Highlights: Wacky botched punt goes for Lexington Catholic TD; Pikeville demolishes LCA
Lexington Catholic 41, Tates Creek 0: What looked like a disaster on the Knights’ first possession turned into a wild 60-yard scoring play that probably has to be seen to be believed (it’s on PrepSpin’s YouTube channel).
LexCath wide receiver/kicker Max DeGraff turned into a quarterback when a punt snap sailed over his head on a fourth-and-28. DeGraff retreated to his own 12-yard line and threw a desperate, but on-target pass to Max Bertrand, who caught it at the 32 and ran it to Tates Creek’s 30-yard line before fumbling. Teammate Bennett Williams scooped up the fumble, though, and returned it the rest of the way for a touchdown.
DeGraff, who received college offers from Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky this past week, also caught a 50-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Wasik just before halftime and kicked field goals of 32 and 25 yards as the Knights improved their record to 5-1.
LexCath held Tates Creek (1-5) to 128 total yards and only 23 yards rushing. LexCath’s Walker Hall rushed for 65 yards and two TDs. Wasik had another TD pass to Corbin Perry.
Pikeville 60, Lexington Christian 21: Blake Birchfield rushed for 339 yards and six touchdowns as the No. 15 Panthers (3-2) dominated the visiting No. 17 Eagles (2-4).
The powerful Pikeville run game gashed LCA for TD runs of 64, 80, 23 and 40 yards by Birchfield and a 65-yard breakaway by Isaac Duty.
Birchfield also had one Pikeville’s three interceptions against LCA sophomore quarterback Cutter Boley.
Pikeville took its opening drive 60 yards, capped by a Birchfield 2-yard score, then turned back the Eagles’ first possession on downs as LCA could not convert a fourth-and-3 at Pikeville’s 15-yard line.
Boley’s first interception late in the first quarter came deep in LCA’s own territory and was returned to the 3-yard line by Peyton Sayers. It took Pikeville two plays for Duty to punch it in. The big defensive play came on the heels of Birchfield’s 80-yard scamper and Pikeville led 28-0 with almost three quarters of the game left to play.
Boley threw for 383 yards and three TDs. Parker Chaney led LCA’s receivers with 138 yards, while Will Nichols had 118 yards and Evan Brown had 86 yards. Each caught a scoring pass. LCA mustered only 35 yards rushing.
At the game, Pikeville honored class of 1979 alum Doug Charles, LCA’s head coach, with induction into its Pikeville High School Sports Hall of Fame. The full hall of fame class will be honored in a dinner ceremony on Oct. 21 and includes its 1989 championship team.
Paul Laurence Dunbar 21, Russell 14: The Bulldogs stopped a potential tying touchdown drive less than a yard short on their own 5-yard line with 1:28 to play.
On a fourth-and-6 play, Russell QB Ethan Pack threw a short pass to Carson Patrick but Dunbar’s defense didn’t allow the first down. Dunbar Coach Wes Johnson told the Ashland Daily Independent his team anticipated the moment.
“I bet my house over there with the chain guys that the ball was gonna go in (Patrick’s) area,” Johnson said. Dunbar took a knee to close out the game.
Dunbar’s Cole Colony stepped in for an injured Ethan Teall at quarterback and threw for 226 yards and three TDs, including an 85-yard play to Trae Berry that put the Bulldogs (2-4) in front in the fourth quarter.
Colony served in the QB role last season. Teall played one series but was taken out after taking a sack and limping off the field. Teall had been nursing an injury suffered in their Sept. 9 game against Frederick Douglass, Johnson said.
Jakobe Biggerstaff and Jaden Commodore also had TD catches for the Bulldogs. Russell (0-6) got 253 yards rushing and two TDs from Colby Rock.
Bryan Station 50, Lafayette 6: Zechariah Dabney returned the opening kickoff 64 yards for a touchdown and the Defenders (2-3) ran roughshod from there, building a 43-0 lead over the Generals (0-6) by halftime.
Trenton Cutwright connected on TD passes of 50 yards to Damin Green and 9 yards to Larry Wilkerson in addition to having a 10-yard TD run. Jeremiah Mundy-Lloyd, Bayubahe Benit and Javari Burnett also scored.
Lafayette (0-6) got a 44-yard touchdown run by Nehemiah Jarber early in the fourth quarter that accounted for nearly half of the Generals’ 91 yards of total offense.
West Jessamine 53, East Jessamine 25: Jacob Jones’ weaving 80-yard TD run early in the second half broke open what was an exciting, close East-West clash to that point. Jones accounted for all seven Colts’ (3-3) scores with TD passes of 65, 48 and 46 yards to Dalton Carter, 34 yards to Gabriel Smith and 15 yards to Isaac Maynard. Jones also ran in TDs of 18 and 11 yards. East Jessamine (0-6) hung in early thanks to a 90-yard touchdown return of the opening kickoff and an 82-yard TD burst from Shawn Reed.
Harlan 50, Sayre 42: In a matchup of 3-1 teams in Class A, Harlan (4-1) emerged victorious in a game that featured more than 90 combined points.
