‘Elite’ Frederick Douglass defense snuffs all hope of Scott County upset
When Frederick Douglass Coach Nathan McPeek has referred to his defense this season, the adjective “elite” has come up just about every time.
And his Broncos have been walking that talk. While Douglass has given up four touchdowns in the five games it has taken the field (one game was forfeited), those scores have mostly come during garbage time with the Douglass victory long since decided.
Friday night in a 41-0 win against district rival Scott County at Birds Nest Stadium, the No. 3 Broncos shut down and shut out a Cardinals offense that had averaged 26.4 points and 292 yards per game.
“Our defense was phenomenal,” McPeek said. “The offense executed well, too, but coach (Jeffrey) Poe and our defense — we’re elite on defense — we’ve got a lot of good players and they’re well coached. They run to the ball well. We’ve just got to stay healthy and continue to get better.”
The Broncos held No. 16 Scott County to minus-3 yards in the first half and only allowed six first downs all game, the first early in the third quarter due to a penalty and the rest during Scott County’s last possession, which came after the mercy-rule running clock had started. That 12-play, 64-yard drive accounted for about two-thirds of Scott County’s total yardage, but it ended with a Frederick Douglass interception by JD Dixon at the Broncos’ 6-yard line.
“It was lovely man. Everyone was on their P’s and Q’s,” said senior safety Ty Bryant of his defense, which also held Scott County without a completed pass in nine attempts. “That’s a lot of hard work and preparation coming into this week.”
Scott County Coach Jim McKee called Douglass’s defense one of the best he’s ever faced.
“The only defense we’ve gone against that compares to it would be Trinity’s (2012) defense when we played them up there in the semifinals (a 21-14 loss) and maybe (Cincinnati) LaSalle,” McKee said.
After a halting start with a three-and-out on offense on its first drive, Douglass let loose on its second possession with a 71-yard touchdown bomb from Cole Carpenter to Tylon Webb to open the scoring and help put the Broncos up 7-0 early in the first quarter. The Broncos’ offensive coaches noticed Scott County’s safety favoring the run, making the Cards vulnerable to a pass over the top, McPeek said.
“Tylon made a great play and Cole made a great throw,” McPeek said. “Offensively, we have a lot of weapons. … Our receivers are pretty good and they can make you miss.”
Douglass scored on six of its next eight possessions with a 53-yard punt return by Cameron Dunn, a pair of short-yardage TDs by Davaun Hart, a powerful 18-yard run by Ball State commit TJ Horton and an 11-yard run by Bryant, a Kentucky commit, who had 58 all-purpose yards as an offensive threat and special teams returner.
“They’ve got Division I guys to throw it to and Division I guys to hand it to. And they run behind Division I guys,” McKee said. “And the back end of their secondary … find me a secondary that had two Kentucky offers, one Kentucky commit and a Michigan offer in the same secondary in the last 30 years.”
Horton’s score came despite having his helmet yanked pretty hard by the face mask midway through the run. Horton kept his legs moving through the face-mask tug and powered in for the touchdown.
“He’s a beast man. I tell him if he can play like that and run like that and be consistent, he can help us win a championship,” McPeek said. “He’s that special of a player. He’s just got to be consistent in his approach. It was a great run and a credit to him, because we didn’t block anybody on that play.”
The new cross-district playoff format installed this year means Scott County won’t have to face Douglass (6-0) early in the postseason as it has had to do each of the last three years.
“We’ve got a pretty good team. I like our team,” McKee said. “We’re 4-1. “We’ll evaluate where we are health-wise and Monday at 2 o’clock, we’re going to bang them weights and move on. We can’t beat them, right now. We need to take care of business so we don’t have to see them again unless it’d be in the finals. And that’s up to us.”
The Cardinals next take on Great Crossing in the Battle of the Birds and also have district games against Grant County and Montgomery County in the coming weeks before taking on No. 5 Ballard and No. 9 Lexington Catholic to close out the regular season.
Douglass also has Grant County, Great Crossing and Montgomery County ahead over the next four weeks before traveling to No. 4 Boyle County to take on the Rebels in a rematch of a humbling 34-7 Broncos loss last season.
“The chemistry is crazy right now,” Bryant said. “We all want to do it for each other. And it comes from practice. We all compete daily, so everyone knows when we step on the field on Friday nights ‘I’ve got your back and you’ve got my back.’ We’re going to work hard.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2022 at 7:10 AM.
