KHSAA football playoffs: Star wrestler/QB returns from injury and Madison Central rolls

Carson Herbst has wrestled since he was 4 years old. The Madison Central sophomore has faced opponents from Tates Creek High School since seventh grade.

“I don’t think I’ve ever lost to one,” said Herbst, who as a freshman finished fifth in his weight class during the most recent KHSAA state championships. “So coming out here tonight, I was like, ‘They’re not gonna get me, not this time.’”

The mat on Friday night was turf, but the streak persisted: Herbst quarterbacked Madison Central in a 42-0 rout of the host Commodores in the Class 6A playoffs, dealing two touchdowns on four total passes and executing, with aplomb, every handoff, lateral and pitch needed of him in the Indians’ wing-T offense.

Senior running back Bryant Mathis was the most frequent beneficiary. He ran for four touchdowns and 100 yards on 10 carries. Cody Morrison, also a senior, caught both TDs from Herbst.

The Indians’ defense became only the second to hold Tates Creek without a point this season. Their offense outgained the Commodores 348-103.

Madison Central (6-4) lost its final three games of the regular season, all against district opponents, before a favorably situated bye week ahead of the playoffs. That was enough time for Herbst, who suffered a separated shoulder in a loss to George Rogers Clark, to rehab. Two-and-a-half hours of physical therapy a day, for more than a week, did the trick.

“If you made a game with thumbtacks, a rubber band and a jar of pickles, he’d win that game,” Indians coach William Blair said of Herbst. “He’s an extreme competitor.”

Blair noted the team’s offseason conditioning program, helmed by former Belfry High School standout and assistant coach Corey Chapman, as a major driver of its ability to withstand a tough schedule without many serious injuries; among its starting ranks from the season opener, only one player (linebacker Quincy Compton) didn’t start in its playoff opener.

Herbst’s resolve is just standard operating procedure at Central.

“Mental toughness is something you just don’t talk about,” Blair said. “It’s getting up at 6 a.m., doing a 45-minute workout, and going, going, going.” He admires Kara Lawson, the women’s basketball coach at Duke University, and often cites a mantra she popularized: Handle hard better.

“I love hearing her talk about that, and that’s what we preach,” Blair said. “That’s what we push, because after this, there’s a lot more harder things. Playing football is not the hardest thing they’ll ever do, I promise them that.”

A meaningful rematch

Madison Central scored a rare upset as a four-seed winning a first-round game, but it entered as the No. 10 team in Class 6A according to the KHSAA’s RPI. Tates Creek (6-4), which swept its district, was rated 13th overall.

Central’s three district companions — GRC, Frederick Douglass and Bryan Station — also won their playoff openers. The Commodores’ equivalents — Henry Clay, Lafayette and Paul Laurence Dunbar — also came up empty.

“It’s exciting,” said Blair, who improved to 2-0 in first-round games. “You got one, now move onto the next one. That’s all that matters.”

His Indians will make their second visit to Bryan Station in three contests; a trip there on Oct. 25 was their final game before the playoffs. Madison Central was without Herbst in that game but managed to play the reigning Class 6A runner-up to a 14-10 defeat.

The Defenders (7-4) on Friday night defeated Henry Clay 44-7. Kalen “Jaws” Washington rushed for 163 yards and three TDs. Station scored 37 unanswered to finish the Blue Devils (1-10).

Blair and Bryan Station head coach Phil Hawkins have coached against one another for years, starting when the former was a Trimble County Middle School and the latter at Frankfort. Central will benefit from having Herbst running the show, but Blair suspects Hawkins didn’t show his whole hand when the two squared off two weeks ago.

Hawkins, meanwhile, wants more out of an explosive offense that lost some fire in district play before reigniting its last two games.

“We’ve got to do better offensively than we did the first time,” Hawkins said. “I don’t think that was our best effort. But we only gave up 10 points, so it wasn’t a total disaster.”

Station earned a 35-7 win over Central Hardin, another wing-T team, at the end of the regular season. Hawkins hopes that gives his defense more confidence going into the rematch with Madison Central.

“The defense has got to be super disciplined and you’ve got to manage where that ball is. That’s the whole trick,” Hawkins said. “… I don’t know what else to tell ya other than the wing-T is a pain in the ass. The good thing about it is, we’re home.”

Tates Creek in 2025

Tates Creek found itself on the wrong side of an upset. The upside: Most of its key players will be back on the field next year.

Quarterback Darnell Burnside (17 TD passes), running back B.J. Evans (1,788 yards, 20 TDs) and twins J.T. and Luke Cooper (1,000 receiving yards and 13 TDs between them) headline a hefty junior class, which precedes a sizable sophomore group. The Commodores will be expected to win their district for a third straight season, but they have bigger goals than that.

Head coach Jonathan Hawks stared for a while at the scoreboard after a lengthy postgame huddle. He snapped a photo of it with his phone.

“It’ll light a fire underneath us,” Hawks said. “I don’t question God. The only thing I can do is come out and do what I know to do, which is go back to work. These kids understand what that means. We’ll come back, and we’ll be a better football team.”

Herald-Leader staff writer Jared Peck also contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 9, 2024 at 9:52 AM.