It was a tight first half, but in the final 24 minutes, the Bethel football team took care of business with a big 41-14 win over National Trail.

“We knew the first week jitters of seeing a different opponent and everything means something to the guys, and we took the scrimmage tag off,” Bethel coach Andre Cokes said. “It was more of the kids getting into a rhythm and relaxing and playing football. National Trail is much improved.”

Following a three-and-out by the Bees defense, Bethel scored on their first offensive play from scrimmage when Cooper Mears hit Lucas Truman on a 55-yard pass, putting the Bees up quickly in the opening period 7-0.

“That helped our offense out a lot to score so quickly and it got them into the groove,” Cokes said.

“It was a very positive mindset that we spread the ball out and let the guys get touches,” the Bees coach said. “Receivers did a great job blocking and a couple guys Aidan Nelson and Rueger Harrah did a great job blocking when their number wasn’t called.”

Bethel scored again in the first half when Landen Cornwell scored on a rushing touchdown before National Trail answered to cut into the Bethel lead.

Closing out the first half, the Bees used a Remi Brannen touchdown on a fourth down to push their lead to 20-14 at the half.

“We went for fourth down three times and being aggressive is what we need to do this year,” Cokes said. “We want the kids to know we believe in them.” Brannan took the ball on fourth and one and he scored to complete the drive with 40 seconds left in the first half.

Bethel scored in the second half when Truman caught another touchdown from Mears. Cornwell added a touchdown catch of his own, and Mears finished the scoring with a run to end his big day.

Mears was 12-14 on the day for 175 yards, while the Bees added 240 yards on the ground.

“We want to be the mistake-free team, and we didn’t have a lot of holding penalties in the game,” Cokes said. “The offensive line did a great job, and we played as a football program.”

Bethel now hosts Kenton Ridge on Friday at 7pm.