‘We know what we’re about.’ Boyle County proves pedigree in rout of Frederick Douglass.
The cold, late October rain had barely soaked into their uniforms before Boyle County delivered what amounted to a first quarter knockout of its big city opponent on Friday night.
The defending Class 4A champion Rebels stunned previously unbeaten Class 5A No. 2 Frederick Douglass with three unanswered TDs in the first 11 minutes on their way to a comprehensive 34-7 win on the Broncos’ Farm.
“We just came out here and played Boyle County football. That’s all it was,” said quarterback Jagger Gillis, who threw for two TDs and ran for two more. “We’re not shocked at this outcome. We played our game. Throughout the week, we just focused — offense and defense — we played our part. We stuck to the game plan and it paid off for us. We’re not surprised. We know what we’re all about.”
After an exchange of punts gave the Rebels the ball inside Broncos’ territory, Gillis opened the scoring with a 4-yard TD run midway through the first quarter.
The Rebels then recovered an onside kick to keep the pressure on.
“Because it was rainy, we wanted (kicker Jackson Smith) to put it on the ground, and we said, ‘If you can hit somebody on the front line, hit him.’ And it happened,” Boyle County Coach Justin Haddix said. “Jackson Smith’s a good kicker, he does a good job and our guys made a play. It was a total team win — offense, defense and special teams, they all made plays.”
Moments later, Gillis tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Cole Lanter in the corner of the end zone with 4:18 left in the first.
On the Broncos next series, Sage Dawson intercepted Douglass quarterback Samuel Cornett on the Boyle 13-yard line and returned it 50 yards to tee the Rebels up in Douglass territory again. Avery Bodner ran it in from 3 yards out for a 21-0 lead with 1:09 to play in the first.
“We prepared for a great team. We played a great team. We came out and we executed and we came out on top,” said Lanter. “It was beautiful.”
Lanter, a senior who is Boyle County’s leading receiver, got his other TD in the second quarter as the Rebels extended their lead to 27-0. He came open after a hard sell of a slant route that he pivoted the other way into the front corner of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown.
“We tried to think of ways to get open because Ty Bryant, their safety, is tough, and their corners are really good, so we just tried to think of double moves and different route combinations that could get me open along with my other guys, and it just worked out perfectly,” Lanter said.
Lanter’s highlight reel continued as he delivered a pancake block on the edge that freed running back Avery Bodner for a 44-yard breakaway to the 1-yard line in the third quarter. Gillis scored two plays later.
Then, in the fourth quarter in his role as a cornerback, Lanter thwarted a Douglass score by knocking the ball away from celebrated receiver Dane Key in the end zone on a fourth-down play. Key, a 6-foot-2 four-star recruit heralded as one of the top wideouts in the nation, committed to Kentucky a day earlier.
“Obviously, (Key)’s great. We knew that,” Lanter said. “We kind of game planned around him. We had to shut him down along with every other athlete on the field.”
Even though Lanter’s stats outstrip Key’s this season, at 5-11, he hasn’t received the same level of recruiting interest. That didn’t matter between the lines Friday.
“That’s what you dream of as a kid — going up against one of the number one recruits in the state, a kid who just committed to UK. That’s awesome,” Lanter said. “To be able to make that play, I just want to thank God. I couldn’t do it without him.”
Next, Boyle County (9-1) will host Anderson County (2-8) in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs, while Douglass (9-1) will host Montgomery County (4-6) in the 5A playoffs. Both games are scheduled Thursday.
“We’re going to humble ourselves and get back to film and see what we did and see what we need to work on,” Gillis said. “Playing this game, we wanted to see what we were about going into the playoffs. And this just builds up our confidence to keep rolling through.”
As good as the offense played, Boyle County’s defense left its mark, as well, allowing Douglass only eight first downs and 209 total yards. Boyle won the time of possession battle, too, controlling the ball for 31:13 to Douglass’s 16:47. Douglass scored on a 10-yard pass play from Cornett to Cameron Dunn late in the third quarter.
“You hold that bunch to seven points, I don’t care if it’s in a snowstorm or whatever you’re going to do — holding that bunch to seven points is big,” Haddix said. “Defense always wins, especially in these late (season) games when it’s cold and rainy. You’ve got to be able to play defense and run the ball. And we did that tonight.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2021 at 8:43 AM.
