‘You couldn’t ask for nothing more.’ Epic rally sends Bryan Station to state finals.

A season four years in the making came down to a 15-minute intermission for Bryan Station.

Down 14-3 at halftime, the No. 6 Defenders on Friday night unearthed enough points to topple No. 5 Ballard 24-21 and reach Kentucky’s Class 6A high school football state championship game. They’ll play Trinity, a 14-7 winner over Frederick Douglass in overtime across town, at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at Kroger Field in Lexington.

It was a reversal of fortune from last year’s semifinal round, when Station (11-3) lost a halftime lead at home to eventual state champion Bullitt East. Most of the players on the field in that game were on the field for this one, including quarterback Trenton Cutwright and receiver JT Haskins, whose 65-yard connection gave Bryan Station its first lead with 4:11 to play.

Haskins on the initial catch picked up about 5 yards and scurried from right to left on the crossing route. Demond Green, a freshman receiver, made the block that freed him for the decisive touchdown.

“As soon as I caught the ball, I saw my receiver right there blocking, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s over,’” Haskins said. “I just took it to the crib, looked back and saw nobody around me. I just thank the Lord for putting me in that position and allowing me to do the things that I can do.”

The junior receiver finished with 79 yards after Ballard (10-4) kept the ball out of his hands in the first half. Bryan Station couldn’t get its ground game in rhythm, either: At the break, it had one first down to Ballard’s nine, and negative 25 yards to the Bruins’ 154. The Defenders got their only first-half points on a 28-yard field goal by Zach Gentry after Green drew a flag for pass interference in the end zone.

After containing Ballard before and out of halftime, a penalty and a third-down fumble cost the Defenders their best field position of the night. But on the Bruins’ next play, Jason Hocker recovered a fumble for a return to the 5-yard line, setting up Kalen “Jaws” Washington for Station’s first TD five minutes into the third quarter.

“Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time moments,” Hocker said. “That’s all I was thinking.”

Ballard answered with a TD run by Journey Wyche, his second, to take a 21-10 lead with 9:18 to play in the game. A second flag for pass interference extended Station’s next drive, opening the door for a 32-yard run by Washington that was soon followed by a diving Cutwright TD with 5:59 to go. After yielding 3 yards on Ballard’s next play from scrimmage, Station relented no further after a false start pushed the Bruins backward. On the first play from scrimmage after an accidental touch on the punt nearly cost Station possession, Cutwright hit Haskins for the game-winning score.

“I think teams in the past may have laid down a little bit, but they just said, ‘Nah, we’re doing it,’” Defenders coach Phil Hawkins said. “Ballard had such a good plan for us.. … We couldn’t do it on the fly. You had to rearrange your whole game plan, and that’s what we did at halftime.”

Those adjustments called for more spreading out of receivers to help alleviate some of the pressure Cutwright and Washington received from Ballard’s defensive front. Washington got on track and was able to cross the century mark (106 yards on 22 carries) after being held to just 26 yards in the first half. Cutwright was 5-for-10 passing in the final 24 minutes after a 1-for-6 start.

Both lauded the defense for giving them an opportunity to rally.

“They played like dogs all night and got stops when they needed to,” Cutwright said. “We just made plays and won the game for them, but really it was all the defense. I gotta give it to ’em, it wouldn’t have happened without ’em.”

Wyche rushed for 99 yards to pace the Bruins, who gained nearly half of their offense (98 of 232 total yards) on their first two drives en route to a 14-0 lead with 11:55 left in the second quarter.

The come-from-behind victory was the latest chapter in a come-from-behind story. In the four years prior to Hawkins’ hire in 2020, Bryan Station had won 10 games — combined — and were five years removed from their last playoff victory. In his tenure, the Defenders are 41-11 overall and 10-4 in playoff games.

Now, they’re in the postseason’s final game for the first time since 1999.

“I feel like my four years of investment and these kids’ four years of investment has led ’em to this point. You couldn’t ask for nothing more.”

This story was originally published November 25, 2023 at 7:46 AM.