‘You’ve got to win some ugly ones.’ Boyle County gets defensive in win over LexCath.
The last time Boyle County and Lexington Catholic met, they combined for 100 points in the playoffs.
But Friday, defense held sway as the Rebels battled for an important 16-10 win over their district rivals at Rebel Stadium.
“Our defense really stepped up tonight,” Boyle County running back Avery Bodner said. “We came together as a unit and stopped them.”
Holding just a 6-3 lead at halftime with all the points coming from field goals, Boyle County (6-1) forced back-to-back three-and-outs on Lexington Catholic’s first two possessions of the second half and got a critical fumble on the next.
The first three-and-out was sparked by a Jagger Gillis sack of LexCath quarterback Jack Gohmann on second down for a loss of 8 yards. Gillis plays both QB and linebacker for the Rebels.
Boyle got the ball at midfield on the subsequent punt and drove far enough downfield for Jackson Smith’s third field goal of the night, this one from 21 yards. The Kentucky commit made field goals of 24 and 27 yards in the second quarter, the last giving Boyle the lead at the halftime horn.
A false start penalty in front of a boisterous Rebels crowd stalled Lexington Catholic’s next drive, eventually forcing another punt and giving Boyle County good field position at the Rebels’ 41-yard line. Boyle scored its only touchdown three plays later.
Gillis hit Cole Lanter on a 35-yard pass to the Lexington Catholic 24-yard line. A Bodner carry took the ball the rest of the way for a touchdown and 16-3 lead with 6:08 left in the third quarter.
“I give all the credit to my line,” said Bodner, who finished with 103 yards rushing. “They opened up a big hole for me, and I did the rest.”
But Lexington Catholic didn’t quit.
The Knights (5-2) drove 79 yards on their next possession. But as Gohmann stretched for the goal line on a third-and-goal from the 4, Boyle County’s Will Alexander jarred the ball loose from his grasp, sending it flying out of the end zone for a touchback. Boyle County took over at its own 20-yard line still holding a 16-3 lead with 42 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“We’ve got to play with great effort, which I thought we did tonight, but we’ve got to take care of some things that will change what the result will be,” LexCath Coach Nigel Smith said. “For us, it’s about bringing that same effort but being better in terms of our execution.”
The Knights forced a Boyle County punt and drove down the field again in the fourth quarter, getting a trick-play touchdown from close range as Gohmann tossed back to Max Degraff on what looked to be a reverse. Degraff reared back and threw it to Tanner Pedroche for a 3-yard score to cut the lead to the final margin, 16-10, with 5:08 left in the game. Degraff also kicked LexCath’s first-half field goal from 22 yards out.
Boyle converted four first downs on its final possession to run out the clock.
Though this was LexCath’s eighth-straight loss in the rivalry, the Knights held Boyle County well below its scoring average of more than 42 points per game and improved dramatically on the 40-0 regular season loss to the Rebels in the regular season last year.
“They played well on defense tonight against us,” Boyle County Coach Justin Haddix said. “We didn’t execute some things, but that’s a credit to them.”
The Knights kept Boyle County out of the end zone on five straight drives, forcing a fumble, a turnover on downs and three field goals. Still, Lanter caught for a game high 108 yards for Boyle, and Gillis threw for 227 yards with 41 yards on the ground. Gohmann completed 13 of 24 passes for 218 yards and ran for 41 yards, too, for Lexington Catholic.
“We didn’t finish drives in the red zone,” Haddix said. “And I’ll take some responsibility for some play-calling, and we turned the ball over, and we just did some things we don’t usually do. But you’ve got to win some ugly ones and some tough games, and we did.”
The six-point margin is the narrowest in LexCath’s losing streak. The Knights spotted Boyle County four touchdowns in last season’s district finals before closing the gap to 49-41. The rest of the games in the streak were Boyle County routs.
If both teams win the rest of their regular-season games, they’ll meet in the district finals again.
“We’re still off just a little bit,” Smith said. “We’ve got to improve a little bit more and get them back.”
