‘Just keep battling.’ Lexington Christian beats LexCath 49-42 in latest top-10 takedown.
Lexington Catholic forced a Lexington Christian turnover on downs at the 3-yard line early in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s 2023 edition of the “Holy War.” The Knights had, just minutes before, reduced the Eagles’ lead to a single score, and, following the defensive stop, appeared poised to tie the game with the ball at the 1-yard line.
But LCA (4-1), which would eventually earn a redemptive 49-42 high school football victory over Lexington Catholic (2-3), had other plans. “Momentum was starting to switch,” Lexington Christian head coach Doug Charles said.
The Knights hadn’t let the Eagles rest all night, striking first in the opening quarter and never allowing LCA to feel as though its lead was secure, even when trailing by 14 at multiple points throughout the game. Five separate Knights found the end zone Friday night, including LexCath senior quarterback Jackson Wasik who scored on a keeper in addition to throwing for 422 yards and five touchdowns.
And so, when Lexington Catholic lined up at the 1-yard line in hopes of capitalizing on that momentum by tying the game at 42, LCA’s defense held strong and forced a turnover on downs. The LCA offense then strung together a 99-yard touchdown drive over the next six minutes and 31 seconds to restore the Eagles’ 14-point cushion.
“(We) get back ahead by two scores,” Charles said. “Which, as you can see, both offenses could figure out how to score, so that was really important. That was a 14-point swing at a critical time.”
It was only natural that the victory-cementing touchdown was scored by star senior running back and Eastern Kentucky University commit Brady Hensley, who delivered five touchdowns and 248 rushing yards in the win.
“It meant a lot,” Hensley said. “Obviously, it’s a big rivalry. But we just kept our heads on, kept playing. You know, we faced some adversity, but like Coach said, ‘Just keep battling.’ And that’s what we did tonight.”
Hensley, who joined the Eagles this season as a transfer from Madison Central, has rushed for 16 touchdowns and 1,125 yards in LCA’s five games. He also recorded two receiving touchdowns in his debut with the Eagles in their 56-52 victory over Bowling Green.
“Brady is who they say he is,” Charles said. “He’s just a great player.”
In its win over Lexington Catholic, LCA also benefited from 248 passing yards and a pair of first-half rushing touchdowns from four-star senior quarterback Cutter Boley. The University of Kentucky commit, who was unable to participate in the 2022 Holy War because of an injury, had to sit on the sideline during last season’s game and watch the Knights defeat his team 42-6. This year, he was a difference-maker. And he did so in front of UK head coach Mark Stoops and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Liam Coen.
“It feels amazing,” Boley said of the win. “I didn’t get to play in the game last year, which I wasn’t very happy about. So coming into this year, this is definitely a statement game for me. It’s something I look forward to on the calendar and I definitely wasn’t gonna play an off game tonight. I was definitely gonna give it my all and everything. I feel like, all over the field, on offense, defense, we had people just playing really hard. So I was really proud of that.”
LCA is no stranger to playing a difficult schedule, but this season’s is particularly daunting. In addition to Lexington Catholic, the Eagles have now defeated 2022 Class 5A state runner-up Bowling Green, as well as 2022 state champions Pikeville (Class A) and Christian Academy-Louisville (3A). LCA also played a competitive game in its 47-38 loss to reigning Class 4A state champion Boyle County.
“We’ve learned more than I ever expected,” Hensley said. “I’ve never really played a super, super tough schedule, and not many teams have. This is a brutal schedule. And it’s taught us so much, I’m so thankful for it. All the teams we’ve played have been great, and they’ve challenged us.”
In the most recent edition of the Herald-Leader’s Dave Cantrall ratings, which ranks an overall top 25, regardless of class, Lexington Christian is the No. 13 team in Kentucky. This season, the Eagles have now beaten No. 7 CAL, No. 10 LexCath, No. 21 Bowling Green and No. 24 Pikeville, and lost to No. 4 Boyle County.
According to Boley, those challenges have pushed the Eagles to examine what does and does not work against some of the toughest programs in the state.
“We have completely changed some things, we’ve gone in,” Boley said. “It’s really allowed us to self-scout and kind of pick out some things that we weren’t doing so good in the beginning of the season, and we kind of got picked on for the last few games. So it was definitely helpful with that and allowed us to see what we could do better.”
Next up for Lexington Christian is a home game against Shawnee (2-3) on Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
