Highlights: Late field goal saves Bryan Station; LCA, Frankfort dominate
Bryan Station 9, Clark County 7: The Defenders (6-1) got pushed to the brink against district-rival Clark County (3-5), but they escaped with the victory thanks to Daniel Mufanzala’s 33-yard field goal with 34 seconds left in the game.
“I sure am glad our kicker can kick,” Bryan Station Coach Phillip Hawkins said, noting that Mufanzala had to kick the ball twice because Clark County called a timeout just before the snap. “They called a timeout to ice him and I thought, ‘Oh, he’ll never hit it again,’ and he stepped up and hit it again. He’s pretty good.”
Hawkins was less pleased with his team’s turnovers. The Defenders fumbled twice, once with a snap over the quarterback’s head at the 1-yard line trying to score. They also had an interception.
But it was a blocked punt in the fourth quarter that put the game in serious doubt. Clark County’s Hayden Heath got to the kicker and recovered the ball at the Bryan Station 7-yard line. Kareem Guerrant ran the ball in on the next play and the Cardinals took the lead 7-6 with 8:07 to play.
Bryan Station’s defense played well, holding the Cardinals to 127 yards of total offense and nabbing two interceptions.
“We just couldn’t move the ball on offense at all,” Hawkins said. “I’m hoping they got it out of their systems. … All you can do is get ready for next week.”
Lexington Christian 55, Washington County 0: The Eagles (7-0) scored 41 of their points in the first quarter to put this one away early. On LCA’s first snap, quarterback Drew Nieves connected with Xavier Brown for a 52-yard touchdown. On its next play, Nieves threw it for 61 yards to Mason Moore for another score.
Seconds later, Moore intercepted a Washington County (3-5) pass and returned it for a TD. LCA added TD runs by Jeffrey Selby (22 yards), Parker Chaney (34 yards) and Xavier Brown (27 yards) to establish the running clock mercy rule before the first quarter ended.
Pikeville 43, Sayre 7: Class A’s No. 1 Panthers (5-2) delivered a statement game against their new district rival, the No. 4 Spartans (6-1). Blake Birchfield broke away for TD runs of 55 yards to open the scoring and 71 yards to cap it for Pikeville.
Isaac McNamee threw TD passes to Grant Scott and Wade Hensley. Birchfield got a short-yardage TD to go along with Brayden Thomas’ 1-yard plunge.
Bourbon County 43, Anderson County 14: Clay Estes completed nine passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another 151 yards and two scores as the Colonels (4-3) picked up a district win over the Bearcats (2-5).
Bourbon’s Josh Moody ran for 170 yards and a touchdown. Marcus Floyd caught one of Estes’ TDs to go with 103 yards receiving. Cam Santiago got the other TD catch with Cam Ron Goodwin scoring from 15 yards out.
Madison Central 31, Oldham County 15: Brady Hensley rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns, including a 56-yard bolt in the fourth quarter to help seal the Indians’ (6-1) first district win since 2018. Madison Central also got big-play scoring runs from QB Hagan Harrison (45 yards) and Adrien Parks (75 yards) as the Indians racked up 391 yards of offense all from the run game. Sam Young threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Elkins and scored on a 7-yard run for the Colonels (6-1).
Woodford County 56, Madison Southern 20: The Yellow Jackets (7-0) got an important defensive stand in the third quarter and TD runs of 35 and 58 yards in the second half from Jackson Geilear to pull away from the Eagles (2-6) and break a seven-game losing streak in the series.
Geilear’s 35-yard score established a 28-14 lead in the third quarter and came after Woodford turned Madison Southern back on a fourth-and-goal play. Bryce Patterson threw two TD passes to Makhi Smith and another to Aden Nelson to go along with a goal-line plunge for himself.
The Eagles got an 86-yard bomb from Cole Carpenter to Jayshaun Ethridge to cut the lead to 35-20 in the third quarter, but the Yellow Jackets dominated from there. Stephen Whitehead scored on a pair of TD runs in the first half. Madison Southern standout receiver Walt Smith left the game with an apparent knee injury early.
Danville 41, Somerset 21: Mauri Brown scored three touchdowns for the Admirals (5-3), who also got an interception return for a TD and a TD catch by Corydon Crawford. Danville scored three TDs in the fourth quarter, including two from Brown and a 38-yarder by Keelan Story to pull away. Josh Bruner threw a pair of TDs and Guy Bailey got a 47-yard touchdown run for the Briar Jumpers (1-7).
Frankfort 53, Eminence 14: After an exchange of two touchdowns each in the first quarter, the Panthers (5-2) scored 37 unanswered points, racking up 565 yards of total offense along the way. Azeno Williams rushed for 200 yards and two touchdowns and Jaden Morgan added 197 yards rushing and two more scores, including a 47-yard scamper for Frankfort. Quarterback Sam Davis and wideout Larry Carter also added second half TD runs and the two combined on a 17-yard TD pass. Devantaye Saunders led Eminence (5-2) with 122 yards rushing and a TD.
Great Crossing 51, Montgomery County 12: The Warhawks (6-1) opened the second half with an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jacob Coulter and got two TD runs from Zach Morris and a 63-yard interception return for a TD by Cayden Allen to break the game open.
Collins 49, East Jessamine 13: Kenyon Goodin threw for 273 yards and four TDs and had 97 yards rushing and two scores for the Titans (6-1). Mark Hutzel caught two of those TD passes and led the team with 165 receiving yards. Tajii Jackson ran for 160 yards and a TD for East Jessamine (1-7).
Thursday’s game
Paul Laurence Dunbar 35, Tates Creek 26: A pair of Komarion Robinson TD runs and a Cole Colony 1-yard plunge in the third quarter helped the Bulldogs (3-4) turn a 20-14 halftime deficit into a district win over the Commodores (1-6).
Colony connected with Mason Hayslett on a 29-yard TD pass and got a 4-yard TD run in the first quarter, but Tates Creek answered with TD runs of 66 and 31 yards from Matthew Underwood and a 49-yard punt return TD from Laquan Newby for the halftime lead. Andrew Whitherington hit Ke’shon Douthitt on a 60-yard TD pass late in the fourth quarter for Creek to narrow the margin.
This story was originally published October 9, 2021 at 12:54 PM.
