A ‘beautiful thing.’ Lexington Catholic football can see a path from 0-6 to state title.

Through six games this season, Lexington Catholic’s football team had as many wins as it started the 2024 campaign with: zero.

The Knights went 0-6 against the same six opponents against whom they finished 3-3 prior to the start of district play last year. Four of those foes — Boyle County, Corbin, Highlands and Lexington Christian — made at least the region finals last fall. Those four should all challenge for that achievement — or better — next month, and it won’t be shocking if Great Crossing and Madison Central join them in the mix.

LexCath’s district opener, a 62-7 thumping of Bourbon County following an energetic bye week, was a healthy reminder that, until mid-October, it’s entirely possible in Kentucky for a state-title challenger to be winless. And that’s exactly what the Knights (2-6) consider themselves.

“Our schedule is really hard, and each and every week we told ourselves, ‘Let’s just get better for the next week,’” said Brady Wasik, a junior. “So, in the long run, hopefully we will take it to state.”

Lexington Catholic demonstrated how much better it’s gotten — and what it still needs to clean up — throughout its latest outing, a 23-14 victory over Lloyd Memorial (6-2) on Friday. The Knights trailed 7-6 at halftime and 14-6 until late in the third quarter but took their first lead early in the final period and didn’t allow the Juggernauts to cross midfield again.

A field goal by Finnegan Wedding with 2:28 remaining sealed the win for the Knights, who overcame five turnovers — three interceptions and two fumbles — to move to 2-0 in district play. The decisive kick attempt, made on fourth-and-7 from Lloyd Memorial’s 12-yard line, was a strong vote of confidence in Wedding, who had missed his only two extra-point attempts on the night.

Catholic has another senior kicker in Charlie Spiller, who recently won the state golf title and was named Mr. Golf. Knights coach Nick Baisch had already decided that Spiller would take the next kick, should one be needed. But when the moment arrived, his gut felt differently.

“Finn has worked so hard, and he made mistakes,” Baisch said. “We preach all the time: ‘How do you respond to adversity?’ Well, I tell you what, that man put that ball through the uprights and he responded the right way. He could easily have put his head down, tucked it in and been done.

The resolve LexCath showed against the Juggernauts — who rode a six-game win streak and averaged 38 points per game coming into the bout — is, in all likelihood, more emblematic of the team it is than its stretch of defeats to kick off this season. The Knights twice kept them from scoring in the red zone, including a goal-line stand on fourth-and-inches before the end of the first half. Wasik, who scored the go-ahead touchdown on a pass from Matthew Kern, led the tacklers on that stop.

A trip to Pendleton County this week rounds out district play for the Knights, who last year made a run to the Class 3A state semifinals. It was their deepest playoff push since 2015, when they played for the 3A championship. Kentucky quarterback Beau Allen, a star recruit who played for the Knights, was in eighth grade that year.

Their overall record is worse, but the Knights’ expectation remains the same as it’s always been: go far.

“At Catholic, you expect to win, no matter who we’re playing on Friday night,” Baisch said. “When you’re 0-6, it’s easy to get off course. Losing becomes contagious. Hats off to our guys: We had three really, really tough practices during fall break and I think that turned us right and helped them understand that those first six games really don’t matter.

“That’s the beautiful thing about Kentucky high school football: You’ve just got to win your district. That’s the most important thing.”