‘They learned to dance at the party.’ Sayre punches first ticket to state finals.

The youngest football program in Lexington will be its lone representative at Kroger Field.

Sayre School, which relaunched varsity football in 2018 after dropping the sport in the 1970s, defeated Campbellsville 35-14 in the Class A state semifinals on Friday night. The Spartans (14-0) will meet Raceland (10-4) with a title on the line on Dec. 6.

It’s a rematch of their 2023 state quarterfinal, from which Raceland walked away with a 42-27 victory on Sayre’s field.

“This game’s a little personal for us,” said senior Charlie Slabaugh, who rushed for three touchdowns and had an interception in the win over Campbellsville. “We all remember last year.”

Raceland is the lone demon standing in a season wrought with Sayre exorcisms. The Rams racked up a bruising 443 rushing yards in last year’s showdown, an indicator that the Spartans weren’t quite ready to compete with the state’s proven Class A powers despite its gaudy win-loss records.

They’re ready now. After pulling away from Paris in round two and eliminating three-time defending champ Pikeville in the previous round, Sayre on Friday held the second-highest scoring offense in Class A to just 14 points (eight of them coming with about three minutes left) while putting up 35 on the division’s third-best scoring defense.

The Spartans rank No. 1 in both categories. That won’t intimidate Raceland, the runner-up to Pikeville each of the last two seasons. The Rams in their semifinal won at Kentucky Country Day 14-0 to eliminate what had been the No. 1 Class A team in the KHSAA’s RPI for most of the season.

“We had a great game last year, and here we are again,” Sayre coach Chad Pennington said. “This is what championship football is about. It doesn’t get easier; it gets tougher. So we’ve got to go back to work and do the best we can with our preparation, make sure our kids are focused and prepared, and keep our goal the same.”

Sayre’s ascension

In its first varsity season, Sayre’s lone win came against Jenkins, a tiny Eastern Kentucky school that struggles to keep enough players to field a team; this year, it voluntarily ended its season in early October. It won as many games the next year, this time with a shutout of Rock Creek Academy in Indiana.

But in 2020, the Spartans ran the table in the regular season before Pikeville routed them in the first round. Tougher schedules in 2021 and 2022 brought more losses, but also increased opportunities to experience highly competitive environments. By 2023, the program forged another undefeated regular season before succumbing to Raceland, and could reasonably expect to be in contention again with a group of high-impact seniors returning this fall.

If you haven’t been paying close attention, it might appear that it’s happened overnight. But Sayre’s seniors were barely out of elementary school when the foundation was poured.

“From where we started to where we are now, it’s incredible, you know?” said Ford Webb, who was part of Sayre’s first three football teams beginning in 2018. “We had like two guys who could bench more than 175 pounds on that first team.”

Ohio University commit Brock Coffman, a 1,400-yard receiver who’s scored 24 TDs this season, is just as much of a punisher on defense. His play is emblematic of the teamwide buy-in of the physicality demanded of championship-level teams, and the offseason discipline required to prepare yourself to weather a season that starts on 90-degree days and ends on 20-degree nights.

“Over the years, we’ve had a hard time with running teams,” said Brian Washington, Sayre’s defensive coordinator. “They realized that we can tackle and come to the party. And this year, they learned to dance at the party.”

In consecutive weeks, Sayre stopped its opponent from making a two-point conversion to take an early lead. Responding immediately to make those momentum-breaking plays is not something past Sayre teams could do with consistency.

Now it’s just another expectation for a team whose sights have been set on the highest prize since they toured Kroger Field on June 20.

“That’s one of those things we talk about, making those competitive choices to stay in the fight, even when you get jabbed,” Pennington said. “You’ve got to stay in that fight, and not just survive: You’ve gotta really step in and make great decisions to compete.”

Class A state championship

Sayre vs. Raceland

When: Noon Friday

Where: Kroger Field in Lexington

Records: Sayre 14-0, Raceland 10-4

This story was originally published November 30, 2024 at 8:10 AM.