Chuckie Blackshire reached the end zone three times, twice on offense and once on defense, to lead the Evarts Wildcats to the Southeastern Kentucky Conference championship game for the second straight year with an 18-6 win Saturday over visiting Cumberland in seventh- and eighth-grade football action. “

“Blackshire stepped up to play tonight. I’m very proud of him and this team,” said coach Ryan Sawyers, who led the Wildcats to the league title last year. “Everyone thought this team wouldn’t achieve what last year’s team did. I’m glad to be proving people wrong and making it to the championship for a second year in a row.”

Blackshire scored on a 42-yard run in the first quarter. Cumberland answered and the game was tied until the fourth quarter.

A 15-yard run by Blackshire put the Wildcats ahead to stay. He ran an interception back in the closing seconds to clinch the win.

Evarts (5-3) will play New Harlan in the league championship game on Oct. 9. The Wildcats will play host to Hazard on Monday.

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After opening the season with a 24-0 loss to Evarts, the Cumberland Redskins showed just how much they have improved with a 12-0 win Saturday at Evarts in the Southeastern Kentucky Conference playoffs, earning a matchup against New Harlan in the fifth- and sixth-grade championship game on Oct. 9.

“I figured we may have six kids show up for practice that following Monday after the loss. When I got to that practice, every single player was there ready to strap it up. That tells the story of our team this year — all heart,” Cumberland coach Matt Duckworth said. Our boys played great tonight. Our offense got the job done, but the story tonight was our defense. Coach Mike Sergent has done a tremendous job with them and it shows. We will go back out Monday and try to keep getting better in preparation for a good New Harlan team.”

Cumberland scored its first touchdown after a 90-yard drive following a stop at the 10 on Evarts’ opening possession. Aiden Craig and Ashton Adams each had runs in the drive and Landon McLain teamed with Craig for a 30-yard pass to set up Adams’ 3-yard touchdown run.

After another defensive stop in the fourth quarter, Cumberland scored again when McLain broke free on a sweep on a fourth-and-10 play with under a minute left.

Cumberland (3-8) recovered an onside kid and ran out the clock. Evarts finished the season with a record of 3-5.

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Harlan finished second to Williamsburg in both divisions of the Mountain Middle School Athletic Conference playoffs, falling 16-0 in fifth- and sixth-grade action and 33-0 in the seventh- and eighth-grade game.

It was the first loss of the season for the Dragons in fifth- and sixth-grade action as Harlan finished 8-1 under first-year coach Chris Wheeler.

“It’s not how we thought the season would end, but then again when I took over at the beginning of the season I never thought we would be in the championship game,” Wheeler said. “The players have worked so hard all season and never stopped. They have all gotten better at the game and I look forward to seeing what this team can do in the future. My staff (Bobby Burkhart, Travis Cox and Matt Nunez) has gone above and beyond this season. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Harlan defeated Lynn Camp 24-12 in the semifinals on Wednesday as Vince Smith scored two touchdowns while Jackson Luttrell and Nate Montanaro added one each.

The Dragons finished 5-5 in seventh- and eighth-grade action, defeating Middlesboro 14-12 in the semifinals last week before losing to Williamsburg in the MMAC finals on Saturday at Union College.