Lexington Christian football back in the championship mix despite losing several stars

Can a team be better after losing two Mr. Football finalists? Lexington Christian Academy is trying to find out.

There’s not a four-star quarterback on the roster, nor a punishing tailback who could rack up 200 yards in his sleep. But LCA (7-2) against a similarly loaded schedule has just one more loss heading into its regular season finale than in 2023, when quarterback Cutter Boley and running back Brady Hensley scorched defenses before heading off to UK and EKU, respectively.

The contributions and talent of both were immense, and their transfers into the program (Boley in 2022, Hensley in 2023) boosted an already proven senior class at LCA. Come November, though, the Eagles still came up short. Their season, which started with wins against three teams that went on to win their respective state titles (Bowling Green, Christian Academy of Louisville, Pikeville) and a narrow loss to a fourth (Boyle County), ended in the Class 2A quarterfinals at Mayfield, 58-36.

A Class 2A crown has eluded LCA since Doug Charles took the reins in 2019, but no team in the division has come so achingly close in its pursuit. A game-winning field goal try hit an upright and doinked short before a blocked extra-point in overtime put the 2020 title in Beechwood’s hands. The Tigers took it again the next year after converting a field-goal try in the waning minutes. A four-and-a-half hour trek to Paducah got the better of the Eagles in 2022 and 2023.

“Last year we beat three teams that won a state championship,” Charles said. “We just couldn’t win our own.”

Resolute Eagles

Saxton Howard, formerly a wide receiver, had the unenviable task of succeeding Boley at quarterback. He’s far from the ball-slinger that he replaced — through nine games he’s attempted just 89 passes for 908 yards and nine TDs — but Howard’s decision-making is just as savvy.

And he has a leg up as a runner: Howard, one of 11 senior Eagles, has rushed for 14 touchdowns and 622 yards, averaging 69.1 yards per game. That production combined with that of fellow senior Leland Edwards (107.5 ypg, 11 touchdowns) has gone a long way toward mitigating an offensive cliff-fall; LCA is averaging just four fewer points per game than it did last season.

A quartet of future college linemen — Jake Darby (uncommitted), Brooks Kerwin (Gardner-Webb), Hayes Preston (Air Force) and Trefor Thomas (Navy) — is what constitutes “star power” for LCA this fall. The “Big Blue Wall” near Alumni Avenue might have collapsed, but a replica was built off Reynolds Road.

“Some people just stay with their same scheme, but to me, you should adapt it to your players and you want to see those guys have fun,” said Oakley Watkins, LCA’s offensive coordinator and associate head coach. “Saxton’s having a blast and our o-line’s taken ownership of the fact that teams know we’re going to run the football.”

Ryan Timmons, a star receiver at Franklin County and UK, started coaching running backs at LCA this year. It was an exciting challenge for the young coach.

“We had Brady last year, so the task I had was filling some big shoes,” Timmons said with a laugh. “Adding that pressure to it allowed me to focus even more. It gave me even more motivation to do better and be there for this group of guys.”

It’s gone over well for all parties.

“If I asked them to write a two-page paper tomorrow on Raceland, I’d have it at the beginning of practice,” Timmons said. “The accountability and maturity from this group of guys, their understanding of the bigger picture, has been great. They’re respecting the game.”

The RPI conundrum

In all likelihood, if LCA advances through the regional round, it’ll have to make another long westward trip the week of Thanksgiving in order to play for a state championship the following week.

In part, that’s due to how the KHSAA’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) system for football rewards teams who defeat opponents in higher classifications, even if those teams aren’t that great. A “game value” multiplier is applied to each win earned by a team that “plays up,” and that value increases based on class sizes. A team’s RPI position determines postseason hosting in the third and fourth rounds.

LCA’s two chief rivals in the west, Mayfield and Owensboro Catholic, typically play a schedule stuffed with Class 4A, Class 5A and Class 6A schools that, more often than not, finish with middling to bad records. In seven such wins this season between the two programs (four for Owensboro Catholic, three for Mayfield), those opponents are a combined 24-37, and only two of them have winning records (Greenwood and McCracken County were 5-4 heading into the final week of the regular season). Those multipliers add up as long as a team takes care of business.

On the flip side, losses — even those to teams likely to make deep playoff runs — generate little in comparison. Boyle County and Franklin County, both Class 4A foes against whom LCA lost in back-to-back weeks to open the season, are undefeated and qualified for at least the state semifinals each of the last four seasons. On the field, it’s ultimately better for a team like LCA to see how it measures up against high-quality foes, even if it loses. As far as the computer formula is concerned, though, it’d almost always serve the Eagles better to play a solid Class 6A team.

“For five out of the last six years, we’ve played the toughest non-conference schedule in Kentucky football, according to RPI,” Charles said. “Philosophically, we learn more from losing to Boyle County by three touchdowns than playing somebody we can run the clock on. It’s not their fault really, but the KHSAA’s got a bit of a quandary with this.”

To help rectify that starting next season, LCA is ending two series it’s had with Pikeville, the three-time defending state champ in Class A, and Raceland, the team Pikeville beat in the last two title games. It replaced those with games against Manual (8-1 this year) and North Hardin (7-2). Even a split against those opponents — who have combined for one state semifinal trip in the last five seasons — would be more beneficial to the Eagles’ RPI cause than wins over Class A’s top two squads.

“At the end of the day, football is a fickle, fickle game,” Watkins said. “You see that in so many ways, it really is a game of inches. These guys know whatever they can control, that’s all we can do. We’ll hopefully come out on top when it’s all said and done.”

Regardless, the goal always is to beat whoever’s in front of you — wherever you’re playing them. Timmons put it in perspective.

“It’s all right,” he said with a laugh. “We’ve got gas money.”

Friday

Raceland at Lexington Christian Academy

When: 7:30 p.m.

Records: Raceland 6-3, LCA 7-2

Next week: First round of the KHSAA playoffs

This story was originally published October 31, 2024 at 8:32 AM.