Douglass ‘hitting our stride at the right time’ in rout of Southwestern for region crown
Frederick Douglass hears the doubters.
Despite the notoriety of the star recruits, the Mr. Football, the Kentucky commits, the Broncos have come up short of the ultimate playoffs prize in each of their five years of existence.
There’s certainly no shame in that for a young program. But it’s a dull ache that throbs when setbacks come their way.
The only way to soothe it: Win.
“We’ve come up short so many times. Our coaches this week were just preaching ‘be physical.’ Come out here and let’s get to the next round. And thank God that we did,” said Ty Bryant, who pulls double duty on offense and defense for Douglass and rushed for 70 yards and two touchdowns in the Broncos’ 37-6 home playoff win over Southwestern on a chilly Friday night.
The victory earned Douglass (12-1) its third straight KHSAA regional championship and a spot in next week’s Class 5A state semifinals where they will face Owensboro for a third year in a row — this time at home on The Farm.
Douglass got a reality check in the last week of the regular season thanks to a humbling 34-7 loss to defending Class 4A champion Boyle County. They’ve responded with three blowout playoff victories.
“We felt like against Boyle County that we took that game for granted. We had to check ourselves. We really had to look ourselves in the eye and really had to find ourselves again,” Bryant said. “There was a lot of doubt and there’s going to continue to be a lot of doubt and a lot of naysayers, but I feel like this is another step forward.”
McPeek said he’s heard plenty about the Boyle County game. But he believes his players have taken the lesson to heart.
“We got humbled pretty good,” he said. “All the little things (we need to do) I think our kids really bought back into, starting with the playoffs. I think we’re playing our best football of the season, and we’ve just got to go prove it again next week.”
A year removed from a muddy, 21-20 slugfest that came within a two-point conversion of a Southwestern victory down in Pulaski County, Douglass took the initiative early after the Warriors failed to gain possession of an onside kick to start the game.
Douglass marched down the short field and took a 7-0 lead on TJ Horton’s 3-yard dive. Horton led the team with 123 rushing yards.
After Douglass turned Southwestern over on downs near the end of the first quarter, Broncos quarterback Samuel Cornett threw a quick pass to Dane Key near the sideline that the UK commit bulled from midfield to the Warriors’ 20-yard line. Cornett scored untouched on the next play on a nifty counter to put Douglass up 14-0 to start the second quarter.
“That was fun. I’ve been waiting on that all year personally,” Cornett said. “I had some amazing blocking out on the edge.”
Cornett, who recently accepted a preferred walk-on offer from Louisville, surpassed the 2,000 yards passing mark on the season with his first completion Friday.
“We feel like we’re hitting our stride at the right time here,” Cornett said. “We struggled early on in the season — offensively executing — but now we’re getting what we want and we’re taking it when it’s there.”
Cornett mixes in short screen throws to his wideouts with an occasional deep ball. Against Southwestern, the screens routinely picked up chunks of yardage.
“Those guys — Cam Dunn, Dane Key, Tylon Webb, Jakari Cowherd, all of our guys — those are playmakers,” said Cornett, who completed 12 of 18 passes for 126 yards. “ They’re 10 times the athlete I am. When you have dudes that can run 4.4, 4.3, why not get them the ball quick and get them in space and get going.”
Southwestern got the ball to start the second half, but pressure from the Douglass defense induced an intentional grounding penalty that backed the Warriors up to their own goal line. The Broncos tackled the next play for a loss and a safety that put them up 16-0 less than a minute into the third quarter.
Moments later, Bryant pounded in a 5-yard touchdown for his first score and a 23-0 Broncos lead. Douglass would tack on another TD after a Horton breakaway and fumble that was recovered in the end zone by Thomas Howard. Bryant scored from 26 yards out in the fourth quarter to put Douglass up 37-6. Southwestern (11-2) got its touchdown on a 65-yard run by Tanner Wright in the fourth quarter.
Next, No. 2 Douglass hosts No. 3 Owensboro (12-1), the school that knocked the Broncos out in the semifinals last year. No. 1 Woodford County hosts No. 4 South Warren in next week’s other Class 5A semifinal.
While the Red Devils do not have standout quarterback Gavin Wimsatt (who bolted to Rutgers after the third game of his senior season), they also do not seem to have missed him much, reeling off 11 straight wins, including a 56-12 rout of Bullitt Central on Friday.
The visiting Broncos spotted Owensboro 21 points in last year’s semifinal and Cornett threw a pair of interceptions early before Douglass rallied. Douglass lost 28-27 after a potential game-winning field goal sailed wide as time expired.
“It’s amazing that we get to go play them,” Cornett said. “That’s a game we want back really bad. Every day at practice, we have 27-28 up there on the scoreboard. So, we’re ready to play. We’re just going to game-plan real well and give it our best shot.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 8:28 AM.
