.

Senior tailback Ben Landis ran for 140 yards and scored two touchdowns. Junior fullback Demarco Hopkins added 92 yards and one touchdown as the Bears improved to 5-1 for the season and 1-0 in district action.

After a scoreless first half, the Bears’ offense marched 72 yards in nine plays on their second possession of the second half. Hopkins had a big run on fourth down to keep the drive alive, then Tyler Casolari and Landis each picked up first downs before Hopkins broke free for a 34-yard touchdown over the right side. Jordan Steele hit the first of three extra points and HCHS led 7-0 with 10.4 seconds left in the third quarter.

Clay answered behind senior running backs Chandler Hibbard and Deon McCulley in a seven-play drive covering 55 yards. McCulley went in from the 3 with 9:38 left, then tied the game with the extra point.

Landis took over from there, running 44 yards for a touchdown in a three-play drive. The Bears to the ball on the Clay 47 after two kicks went out of bounds and coach Eddie Creech forced the Tigers to kick again. Steele’s extra point put the Bears up by seven with 8:14 left.

The HCHS defense stepped up at that point as Jacob Bailey, Hunter Blevins and Elisha Smallwood each had stops to force the Tigers to punt out of their end zone. A nice punt return by Matt Brown gave the Bears the ball on the Clay 26. Landis had a 22-yard run, then scored from the 1. Steele’s extra point closed the scoring with 2:56 to play.

Harlan County failed to capitalize on an early break as McCulley fumbled on the opening play and the Bears got the ball on the Tigers’ 30. Holding penalties on consecutive plays ended the threat.

Clay picked up three first downs, aided by two pass interference penalties, in driving to the Bears’ 29 when play was stopped at the 2:13 mark of the first quarter due to lightning. After play resumed, the Harlan County defense had a stop by recovering a fumble on fourth down.

The Bears did a good job early of limiting the yardage by Hibbard, who came into the game with over 1,000 yards rushing in four games. Hibbard was stopped for losses on four of six carries in the opening quarter.

The Bears had their best scoring opportunity early in the second quarter when Demarco Hopkins broke free on a 45-yard run before Dominique Hubbard caught him at the Clay 10. The Bears were unable to move the ball from there and Jacob Wilson’s pass on fourth down was intercepted in the end zone by Hibbard and returned to the 6.

The HCHS defense held as Blevins and Steele broke through for a stop on third down. Evan Langdon boomed a 44-yard punt and the Bears were unable to move the ball as Wilson had trouble handling the slick ball after quite a bit of rain during the one-hour lightning break.

Landis and Wilson each picked up first downs late in the half before time ran out with the Bears on the Clay 40.

Harlan County will play host to Letcher Central on Friday. Clay County will travel to Johnson Central on Friday.

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Harlan County 21, Clay County 7

Harlan County. 0. 0 7. 14 — 21

Clay County 0. 0. 0 7 — 7

HC — Hopkins 34 run (Steele kick)

CC — McCulley 3 run (McCulley kick)

HC — Landis 44 run (Steele kick)

HC — Landis 1 run (Steele kick)

HCHS. CCHS

First downs 12 10

Rushing-Yds 41-290 39-111

Passing 5 3

Comp-Att-Int 2-5-1-5 1-4-0-3

Punts 2-42 3-42

Penalties 7-75. 6-50

RUSHING—Harlan County, Landis 17-140, Hopkins 6-92, Casolari 9-45, Wilson 6-9, Turner 1-(-1), M. Brown 2-(-5). Clay County, Hibbard 23-78, McCulley 9-22, Collins 3-20, Hacker 4(-9).

PASSING — Harlan County, Wilson 2-5-2-5, Clayborn 0-1-1-0. Clay County, Hacker 1-4-0-3.

RECEIVING—Harlan County, J. Brown 1-7, M. Brown 1-(-2). Clay County, Collins 1-3.