FLORENCE — The Lawrence County Cougars defeated the FlorenceEagles 37-14 Friday night in the Region 6-4A opener for both teams.Coach Mike Davis’ Cougars rambled for 419 rushing yards, and heldthe Eagles’ high-flying passing attack to just 70 yards inadvancing to 4-0 for the first time since 2003.

The win moved Lawrence County to 1-0 in Region 6-4A play.Florence, under coach Dennis Thompson, fell to 3-1 overall, and 0-1in the region.

“This wasn’t nearly as easy as the scoreboard or the stat sheetmight lead you to believe,” Davis said. “Florence’s defense made uswork hard for everything we got, and their offense is very capableof piling up yards and points. It was tough, but our kids did apretty good job tonight.”

While the powerful Cougar rushing attack eventually gotuntracked, it was the play of the LCHS defense that garnered wordsof praise from the head coach. Florence quarterback Hunter Thompsonentered the game with lofty passing stats, averaging well over 200yards per game. The Cougar defense limited him to just 7completions in 19 attempts, for 70 yards.

“I take my hat off to Coach (Jay) Livingston and the defense,”Davis said. “They worked so hard this week to improve our passdefense and it paid off tonight. Florence has put up some bignumbers this season, but our guys held them in check tonight.”

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