‘Everyone was locked in.’ Douglass avenges last season’s loss to Boyle County in a rout.
It took exactly five plays to know that this Frederick Douglass-Boyle County football game would not be like the last one.
1. Boyle County rush for no gain.
2. Boyle County pass incomplete.
3. Boyle County pass complete for no gain.
4. Punt.
5. Frederick Douglass 58-yard touchdown run by TJ Horton.
Horton took the handoff and ran around the left end of the offensive line into unencumbered green turf with the help of a downfield block by wide receiver Tylon Webb.
“It was pure space, man, and I just ran,” said Horton, a Ball State commit who led the No. 2 Broncos in rushing with 130 yards Friday in their 34-7 win over No. 8 Boyle County in Title Town. “I felt like I had it deep in the backfield, and I said ‘gone.’”
Douglass wanted payback
A year ago in Lexington, it was the defending Class 4A champion Rebels who handed Class 5A’s No. 1 Broncos an embarrassing 34-7 loss a week before the playoffs. Boyle took the initiative then and a 21-0 first quarter lead.
“We talked all year about getting our lick back on them,” said Douglass’s Ty Bryant, a Kentucky commit and two-way standout who scored on TD runs of 7 and 19 yards in the second half. “They came to our field on our Senior Night and did us really dirty, man. So, we’ve been taking an extra step every single day to at least do the same way they did us.”
The Douglass defense held Boyle County to a single yard in the first quarter as the Broncos built a 16-0 lead thanks to a field goal by Cooper Ranvier after a Jeremiah Lowe interception on the Boyle County 32 and, later, a 40-yard touchdown pass from Cole Carpenter to Tate Johnson seven seconds into the second quarter.
“We had been planning for that and getting that matchup. We just took advantage of it,” said Carpenter, who threw for 124 yards and two touchdowns, the other a 6-yard misdirection pass across the field to Cameron Dunn on Douglass’s first drive of the second half. “Our coaching staff had a great game plan and really prepared us well.”
Douglass racked up 233 rushing yards with Devaun Hart and Ty Bryant sharing carries with Horton.
“All of our backs ran hard,” Douglass Coach Nathan McPeek said. “You’re not going to break it 60-70 (yards) all the time because that’s a good defense. … I think you saw in the second half that we started to bust those 4- and 5-yard runs to 8 and 9.”
Boyle found some success
Boyle County quarterback/cornerback Sage Dawson sustained an injury on the Johnson touchdown catch as he made the tackle in the end zone. Avery Bodner, a regular starter at running back, took on the QB duties the rest of the game.
Bodner’s first series at QB was Boyle County’s most successful. He led a nine-play, 80-yard drive that included a 32-yard pass to Jakei Carter, a pass interference call to put the Rebels in striking distance and then a 24-yard option pass from Montavin Quisenberry to Keenan Stewart to cut the Douglass lead to 16-6 with 7:37 to play in the second quarter.
Douglass did not give up another long drive again until it was up by the final margin with 5:58 left in the game.
“Everyone was locked in,” Bryant said of the Douglass defense. “No one had less than two hours on film this week, and that’s what we love to see.”
This marked only the third home loss for the Rebels since 2016 and it was their worst loss at home since Southwestern topped Boyle County 28-7 in Danville back in 2006.
“We got in the hole,” Boyle County Coach Justin Haddix said. “You look, two touchdowns we’re down and it’s tough when you play a good team if you’re not ready to play. Give them credit. They did a great job. They’re a really good football team. And we knew that before.”
Looking toward playoffs
Despite the loss, Boyle County (8-2) maintained its No. 2 RPI rating in Class 4A behind Corbin and ahead of Lexington Catholic thanks to its stronger strength of schedule. Now comes time to focus on a third straight state title.
“Things happen. You learn from them,” Haddix said. “Everybody’s 0-0, right now.”
With the win, Douglass (10-0) assured itself of the No. 1 overall seed going into next week’s Class 5A playoffs. That means as long as Douglass remains alive in the postseason it will host every game leading to the championship game at Kroger Field in December.
Douglass will face Conner at The Farm next Friday. The goal is to get back to the state championship for a third time in four years and take home the top prize.
“You just focus on it. That’s all you can do, day-by-day,” McPeek said. “We’ve got to go back to work and get back in here on Sunday and get ready for Week 1 of the playoffs.”
