Bryan Station proves ‘anything’s possible’ with historic win over Trinity
Something amazing happened Friday night on the Northside. Bryan Station claimed its first region championship in 23 years.
And the scoreline, Bryan Station 10, Trinity 7, would shock even the most casual observer of Kentucky high school football.
The Defenders (10-3) took down Class 6A’s 800-pound gorilla, the 27-time KHSAA champion who is not supposed to lose to anyone, much less a team from Lexington.
“The kids have bought in here at Bryan Station. And that’s all it takes. Once you buy in, anything’s possible,” said JT Haskins Sr., the defensive coordinator who played a key role in the Defenders’ previous win over Trinity as a player in 1999 — also the last time Station won a region title. That Bryan Station team went on to finish as state runner-up.
Bryan Station’s offense, defense and special teams each played a significant role Friday. It was an all-around win that would make any coach proud.
“We know about our kids’ willingness to find a way to win,” said head coach Phillip Hawkins, who’s now earned 10 wins in all three of his seasons at the school. “Our kids are scrappy. They’re scrappy enough to win a game like this.”
Trading touchdowns and turnovers
Trinity (8-5) scored first, getting the better of the field-position battle that played out over three punts on the game’s first three possessions. Drew Allen capped a 14-play, 59-yard drive with a touchdown from inches away on fourth down to help put the Shamrocks up 7-0 with 8:52 left in the second quarter.
Station answered immediately. Defenders quarterback Trenton Cutwright gashed Trinity’s defense with a 44-yard scramble to set up a first-and-goal from the Rocks’ 10-yard line. Three plays later, he rolled left and dove for the goal-line pylon to help tie the game 7-7 with 4:43 left until half.
Perhaps neither run was Plan A for the play called, but Cutwright has a pretty good Plan B.
“Just seeing that nothing was open and trusting my legs,” Cutwright said of his scrambles. “Coaches tell me that I’ve got playmakers at receiver but I’m a playmaker, too. So, I’ve just got to trust my legs sometimes, get us down the field and set us up in a position to score.”
Bryan Station forced a punt on Trinity’s next possession and got the ball back at midfield. But Caleb Ricks’ interception of Cutwright’s pass in the end zone denied a scoring opportunity just before halftime — at least for a moment.
Two plays later, Station’s Dahvon Frazier sacked Allen, forcing a fumble that was recovered by his brother Jahvon Frazier at Trinity’s 8-yard line.
Hawkins had two timeouts left, but his plan to pound in a go-ahead score faltered as running back Jeremiah Mundy-Lloyd was stopped short three times, the last at the 1-yard line as time ran out. It could have been a costly mistake, but it was a gamble Hawkins made with the support of his players.
“They came to me and said, ‘We want to run it in, Coach,” Hawkins said. “I said, ‘OK. Let’s try. … You’ve got to invest in your kids, some, in situations like that. … In the end, it worked out.”
The big kick and the big lick
Another series of punts started the third quarter with Bryan Station getting the field-position advantage this time. Starting at their own 35, the Defenders’ second drive of the half included a fourth-down-and-4 conversion that Cutwright gained by drawing Trinity offside with his snap cadence. On the next play, Cutwright scrambled for 28 yards to the Trinity 12-yard line to set up the go-ahead score.
Zachary Gentry, who had attempted only two field goals all year, booted through a 35-yarder for a 10-7 Bryan Station lead with 2:21 left in the third quarter. He’s 3-for-3, now.
“He nailed it,” Hawkins said. “We got him from the soccer team. We’ve been teaching him. This is his first year at it, and he did what he’s supposed to do.”
Trinity responded with its longest drive of the game as Allen and running backs Clinton Sansbury and Jeremiah Lynn took turns pounding out yards to set up a first-and-goal at the Bryan Station 7-yard line.
However, Lynn’s next burst up the middle was met by a cracking hit from Bryan Station’s Kyzaun Butler at the 1. The ball popped loose. Bryan Station’s Maishaun Baker-Thomas recovered it in the end zone for a touchback with 10:27 left in the game.
“We knew that our defense was pretty good,” Hawkins said. “They’ve been letting us put running clocks on teams. Tonight, when they had to be their best, they were their best.”
Last chance for the Shamrocks
Trinity got the ball back near midfield two minutes later. But back-to-back incomplete passes, one to a wide open Noah Meyers in the end zone, stalled the series and forced a field-goal attempt from 45 yards. Kellan McLaughlin, the Rocks’ leading scorer and top place-kicker in the state, missed wide right.
Station got the ball back at its own 20 holding a 10-7 lead with 5:42 remaining. Trinity’s offense didn’t see the field again.
Cutwright converted a third-and-12 with an 18-yard pass over the middle to Dahvon Frazier. And he converted a fourth-and-4 at Trinity’s 40 with another snap-cadence offside. Hawkins relished that one.
“From the outside in, people would say Bryan Station would be the one getting drawn offside,” Hawkins said. “So, it’s nice to see Trinity jumping for once and not Bryan Station.”
Mundy-Lloyd took it from there, rumbling for 28 of his 116 yards on the final drive.
“We love that kid and we ask a lot of him,” Hawkins said. “People know what we’re going to do. When you run this offense, they know we’re coming downhill. He’s getting the ball and everybody’s going to him and he just barrels and barrels and barrels.”
And he doesn’t mind. Mundy-Lloyd’s last 5 yards, on a fourth-and-5 with 53 seconds left, earned the first down that sealed the game.
“It was tough on them boys, they usually stop the run. I just kept grindin’,” Mundy-Lloyd said. “Coach gave it to me and I just kept doing it. … Believe me. I like that.”
Next Friday, Bryan Station will host Bullitt East (12-1) in the Class 6A UK HealthCare Sports Medicine State Football Semifinals. The winner goes to Kroger Field to play for a state championship.
For now, though, there’s time to savor a historic win for the program.
“I can’t even explain it. … It feels great to get that back to the community, to the school,” Cutwright said. “And we’re on to the next.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 7:37 AM.
