Highlights: South Warren overwhelms Woodford; Boyle, Johnson Central to meet in finals
Woodford County’s historic season ended with a whimper Friday night in Versailles.
South Warren handed the Yellow Jackets, winners of a school-record 13 games, their first loss of the season in the semifinal round of the Class 5A KHSAA/UK Orthopaedics State Football Finals. The Spartans prevailed, 46-25.
A running clock went into effect with 4:40 remaining in the second quarter after South Warren quarterback Caden Veltkamp caught a two-point conversion from Mason Willingham, who caught the preceding touchdown to give the Spartans a two-point opportunity. Veltkamp, a Western Kentucky University commit, waved goodbye to the Woodford County side of the stadium — overflowing its capacity — after his score.
“Our team really thrives coming into a hostile environment and just being hated,” said Veltkamp, who threw two touchdown passes. “We’re used to being hated ‘cause nobody in BG likes us. We were ready for it.”
BG — Bowling Green — and its surrounding area has numerous high schools, but South Warren is the youngest. It opened in August 2010 and has twice played for state football championships; it won its first as a Class 4A school, 36-6, over Johnson Central in 2015. It held off Covington Catholic, 20-16, in a showdown for the 2018 Class 5A title.
Brandon Smith was the head coach of both teams. He’s now in his eighth year leading the Spartans, who improved to 13-1, their only loss coming against Hendersonville (Tenn.), early in the season.
Smith played at WKU and for his dad, Chuck Smith, at Boyle County. Chuck, who won six state titles in 24 seasons with the Rebels, is now an assistant on his son’s staff — when he’s not enjoying his retirement in the Sunshine State.
“He spends half the year in Florida and half the year here and he wanted something to do, so I got him to come out,” Brandon said with a laugh. “I think he’s ready to get out of here, but I’m gonna keep him around for at least one more week.”
Running back Kobe Martin scored two touchdowns for the Spartans, who led 46-3 at halftime. He finished with 147 yards on 10 carries, including a 78-yard TD scamper.
South Warren will play Frederick Douglass, a 35-7 winner over Owensboro on Friday, in the Class 5A final next Saturday at Kroger Field.
Mr. Football
Veltkamp figures to be in the running for this year’s Mr. Football award. After Friday, he’s thrown for 32 touchdowns and nearly 2,500 yards with just five interceptions on the season.
On Friday night, though, he lobbied against himself for the award.
“I could care less, honestly,” Veltkamp said. “I committed in June or July, whatever it was, for a reason — so that when it got to the season I could just focus on winning a state championship. We’re one step closer tonight.
“Mr. Football? Joe Humphreys should win Mr. Football. You can write that down and put it in the newspaper.”
Humphreys was the quarterback for Daviess County, which finished 11-2 after losing to St. Xavier in the Class 6A region finals on Nov. 19. This year alone he threw for 48 touchdowns and 3,940 yards while adding 17 touchdowns and 601 yards on the ground. He also scored six two-point conversions as a senior. Humphreys has reported offers from Akron, Army, Appalachian State, Miami (Ohio), New Mexico and Temple.
Class 6A
St. Xavier 31, Madison Central 21: Trailing by 14 points in the first half, the Tigers scored 24 unanswered to make their 18th state finals.
Brady Hensley scored all three touchdowns for the Indians, who were held without a score in the second half.
Tigers’ quarterback Jack Sivori led the rally with a 65-yard pass to Mekhi Smith and TD runs of 12 and 7 yards. Nolan Wolford’s 34-yard field goal put St. Xavier (13-1) up 24-21 late in the third quarter.
Male 48, Trinity 21: Junior Daniel Swinney rushed for six touchdowns — five in the first half — as the Bulldogs (13-0) cruised to their 17th championship appearance.
They built a 41-7 halftime advantage over the Shamrocks, the two-time defending titlists who defeated the Bulldogs in the finals the last two years.
Class 4A
Johnson Central 42, Franklin County 24: After ceding the lead on a 50-yard touchdown by the Flyers’ Kaden Moorman late in the third quarter, the Golden Eagles scored 21 unanswered points to advance to their sixth Class 4A finals in seven years. They won it all in 2016 and 2019.
Zack McCoart scored three TDs, including bursts of 68 and 91 yards. His 91-yard carry put Johnson Central (12-2) back in front 24-21 moments after Moorman’s score. Chase Price also scored two TDs for the Golden Eagles and Matt Crum tacked on a late score for the final margin.
