‘A battle of inches.’ Boyle shows Corbin it plays defense too in Class 4A playoff showdown.
One minute remained in the third quarter of Friday’s high school football region championship game between Boyle County and Corbin, and the Rebels found themselves defending their red zone in a steady rainfall from a charging Redhounds offense that trailed by a touchdown and was desperate to tie the game.
After a series of penalties against both undefeated teams, Boyle County junior standout Montavin Quisenberry prevented a Corbin touchdown on third down. The Redhounds went for it on fourth-and-1 but the Rebels came up with the stop.
Neither team could score the rest of the way, and Boyle County (13-0) walked away with a 21-14 victory over Corbin (12-1) in a rematch of last year’s Class 4A state championship game won by the Rebels.
Friday night’s victory secured Boyle County’s fifth straight region championship and earned the Rebels a spot in next week’s state semifinals at Franklin County (13-0). The other Class 4A semifinal will send Paducah Tilghman (13-0) to Covington Catholic (13-0). Those winners advance to Kroger Field in Lexington to decide the state championship on Dec. 1.
The pregame hype suggested a battle between a Boyle County squad that averaged 47.5 points per game and a Corbin defense anchored by University of Kentucky commits Jacob and Jerod Smith that recorded six shutouts and allowed only 56 points all season.
Boyle County senior quarterback and Class 4A, District 7 Player of the Year Sage Dawson said that, while everybody talks about the Rebels’ impressive offense, his team’s defense is often overlooked.
“Everything was built up,” Dawson said. “So we just wanted to show them that we’ve got a good defense, too, just like our offense. So we came in, and then that stop was a big part of the game. … I think that shifted the whole momentum of the game.”
Through the first half — prior to the start of the rain — Boyle County and Corbin were dead even, trading punches in the form of impactful, standout performances on both sides of the ball.
Boyle County struck first, after a blocked punt by junior Brock Driver early in the opening quarter set the Rebels up for their first touchdown of the game: a short dive by senior Avery Bodner at the 5:59 mark. The Redhounds answered with a meticulous drive of their own which culminated in a 28-yard equalizing touchdown run by senior Zander Curry with less than a minute to play in the first quarter.
The second quarter was much the same, but saw the first of two scores from Quisenberry: a Herculean effort powering 12 yards in traffic against one of the strongest defenses in the state to put his team up 14-7 early in the quarter.
“Having Tavi,” Dawson said. “Or even Geo (Brown) or even Mauri (Brown), Avery, anybody like that on your team? I mean, it makes it easy. You throw the ball to Tavi, he makes one guy miss, I mean, it’s a touchdown. Even if you hand the ball off, I mean, it’s a touchdown. He’s a guy that’s gonna go make plays for you and make you look good, even if you don’t do something good. He’s a dawg.”
After Boyle forced a Corbin punt, Curry went to work on defense, intercepting a Dawson pass to set up the Redhounds at the Boyle 32.
Corbin rode that momentum to even the score with a 22-yard Carter Stewart touchdown reception from Kade Elam less than a minute later. Defense ruled the rest of the first half, with Demauriah Brown grabbing an interception for Boyle and Curry picking off another throw for Corbin.
“We knew it was gonna be a battle,” Boyle County head coach Justin Haddix said. “They got a great football team. And it came down as a battle of inches and, you know, just very proud of our guys. They way they responded. It wasn’t a great game by us, a lot of credit goes to them. And you know, we get another week, we get to live another week and that’s what we wanted.”
The final offensive dagger arrived around the 10-minute mark of the third quarter, when Quisenberry ran 59 yards to put Boyle County in front for good at 21-14.
“You can put me anywhere,” Quisenberry said. “You can count on me to do my job. I’m gonna go get it for my team. That’s really it.”
Haddix feels similarly, and cited a comment from Quisenberry at a team dinner when asked about the importance of the junior to his team.
“He’s a great football player,” Haddix said. “But he’s the same with everything else. He doesn’t care who gets the ball. He just wants to win and, ‘Hey, call my number.’ We had a talk at my house when we ate and we asked about what being a great teammate does. He said, ‘You know, I know when I get a chance to make a play, I’m gonna make it and y’all believe in me.’ Hey, I believe in him, too!”
This story was originally published November 18, 2023 at 10:42 AM.
