‘We have threats everywhere.’ Seven players score as Woodford routs district rival.
With a win Friday night, Woodford County could lock up a top seed in its district, assuring home-field advantage at least through the second round of the Class 5A high school football playoffs.
The Yellow Jackets could also secure only the third eight-win season in at least the last 30 years of the program. And as for when the last time Woodford County started a football season 8-0, it would take a dedicated researcher and a lot of high school yearbooks to root that out.
Never mind that. The Yellow Jackets aim to make more history, regardless, after a 64-21 win over Collins at Community Stadium on Friday in which seven different players scored and the defense — after a bit of a lapse in the first half — shut down one of the state’s most prolific offenses and junior standout quarterback Kenyon Goodin.
“Coming out at halftime and being able to get stop after stop against a kid like that who can just do it all by himself means a lot,” Woodford County quarterback Bryce Patterson said. “It really got our offense going. Early on in the game we had it, but we kind of got complacent. We just had to get back to what we do best and go at them.”
It looked like a Woodford rout early as running back Jackson Geilear capped off the opening drive with a 37-yard touchdown run followed by a defensive stop at midfield, a Patterson 2-yard TD plunge on the next drive, an Aden Nelson interception and a Patterson TD pass to Jaxson Bugg. Woodford led 21-0 with not even eight minutes played in the game.
But Collins (6-2) settled down and Kenyon Goodin began to show why he’s one of the top players in the state. Goodin led an 82-yard drive capped by a 5-yard keeper for a TD to cut the lead to 21-7. Then he recovered Collins’ onside kick on special teams before completing a 37-yard TD pass to Elijah Scott a minute later. After a Collins defensive stop forced a punt, Goodin found Darius Evans behind the defense for a 42-yard score to tie the game at 21 with still 6:55 to play in the second quarter.
Woodford responded with a Preston Stacy TD to make it 27-21 late in the second quarter after a missed extra point.
“They’re a really good football team and they came back like champions and tied us up,” Woodford County Coach Dennis Johnson said. “We had to go back to the drawing board and we got after them pretty tough at halftime about some of the stuff we needed to do, and the guys came back and responded.”
Woodford ranks as one of the state’s best defenses, allowing only 13.3 points per game and netting 20 sacks entering the night. Defensive lineman Grant Garrison notched two more quarterback takedowns against Goodin, including the one that forced a fumble on Collins’ first drive of the second half. It proved the major turning point of the game. Stacy recovered the fumble.
“Our pass rush started getting to him,” Johnson said. “We’ve got six good pass rushers and we can put Preston in there as well. My brother (assistant coach Derrick Johnson) and myself pride ourselves on teaching those guys how to rush the passer. I think Grant’s one sack from a school record.”
Facing fourth down and 7 on the Collins 26-yard line, Woodford nearly squandered the turnover, but Patterson found Makhi Smith over the middle at the goal line for his second TD pass of the game and a 35-21 lead midway through the third quarter.
“Bryce is a college quarterback. He’s 6-3, 210 and can throw the ball,” Johnson said. “He threw a seed to Mahki Smith.”
It was all Woodford after that. Patterson threw another TD pass, (36 yards to Jacob Jackson), Geilear broke 26 yards for his second TD, Jackson picked off Goodin and returned the interception 35 yards for a score and Christian Bowling ran one in with the second team to set the final margin and complete a run of 43 unanswered points.
“Our O-line have been working their butts off all week long, and I can’t believe that they just opened everything up for our entire offense,” said Geilear, who led the team with 127 rushing yards. “All around, we’re firing on all cylinders … I love it. It gets everybody in the game and makes it where our opponents can’t really scout against us. … We have threats everywhere.”
Goodin finished the game with 257 yards passing and 52 yards rushing, right at his averages, but the Titans’ three turnovers held them below their 44.7 points per game pace. While disappointed, Collins Coach Jerry T. Lucas said he was encouraged by the grit his team showed in the second quarter, and his team could get another shot at Woodford if each made it to the district finals.
“They played everybody (on defense) within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage and kind of challenged us and the system that we run,” Lucas said. “We need to make those plays over the top … and we did some … but you’ve got to make those plays.”
With two games left in the regular season, Woodford will face East Jessamine and Simon Kenton with hopes of maintaining its Kentucky High School Athletic Association No. 1 RPI rating, which could give the Yellow Jackets home-field advantage all the way through the playoffs until the finals reach Kroger Field where another top 5A team like Frederick Douglass, Owensboro or South Warren might await.
“We’ve just got to take it one week at a time,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if we’re playing our best football. I hope not. We’ve got a lot of stuff to clean up. We know if we’re fortunate enough to make it to that point, we’re going to have to play above our heads to play with some of those teams.”
