How LCA rallied from a 13-0 deficit to top Lexington Catholic in closing seconds
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- LCA defeats Lexington Catholic 28-21 with a last-minute touchdown pass.
- Quarterback Nash Whelan scores three rushing TDs and threw the game-winner.
- Both teams enter bye weeks before starting district play on Oct. 3.
Players and coaches might tell you the annual meeting of Lexington Christian and Lexington Catholic on the football field is “just another game on the schedule.”
The jammed parking lot, grandstands and sidelines will tell you something else.
So will the chrome helmets the host Lexington Christian Eagles donned for the first time Friday for their visitors from down Clays Mill Road.
Call it the Holy War, the Bible Bowl, whatever. This fairly recent rivalry (12 meetings since 2005) has delivered some all-time classic games and Friday’s 28-21 LCA win at its White, Greer & Maggard Stadium added to the lore.
After LCA’s defense forced a punt with 1:21 left in a game tied at 21-21, sophomore quarterback Nash Whelan led the Eagles 76 yards in seven plays that included a 42-yard pass to sophomore Jeremiah Burbage and was capped by a 22-yard touchdown pass to senior wideout Tyler King.
Moments later, LCA students stormed the field in celebration.
‘I knew he was down there somewhere’
The play call was a “screen and go,” and King got a step on his defender in the process. He dove for Whelan’s pass in the back right corner of the end zone and reeled it in to help put LCA up by a touchdown with 14 seconds on the clock.
“I knew he was down there somewhere, so I threw it and let him go get it,” said Whelan, who did most of his damage rushing with 91 yards and the Eagles’ first three scores, TD runs of 5, 16 and 2 yards.
King threw his praise to Whelan.
“I got a great ball by our quarterback,” King said. “We’ve got such good chemistry. He knows where to put it all the time.”
Only a few minutes earlier, it looked like Lexington Catholic would pull out the victory after an LCA defensive penalty helped keep what would be the Knights’ fourth-quarter, go-ahead drive alive. An unsportsmanlike flag turned LexCath’s fourth-and-17 near midfield into a fourth-and-2 that it managed to convert.
One play later, Jack Wedding broke a 34-yard touchdown run to help put Lexington Catholic up 21-14 with 6:57 left.
King kickoff return shifts momentum
After avoiding kicking the ball to LCA’s King all night, Lexington Catholic let the ensuing kickoff find his black No. 1 jersey. King swung to the right and up the sideline for a 74-yard return that also swung the momentum back to the Eagles.
“We know he’s a dog and once he gets the ball in his hands, he can do special things,” Whelan said.
It took six plays for LCA to score from 24 yards out. Whelan pounded in the game-tying touchdown from the 2 to make it 21-21 with 4:20 left.
Lexington Catholic’s next drive stalled at the LCA 44, forcing an angled punt out of bounds that set up LCA’s game-winning drive.
“In big moments like that, you want to put the ball in your best players’ hands,” LCA coach Oakley Watkins said. “Tyler and Nash did that last week in the fourth quarter, and we just had an extra point blocked. So, today, we were able to finish it and play the next play.”
Lexington Catholic (3-2) looked like the better team early as it took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter on a pair of Brady Wasik touchdown passes — 25 yards to Duncan Gaunce on the Knights’ second drive and 7 yards to Mark Hosinski with 3:06 left in the first quarter. The second TD’s extra point was blocked.
Each team threw an interception and each lost a fumble, but Collin Hensley’s second half interception of LexCath’s Wasik on the Knights’ own 24-yard line proved the most costly as it led to Whelan’s second score that put LCA up 14-13 with four seconds left in the third quarter.
Coaches emphasize each team’s resiliency
LCA leads the series with Lexington Catholic 7-5 and has won three straight. Five of the 12 games have been decided by a touchdown or less.
“That was a great football game,” LexCath coach David Clark said. “Both teams played extremely hard. I was really pleased with the resiliency that our kids showed. We had a lot of kids go down, and we had some kids that stepped up. They gave it all they had and that’s all we can ask for.”
Lexington Christian (2-3) was ranked No. 4 in the latest Kentucky High School Football Media Poll despite some tough losses to a series of top-ranked teams from other classes — Class 4A No. 1 Boyle County, Class 3A No. 1 Christian Academy-Louisville and Class 4A No. 3 Franklin County.
“If we don’t play the schedule we play, I don’t think we win that football game,” Watkins said. “But that’s why you do it — resiliency. It comes from repetition and competition.”
Both LCA and Class 3A No. 3 Lexington Catholic (3-2) have bye weeks before they begin their district schedules. LexCath goes to Garrard County and LCA travels to Louisville’s W.E.B. DuBois on Oct. 3.
This story was originally published September 20, 2025 at 7:49 AM.
