‘We don’t break.’ Sayre football shows resilience in win at Louisville Holy Cross
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- Sayre has rallied from deficits, adjusted at halftime and closed games with resilience.
- Gage Pennington and Caden Jones led scoring and key defensive plays to win.
- Sayre improved to 5-1, are at No. 3 in Class A RPI.
During its Class A state championship campaign last season, Sayre smoked most of its regular-season opponents on the way to a remarkable 15-0 record and the school’s first high school football title.
This year’s version of the Spartans hasn’t displayed the same kind of dominant form. They’ve made more mistakes. They’ve faced deficits. They’ve looked fraught at times.
But the same team that gave up a 99-yard, game-tying drive to media poll No. 6 Louisville Holy Cross (4-2) to start the second half Friday night also kept its head and denied a scrambling 2-point conversion try that could have put the host Cougars in front.
Then, No. 5 Sayre (5-1) scored 14 unanswered points the rest of the way en route to a 34-20 road win.
“We bend, but we don’t break. Some people think scoring is breaking, but that’s part of the game of football,” said senior corner/running back Caden Jones, who scored twice and got part of a key fourth-quarter sack that led to a Holy Cross turnover on downs to set up Sayre’s last scoring drive. “We go back to the sideline and talk to our coaches and just make those adjustments, because at the end of the day, we know we can play a high level of football.”
First half filled with breakdowns and touchdowns
The Spartans overcame a first-half fumble and a number of defensive penalties. A roughing the passer flag helped keep Holy Cross’ first scoring drive alive on a play that would have resulted in a fourth-and-12 to go. Holy Cross QB Jerek Hoover tied the game on a short run moments later. Midway through the second quarter, an illegal block during an interception return negated Sayre’s pick six.
“One of our core values is resiliency,” Sayre coach Chad Pennington said. “I told them I love their heart. Sometimes, I don’t like their mind. They make me mad with some of the decisions they’re making right now, but their heart, their work ethic is unbelievable.”
The Spartans’ defense broke down when Holy Cross’ Hoover hit a wide-open Jayden Smith for a 68-yard touchdown pass to put the Cougars up 14-7 with nine seconds left in the first quarter.
Sayre answered on its next snap.
Junior quarterback Gage Pennington threw a swing pass into the left flat to Jones that the senior turned up the field for a 63-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 14-13 at 11:46 in the second quarter. The extra-point attempt failed.
Later in the second quarter, Sayre scored despite the penalty on Will Moore’s interception near midfield. Jones’ 1-yard TD plunge capped a 55-yard drive to help put the Spartans up 20-14 at halftime.
Sayre turns up intensity on offense and defense
In the third quarter, Sayre responded to Holy Cross’ 99-yard scoring drive with a series capped by Hudson Ward’s 1-yard TD run for a 26-20 Spartans lead with 27 seconds left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing Holy Cross possession, Sayre’s defense stiffened, turning the Cougars over on downs at the Spartans’ 42-yard line.
Spartans junior quarterback Gage Pennington, the third Pennington brother to take snaps for their father, converted a third-and-7 play with a 31-yard scramble. He later called his own number again on a designed pass play he rolled out of and pulled down for a 6-yard TD run. His 2-point conversion put Sayre up 34-20 with 3:37 to play.
“You just keep going, you know,” Gage Pennington said. “It’s great having people like Caden, Hudson and Harrison (Phillips, who scored Sayre’s first TD) that you can lean on in the run game. Ultimately, it’s our resilience and how we work in practice that made it happen.”
Beau Perry’s interception moments later sealed the game.
Jones led the Spartans with 126 yards rushing and 95 receiving with a TD each way. Pennington completed 10 of 12 passes for 137 yards. Perry and Phillips led Sayre in tackles with eight each.
Sayre, now No. 3 in the KHSAA’s Class A RPI Standings, lost its only game this season in Week 1 against No. 1 Kentucky Country Day. The Spartans trailed 14-0 at one point in the first half, but rallied to tie it before KCD squeaked out a 31-28 road win thanks to a field goal with seven seconds left.
Jones said that effort proved Sayre could contend again despite the loss of last season’s big playmakers among the nine seniors graduated. Friday night’s win hammered the point.
“We’re all bought in now,” Jones said. “We realized we didn’t lose anything. We’re just a different team. We can be as good as we were last year, if not better.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2025 at 12:38 PM.
