West Lincoln head Coach BJ Smithhart knew his players were going up against a tough team Friday night but they went in as prepared as they could be.

“We knew that they had a really, really fast team,” said Smithhart, “and a really, really good individual player in their quarterback [junior Javeious Purvis] and he was all they said he was.”

Pelahatchie led the first quarter 16-8. The Chiefs scored twice more in the second quarter, but the Bears added three touchdowns of their own to enter halftime 30-26.

“We really played a good first half,” Smithhart said. But the second half didn’t go the same way.

Pelahatchie’s speed and stamina took them to another three touchdowns in the third quarter and one additional one in the fourth, all unanswered by the Bears.

“We played with great effort,” Smithhart said, adding that he was proud of the showing his boys made. “You know, speed really wound up getting to us as the game went on.”

The coach insisted he was proud of the way everyone played.

“I really wish we could have kept the score closer,” he said, “because it does not reflect how well these boys played. But we’ll put it behind us and move on to the next game.”