Sayre (3-2) led 28-22 at halftime on the back of three first-half touchdowns by sophomore Brock Coffman, including a kick return touchdown. The Spartans also led 35-30 entering the fourth quarter, but the back-and-forth affair continued to swing each way in the forth quarter.
Freshman Caden Jones put Sayre up 42-38 with a go-ahead touchdown with five minutes to play, but Harlan won the game with 18 seconds left on a touchdown run by junior quarterback Donovan Montanaro.
Senior Robert Sanford also had a 58-yard interception return touchdown for Harlan in the final seconds of the game.
Boyle County 65, North Hardin 14: Boyle County (6-0) stayed perfect on the season against North Hardin (3-3). Boyle County now has a state-best 19 straight wins after a dominant offensive performance.
Boyle County led 37-14 at halftime after touchdowns in the opening half by sophomore Montavin Quisenberry, sophomore Brock Driver, star junior running back Avery Bodner and senior running back Dalton Stone.
Among the second-half scores for Boyle County were another touchdown by Bodner and a scintillating punt return score by Quisenberry.
Pulaski County 55, Whitley County 13: A standout performance by senior quarterback Brysen Dugger helped the Maroons (5-1) to an impressive home win against Whitley County (1-4).
Dugger completed 13 of his 19 pass attempts for 196 passing yards and five touchdowns.
Senior Chandler Godby and sophomore Harris Denmyer each had two receiving touchdowns for Pulaski County.
Godby had a hat trick of touchdowns on the night, also taking a kickoff back 88 yards for a score.
Southwestern 48, Lincoln County 0: Southwestern (5-0) stayed perfect on the season in a shutout home win over Lincoln County (1-5).
Despite only running 25 plays (compared to 58 for Lincoln County) and only having the football for about eight minutes in the game (compared to nearly 40 minutes of possession for Lincoln County), Southwestern was efficient in its scoring.
Southwestern totaled more than 200 passing yards and more than 130 rushing yards in that short span of time.
Junior Collin Burton was a perfect 5-for-5 passing for 88 yards and four touchdowns. Senior Roger Oliver was 5-for-6 passing for 128 yards and a touchdown. Sophomores Braxton Walters and Kaeden Flores each had rushing scores for Southwestern.
Hazard 14, Ashland Blazer 7: Ryan Dean’s interception with under a minute left in the game set up Max Pelfrey’s 7-yard TD pass to Landon Smith to win it for in the first meeting between these two eastern Kentucky programs since 1975. Pelfrey hit Max Johnson for a 68-yard catch and run in the first quarter. Ashland quickly answered with a 39-yard scoring strike from LaBryant Strader to Terrell Jordan, but that was it until the final dramatic moments.
Collins 27, Madison Southern 18: Kenyon Goodin rushed for 219 yards and two TDs to go with 126 yards passing and a TD throw to Darius Evans as the Titans (4-1) got an important district win. AJ Higgins also scored for Collins. Jayshaun Ethridge had a TD catch to go with Juan Rodriguez’s TD run and Avery Davidson’s 37-yard field goal for Madison Southern (1-5).
Berea 54, Jackson County 0: A shutout win for the Pirates (2-4) over winless Jackson County (0-6) was largely thanks to the standout efforts of senior Yamil Cruz, who had five touchdowns in the game, including a punt return score. After Cruz’s punt return score gave Berea a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game, he piled on four more rushing touchdowns.
This marked the second straight year that Berea has shut out Jackson County. Also scoring touchdowns for the Pirates were senior Koty Roberts and junior Cameron Thompson. Roberts had two touchdowns: a rushing score and a fumble return score.
Covington Catholic 14, Cooper 7: Evan Pitzer’s 89-yard TD pass to Leen Owen put the Colonels (5-1) in front late in the second half and ended the scoring for the game as CovCath held on for its fifth straight win. Pitzer also had a 23-yard TD pass to Noah Johnson in the first quarter. Cooper (2-3) had a 3-yard TD pass from Cam O’Hara to Austin Alexander to tie the game midway through the second quarter.
Bell County 56, McCreary Central 24: Daniel Thomas and Dawson Woolum each topped 100 yards rushing again for the Bobcats (4-1) in a rout. Woolum had TD runs of 48, 19 and 9 yards while Thomas had 59-, 13- and 7-yard rushing scores to go with a 65-yard TD reception from Blake Burnett. Hagan Neal also had a 41-yard TD run for Bell.
St. Xavier 13, Trinity 8: Trevor Havill completed a 56-yard TD pass to Zach Marks early in the fourth quarter to put the Tigers (4-1) ahead and their defense helped it stand by frustrating the Rocks (3-3) in the red zone all night. Trinity settled for two Kellan McLaughlin field goals and had one blocked in the second half.
Conner 17, Boone County 14: Brennan Kahle threw a 14-yard TD pass to Will Nagel, to go with a rushing touchdown and a 27-yard field goal by Andrew Herron, for the Jaguars (2-3).