The Flyers (10-4), last year’s state runner-up, got two TDs from Moorman and one from Gavin Hurst to go along with a 31-yard field goal by Easton Powell.
Boyle County 54, Logan County 16: Avery Bodner scored two touchdowns and Jagger Gillis threw for one and ran for another as the defending champion Rebels (13-1) reached their third straight finals.
Tommy Zeismer caught Gillis’ shovel pass for the opening score. Boyle racked up a running-clock 36-0 lead after Bodner’s second TD late in the second quarter. The Rebels led 44-0 at halftime after Will Alexander’s scoop-and-score fumble return from 31 yards out. Also scoring for the Rebels were Sage Dawson and Dalton Stone. Jackson Smith kicked a 35-yard field goal.
Davin Yates and Jesse Buchanan scored in the fourth quarter for Logan County (10-5)
Boyle County and Johnson Central last met in the 2019 finals, a game won by the Golden Eagles, 21-20.
Class 3A
Belfry 48, East Carter 26: Isaac Dixon rushed for four touchdowns and the Pirates (8-6) got a pair of TDs from Dre Young and another score from Zayne Hatfield.
East Carter (11-4) stayed in the game in the first half and took an 18-14 lead on Charlie Terry’s third touchdown, the last one a 75-yard breakaway.
But Belfry went on a 27-0 run from there to lead 41-18 on Hatfield’s 30-yard scoring run late in the third quarter.
The Raiders tacked on a Kanyon Kozee to Isaac Boggs TD in the fourth.
Belfry began the season 0-5 and was rated as the No. 14 team in Class 4A by the KHSAA’s RPI. Belfry won its seventh state title in 2019.
Paducah Tilghman 39, Glasgow 20: The Blue Tornado (8-6), with an RPI rating of 15, the lowest ranking among this year’s state finalists, never trailed the No. 2 Scotties (12-2) in a convincing road victory that sent Tilghman to its first state finals since 2009. Tilghman upset No. 1 Christian Academy-Louisville last week.
Jack James threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran in another score as the Tornado built a 32-14 lead early in the fourth quarter. Brian Thomas and Cam Marshall caught the TD throws. Linebacker Leyton Patterson had a late pick-six on a deflected pass to seal the victory.
Glasgow got TDs from Keiran Stockton, Andrew Phillips and John Carter Myers.
Class 2A
Beechwood 38, Mayfield 7: The defending Class 2A champ had little trouble in its semifinal, setting up a highly anticipated rematch of last year’s finals, which was decided in overtime. Lexington Christian Academy, the 2020 runner-up, won 58-0 over Middlesboro on Friday night.
Beechwood (14-0) piled up more than 350 rushing yards, paced by Mitchell Berger, a reserve who had 191 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.
Class A
Pikeville 36, Raceland 7: Blake Birchfield rushed for three touchdowns and Isaac McNamee dealt two through the air as the Panthers (13-2) rolled. They made the small-school finals for the third time in four seasons.
Birchfield finished with 189 yards on 22 carries. McNamee was 10-of-15 for 187 yards, his two TDs going to Wade Hensley (111 yards on five catches) and Zac Lockhart (74 yards on four grabs). The Panthers intercepted Raceland quarterback Logan Lundy, who rushed for the Rams’ lone score with 3:16 remaining in the game, three times.
Russellville 34, Bethlehem 21: The Panthers (12-1) qualified for their first finals since 1990, and fifth overall. Quarterback Lennon Ries twice connected with Anthony Woodward for first-quarter touchdowns — the second time a 58-yarder — to build a 14-0 halftime lead.
The Eagles (11-3) cut the deficit to 20-7 on a Cooper Stone to LaDarion Montgomery pass with 11:54 remaining in the game. And they turned back a Russellville score by recovering a fumble on their own 1-yard line with 8:21 left.
But Woodward returned an interception for a 1-yard touchdown to put Russellville up 27-7. The Panthers scored again with 2:33 left to make it 34-7 before yielding two late scores.
State championships
At Kroger Field in Lexington
FRIDAY
Class A: Pikeville (13-2) vs. Russellville (12-1), Noon
Class 2A: Beechwood (14-0) vs. Lexington Christian (14-0), 4 p.m.
Class 4A: Boyle County (13-1) vs. Johnson Central (12-2), 8 p.m.
SATURDAY
Class 3A: Belfry (8-6) vs. Paducah Tilghman (8-6), Noon
Class 5A: Frederick Douglass (13-1) vs. South Warren (13-1), 4 p.m.
Class 6A: Male (13-0) vs. St. Xavier (13-1), 8 p.m.
