Lexington Catholic riding four-game win streak into Class 3A playoffs
Lexington Catholic experienced just about every emotion a football team could during the final 2:51 of its game versus Southwestern on Friday night.
Its final one was joy, elicited by the leg of Connor Fry after a 23-yard field goal sailed through the uprights to send the Knights home with a 23-22 win on their senior night.
Fry, one of the seniors who was celebrated, said he’d never kicked a more important field goal in his life.
“You just come out and you do what you do,” Fry said. “I have to give it to my team. They got me in that position and I was just doing my job.”
The victory-clinching play — snap by Kevin Brown, hold by Bo Bennington, kick by Fry — was set up by a 22-yard completion from freshman Beau Allen to Bennington with four seconds left. Southwestern called two timeouts before the Knights were able to attempt the kick and cap a rollercoaster evening.
Warriors quarterback Brandon Pruitt completed a 30-yard pass to sophomore JP Vaught to put Southwestern at LexCath’s 10-yard line with 2:51 to play.
LexCath senior Will Roden was injured on that play, initiating a delay of about 30 minutes until an ambulance arrived. He was talking and moving his extremities, Knights Coach Mark Perry said, and the hospital trip was of a precautionary nature.
Southwestern regained a lead, 22-20, on a 3-yard scamper by Treavor Brock with 41 seconds left. William Avina, who got the Warriors (7-3) on the board first with a 33-yard field goal in the opening quarter, couldn’t connect on the PAT which helped set up Catholic’s game-winning drive.
Lexington Catholic (5-5) took a 20-16 advantage early in the fourth quarter after recovering a goal line fumble in the waning seconds of the third quarter. Southwestern had chewed up nearly 11 minutes of clock before it coughed up the ball.
“They may wind up in the 5A state championship,” said Perry, whose team competes in Class 3A. “It’s a game that tested us in a lot of ways and I thought our kids fought back and they found a way to win.”
Allen finished 14-for-20 under center, including a 3-for-3 mark on the Knights’ final series. He finished with 206 yards and two TDs. Kirk Fagot, who also saw time at quarterback, was 3-for-4 and also threw a TD.
Ben Buchignani led LexCath with five catches for 113 yards and a score.
Vaught had 212 all-purpose yards for the Warriors, 139 coming on eight catches. Patric Edwards, a junior who leads Southwestern with 1,052 rushing yards this season, did not play. William Lemmon, the Warriors’ second-leading rusher with 448 yards coming into Friday, finished with 172 yards on 38 carries.
Lexington Catholic opens the Class 3A playoffs against Waggener at home next week. Southwestern hosts Letcher County Central in the first round of the Class 5A postseason.
“We’ve won four in a row,” Perry said. “To come in and beat a good football team tonight, I thought it was big. It keeps that momentum going.
“Next week we get into a win-or-go-home situation, so you want to be playing your best football going into there. I think coming out of tonight we learned some things and I like where our football team’s at.”
Josh Moore: 859-231-1307, @HLpreps
Lexington Catholic 23, Southwestern 22
Southwestern | 10 | 6 | 0 | 6 | — | 22 |
Lexington Catholic | 7 | 7 | 0 | 9 | — | 23 |
SW—William Avina 33 field goal; LC—Austin Pedroche 2 pass from Kirk Fagot (Connor Fry kick); SW—JP Vaught 43 pass from Brandon Pruitt (Avina kick); LC—Sam Hodges 17 pass from Beau Allen (Fry kick); SW—William Lemmon 3 run (rush failed); LC—Ben Buchignani 14 pass from Allen (pass failed); SW—Treavor Brock 3 run (kick failed); LC—Fry 23 field goal.
Records: Lexington Catholic 5-5, Southwestern 7-3.
This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 11:44 PM with the headline "Lexington Catholic riding four-game win streak into Class 3A playoffs."