Three touchdown passes by freshman quarterback Jordy Brewer weren’t enough for the Harlan County junior varsity squad to overcome visiting Letcher Central on Monday as the Cougars claimed a 38-24 win.

Brewer’s first touchdown pass came with 25 seconds left in the first half as he teamed with Jordan Lewis for a 7-yard scoring strike. Freshman running backs Cody Taylor and Marcus McMillian had big runs to set up the touchdown. Brewer’s pass to tight end Josh Jenkins for the two-point conversion cut the Letcher Central lead to 14-8.

Harlan County was unable to carry the momentum into the break though as Drew Bentley took the ensuing kickoff 60 yards for a touchdown.

A touchdown pass from Logan Johnson to Tyler Combs pushed the lead to 26-8 with 4:57 left in the third quarter.

Harlan County rallied in the fourth quarter as Brewer teamed with Matthew Williams for a 21-yard touchdown pass. Brewer added the two-point conversion.

Johnson’s 35-yard touchdown run pushed the Cougars’ lead to 32-16 with 3:35 left.

Brewer and Williams teamed up again for a touchdown with 2:11 left, this time on an 8-yard pass. Williams also had a catch for the two-point conversion.

The Bears were unable to recover the onside kick, and Letcher Central put the game away with a 20-yard touchdown run by Bentley.

Harlan County (1-5) returns to action Monday at home against Hazard.