‘It shows other people that they can do it, too.’ Kentucky history made in Ohio

In the history of its esteemed football program, Scott County had never beaten a team from Ohio’s Greater Catholic League. That changed Friday night.

The Cardinals went to Cincinnati Moeller and left with a 10-7 come-from-behind victory, the program’s fourth straight win to start the 2018 season. It was the first time Scott County defeated a large-division private school from any state.

“I can remember the first time we played Trinity in 2000, we scrimmaged them,” Scott County Coach Jim McKee said in a phone interview with the Herald-Leader. “There were about two minutes to go in the first quarter and it was about 35 to nothing, and I was like, ‘My gosh.’”

McKee recalled a message from one of his sons, Clay, in 2009 after Scott County lost 42-13 at Trinity in the Class 6A semifinals.

“He texted me something to the effect of, ‘I don’t know. Can we ever beat one of those guys? Do we need to try to go somewhere else?’” McKee said. “It’s a great feeling. I’m very proud of our kids.”

Scott County seniors Payton Brown, Glenn Covington and Bryan Hudson — a lineman who’s committed to Virginia Tech to play football and throw for the track-and-field team — played every snap of the game.

“They didn’t even think about playing anybody both ways,” McKee said. “It’s just an unbelievable effort by our entire team, and those guys, they had to play over a hundred plays tonight.”

Josh Giese kicked a 27-yard field goal with 5:54 left to give Scott County a 3-0 lead, which held into halftime. Moeller took a 7-3 lead on a quarterback sneak by Mitch McKenzie, a senior who’s been offered by Austin Peay, with 2:18 remaining in the third quarter.

Scott County answered with a 5-yard scoring run by senior Austin Barnett with 7:49 left in the contest and Giese’s extra point put the Cardinals up three. Scott County came up with fourth-down stops twice in the final 7 minutes. Barnett ran 21 yards — behind Brown and Hudson — for the game-clinching first down.

“What has happened to us in the past against these types of teams is we’ll make a couple key mistakes, get down a touchdown or two, settle in and sort of feel like you played with them,” McKee said. “Our defense played so well. We held them to seven points and that was big.”

The Cardinals out-gained Moeller, 279 to 170, and had a 273-79 advantage on the ground. Barnett accounted for 193 yards on 29 carries.

McKee said high school football’s “not everything,” but he didn’t want his players to lose sight of how special their victory was.

“When you’re 17 or 18 years old, it’s really important to our players,” McKee said. “I said, ‘There are very few chances that you get in your life to make a defining moment that you’ll always remember, and we did.’ These guys, when they look back 20 years from now, they’ll remember the night when we beat Moeller at Moeller. ...

“It’s awesome. It really is. For us, and for our state, and for big-school football. For 6A football, it’s important. It shows other people that they can do it, too.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2018 at 11:35 PM.