Titans Season Comes to an End in 19-17 Second Round Loss

Mercer County junior Donald ‘D’ Smith dove in for a touchdown in the second quarter Friday night. Smith finished the game with 50 yards on 15 carries.
Daarik Gray
Herald Staff
sports@harrodsburgherald.com
The Mercer County Titans season came to an end Friday night in the second round of the KHSAA Playoffs, falling 19-17 to the Knox Central Panthers.
“It was one of the best football seasons that I have ever been a part of,” said Mercer County Head Coach David Buchanan. “We had a shot at the end. I am just very, very proud of them and just tickled to death at the job they did.”
Trailing 19-17, Mercer County nearly had a chance to win the game at the end as kicker Nick McClain’s onside kick with 52 seconds left took a perfect bounce, but Knox Central’s Casey Patterson was able to retrieve it out of the air before a Titan player could get there.
“He (McClain) gave us a great shot. He and (kicker) Garrett (Dean) came in and did a good job tonight,” said Buchanan.
Prior to that, the Titans controlled most of the game early on.
After falling behind 6-0 early in the first quarter, a 27-yard field goal by Garrett Dean and a 7-yard touchdown run by Donald ‘D’ Smith in the second quarter gave the Titans a 10-7 halftime lead.
With 7:31 left in the third quarter, Knox Central took a 13-10 lead on a 39-yard touchdown pass from running back Donavan Arthur to Frankie Robinson.
Pick up a copy of this weeks Harrodsburg Herald or subscribe online for the rest of the story and a complete box score of the game.