Kentucky Country Day claims Class A crown over Raceland

If Kentucky Country Day came to Kroger Field on Friday and left without a state title in hand, it would have been a disappointment seven years in the making. That’s not a writer’s assessment — that’s straight from the top of the program.

“This is a group of 19 seniors who set their goal to be state champions when they were in the fifth grade,” KCD head coach Matthew Jones said. “When they were in the eighth grade, they made us take ’em out of school for a day and bring ’em down here to watch a state game so they would know what it felt like.”

That was in 2021, a year after the Bearcats made their championship debut with a 38-7 loss to Paintsville. Four years later, those eighth-graders led KCD to a 20-16 victory over Raceland in the Class A UK HealthCare Sports Medicine State Football Finals.

It was KCD’s first win against the Rams (12-2) in three attempts. The Bearcats (13-1) fell to them in the state semifinals each of the past two years: a 42-6 shellacking in 2023 and a 14-0 decision last season. Both losses came at home.

“Whenever we lost to them my sophomore year, I think the biggest issue we had that year was not being a player-led team,” said senior Bowen Johnson. “Ever since that year … we’ve just worked really hard to be a player-led team, to be able to trust the guy next to you to do their job and execute.”

Kentucky Country Day became the first Louisville school to win a Class A championship. The program won the KHSAA eight-man football state tournament in 2002, the last year that event was held.

Deion Davidson, a sophomore who primarily played defensive back, was named MVP after rushing for about 80 yards and the go-ahead touchdown — a 25-yarder, KCD’s longest run of the day — with 3:30 left in the game.

Raceland’s bid to answer fell short at the Bearcats’ 39-yard line. Rams quarterback Jacob Waller, who earlier in the series converted a fourth-and-1 attempt, was stopped for no gain on a rush up the middle. Two timeouts only allowed Raceland to stall its inevitable heartbreak.

After the game, Rams head coach Michael Salmons said he should have used one of those timeouts to scheme up a play; Waller and his teammates had hurried to the line of scrimmage following a 9-yard gain by Shannon Marushi the play before.

“You’ve got to make a decision in a split second there, but if I had it to do over, I’d probably attack that a little differently,” Salmons said.

Raceland, which racked up almost 300 rushing yards against one of the stingiest run defenses in the state, kept possession for the final 10:28 of the second quarter. A pair of penalties inside the red zone deterred a potential tying drive to end the half, but Waller connected on a 21-yard field goal to get the Rams on the scoreboard.

They trailed 14-3 just a few minutes into the third quarter after a short TD run by KCD’s Parker Rudolph. Raceland went three-and-out on its next trip but forced KCD to do the same, then turned an 81-yard drive into seven points. The Rams then got another quick stop and sustained another long drive — 13 plays covering 80 yards in about five minutes – punctuated by a 14-yard TD run by Landen Stiltner.

Davidson’s winning TD — set up in part by his 20-yard catch from Caden Long earlier in the drive — was just his fourth of the season. Davidson also finished with seven tackles in the contest.

“He came out today and had an incredible effort,” Jones said. “ … We want to be a three-back offense, and any of those three backs can have a day. Today was Deion’s day, and it came at a good time.”

Raceland fell to 0-4 in the state finals in their fourth straight trip. The Rams lost to Sayre, a private school akin to KCD, in last year’s Class A bout after twice losing to Pikeville, an eastern Kentucky rival.

Stiltner, who finished with a game-high 127 rushing yards, and Waller are among the juniors expected to suit up for the Rams next season. They’ll expect more from next season than another runner-up trophy.

“A little somber, almost a little numb feeling,” Salmons said. “To get here is obviously outstanding, but our program’s past getting here. We come here to get the gold, not the silver, and that goal doesn’t change for us.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM.