Friday’s high school football highlights: LexCath, LCA open with wins

A new star emerged for Lexington Catholic as it kicked off its campaign to return to the Class 3A finals on Friday night. In his first start at running back, junior Dameon Jones rushed for three touchdowns and caught a fourth to lead the Knights past Boone County 41-18.

After consecutive scoring drives gave the Rebels a 12-7 lead, Jones reeled off touchdown runs of 1 and 28 yards and hauled in an 11-yard strike from quarterback Kirk Fagot to put the Knights up 28-12 late in the third quarter. He closed the scoring with a 25-yard scamper in the fourth.

“Dameon Jones played really well, he had good vision and made some nice cuts and made some plays,” Lexington Catholic Coach Mark Perry said. “And, also, I thought our offensive line improved a lot from where we were in practice last week. Our whole offense grew up a lot tonight.”

Jones rushed 14 times for 86 yards, good for a 6.1 yards-per-carry average, and caught three passes for 31 yards.

Fagot was dialed in from behind center all night long. The senior completed 21 of 32 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns, hitting eight different receivers without throwing an interception.

After spending last year as part of a three-man quarterback carousel Fagot was the unquestioned starter heading into this season. Perry was pleased with his signal caller’s showing in the opener.

“Kirk was great out there tonight, he made a lot of good plays,” he said.

The Knights gave up some big plays on defense and special teams, including a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Rondell Douglas and runs of 72 and 62 yards by Corstin Cahill, who finished with 284 total yards for the Rebels. But Perry is confident the Knights can iron out the kinks.

“A lot of these guys, it was their first start, and there were a lot of things they did well and there are a lot of things that we’re gonna work on and get better at,” he said. “The guys came out and did what we expected of them so we’re happy to get this first win.”

Lexington Christian 32, Williamsburg 22: The Yellow Jackets put a scare into the Eagles on Friday, but two junior stars made sure Lexington Christian escaped Williamsburg with a win.

Williamsburg took a 22-14 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Alec Poore to Dalton Ponder. On the ensuing kickoff, Drayden Burton raced 96 yards for a touchdown to pull the Eagles within 22-20.

“Drayden was a big spark. It was huge to be able to get him behind that kickoff return to take that to the house,” Eagles Coach Ethan Atchley said. “We got our juice back and we were ready to go.”

Dillon Wheatley rumbled 78 yards for a touchdown on LCA’s next possession to give the Eagles the lead for good. The junior workhorse carried 17 times for 117 yards and a pair of scores.

“On that fourth quarter drive Dillon just did what he does best — finds the end zone,” Atchley said.

Hazard 42, Pineville 21: Clinging to a 21-14 lead after the third quarter, the Bulldogs rushed for three touchdowns in the fourth to score a road win against the Mountain Lions. Junior fullback Cory Smith had TD runs of 9 and 70 yards in the final frame. He finished with 224 yards and three scores on 25 carries.

Ethan Caldwell added a 45-yard touchdown pass and a 48-yard touchdown run for the Bulldogs. Tucker Woolam threw for two Pineville scores in the loss.

Pikeville 47, Prestonsburg 14: Wyatt Battaile was all over the field for the Panthers in their season-opening blowout win. The junior quarterback completed 12 of 18 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns, rushed for two more scores and added a TD reception from wide receiver Andrew McNamee.

Russell Co. 35, Green Co. 34: The Dragons jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter but couldn’t hold off Russell County in a nip-and-tuck affair. The Lakers took the lead in the fourth quarter on a 12-yard run by Mason Miller but Anthony Judd put Green County back ahead with a 3-yard score. Miller followed up with a 15-yard touchdown catch from sophomore quarterback Ben Abrell to seal the comeback in front of the home fans. Abrell also had a pair of 27-yard touchdown runs.

Ryle 31, Covington Catholic 13: Senior quarterback Tanner Morgan passed for touchdowns of 75 and 13 yards and added another score on the ground to lead the Raiders to a home win.

South Oldham 31, Anderson Co. 14: Ahead 14-7 after three quarters, the Dragons scored 17 points in the fourth to put away the Bearcats. Brandon Elsbury and Keaton Martin each had short touchdown runs.

McLean Co. 28, Breckinridge Co. 6: Trevor Turley rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another to lead the Cougars past the Fighting Tigers on the road.

This story was originally published August 19, 2016 at 11:54 PM with the headline "Friday’s high school football highlights: LexCath, LCA open with wins."