Boyle County shows resolve in surviving second-half rally by Lexington Christian
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Boyle County secured a 28-21 win over Lexington Christian with a late TD drive.
- Rebels defense held LCA at the 4-yard line to prevent a potential overtime push.
- Coach Haddix and team emphasize consistent effort and player-led leadership in 2025.
The Boyle County Rebels learned a hash lesson last November when Covington Catholic came into Title Town and stunned the 12-time state champions in the playoff semifinals to end a run of four consecutive Class 4A crowns.
On Saturday in Boyle County’s annual Rebel Bowl, Lexington Christian offered its opponents a refresher course in white-knuckle football.
This time, the home team passed the test with a go-ahead, fourth-quarter drive and last-minute defensive stand for a 28-21 victory.
“Everything matters. … We talk about putting teams away. We had a chance, I feel, to put them away. We didn’t do it, and we got into a battle,” said Boyle County head coach Justin Haddix, whose team built a 21-0 lead at halftime but saw LCA claw it back to a 21-21 tie with 8:03 left in the fourth quarter. “But we won, and it’s better to learn after this. It will be a learning film for us.”
Boyle County senior Darryl Yancey capped a 15-play, 66-yard drive with a 1-yard TD run to put the Rebels back in front and leave just 1:48 on the clock for LCA’s comeback attempt.
“That was the way to fight. We ran the ball down their necks,” said Yancey, who scored the Rebels’ first TD of the night from the same distance. “It was a fight to the end.”
Starting from its own 35-yard line after a kickoff out of bounds, LCA (1-1) threatened to send the game to overtime but Boyle County (2-0) stopped the Eagles short of a first down at the Rebels’ 4-yard line with 18 seconds left.
“We’ve just got to keep going, clean up our mistakes and get better,” said Boyle County tight end Seneca Driver, who had an interception that helped the Rebels put up back-to-back scores in the last 68 seconds of the first half. “At the start of the game, I think we did really well. But we just kind of let off the gas.”
A turnover helped Lexington Christian roar back
Down 21-0, LCA opened the second half with the first of three Daven Hood touchdowns.
Boyle looked like it would respond immediately, but JiDyn Smith-Hisel fumbled through the end zone as he got tackled near the goal line in a play similar to how the Rebels’ season ended last year when Mr. Football Montavin Quisenberry did the same on their final drive.
LCA didn’t score immediately, but it gained enough yardage to flip the field-position battle into its favor. Boyle had to punt on its next two possessions.
The Eagles took advantage of short fields to drive for Hood’s other two TDs to tie the game.
Looking back, Boyle squandered chances to pad its lead in the first half as an interception and a turnover on downs near the goal line helped keep LCA in the game.
“They got the momentum, and in high school sports, momentum is huge,” Haddix said. “I’m proud of our guys and the way they fought back there at the end with a big stop on defense.”
Eagles battled through injuries
Boyle looked to have Lexington Christian overmatched in the first half.
Early this week, the Eagles lost opening-day starting quarterback Carter Penix for the season to a knee injury. They were also without senior running back/linebacker Mac Darland, who suffered a separated shoulder in their win against North Hardin.
LCA got hit by two more injuries to starters Saturday as sophomore wideout Brady Couch went down in the first half and sophomore linebacker Thomas Sizemore, one of the team’s top tacklers, suffered a leg injury during Boyle’s game-winning drive.
Though sophomore QB Nash Whelan eventually found his footing, LCA’s offense struggled early as Boyle County built its three-score lead on TDs runs by Yancey and quarterback Baylor Murphy and a 15-yard Murphy pass to Lucas Akers with one second on the second-quarter clock.
By the end, there was no denying LCA’s heart and determination. The perennial Class 2A contender had come to Danville and beaten Boyle County in its Rebel Bowl back in 2021 in a game where it was also without its starting quarterback.
“I’m just about as proud of a group as I can be. We are as banged up as we’ve ever been here and our kids kept battling,” LCA coach Oakley Watkins said. “When we get everybody healthy, we’re going to be a football team that’s going to be a problem when it matters.”
Boyle County determined to get back on top
With a resounding 50-7 victory over past Class 6A champion Bullitt East last week, Haddix acknowledged his players might not have taken Class 2A Lexington Christian as seriously as it should have, especially after word got out about the starters it’d be missing.
Haddix said he thinks they’ll better remember his warnings now.
“We’ve got to come play every day in every game. Every play matters. That’s been the big thing this offseason,” Haddix said. “You’re talking about high school kids. You’ve just got to keep leading them to water. … We’re going to keep working every day to get better.”
This marked the first offseason of Haddix’s tenure at Boyle County where the Rebels hadn’t just won the Class 4A championship.
Senior quarterback Baylor Murphy said he and his fellow seniors are taking more responsibility this year.
“We’re a lot more player-led than coach-led. We have a lot more leaders this year and everybody’s listening to what we have to say,” Murphy said. “We have a grit to us. We definitely want it a lot more.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2025 at 1:12 PM.
