Christian Academy-Louisville dynasty claims another victim in Class 3A finals
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- Christian Academy of Louisville defeated Murray in the Class 3A football state title game.
- Standout junior Ja’Hyde Brown had 180 receiving yards for CAL.
- CAL has now won four straight Class 3A state championships.
For the fourth straight year, Christian Academy of Louisville reigns supreme atop Class 3A high school football in Kentucky.
On Saturday afternoon, CAL rolled past Murray, 42-7, to claim its fourth consecutive Class 3A state title as part of the 2025 UK HealthCare Sports Medicine State Football Finals at Kroger Field.
The Centurions capped a 15-0 season with a comprehensive romp over Murray, which also entered the state championship game 14-0.
CAL sophomore quarterback Jackson Burke went 14-for-14 passing in the state title win. He totaled 316 yards through the air along with five touchdown passes.
Burke — who came into the state championship game having completed more than 82% of his passes this season — threw two touchdown passes each to star junior Ja’Hyde Brown (six catches for 180 receiving yards) and senior Stone Perkins (three catches for 56 receiving yards).
Following his perfect outing against Murray, Burke finished his sophomore season having completed 83.3% of his passes. According to records from the National Federation of State High School Associations and the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, that’s the new best single-season mark in the nation.
“There’s nobody in the country that has had the type of season, as far as completing the football goes, as Jackson Burke,” CAL head coach Hunter Cantwell said of his quarterback. “I am literally blown away. I played this position in high school and, not on my best day, could I have played the game at the level Jackson has played it all year.”
Murray’s starting quarterback, Wyatt Robbins — a 6-foot-1 senior who is committed to Murray State — didn’t play Saturday after suffering an injury in the state semifinals. Freshman Kenyon Cunningham, the son of Murray head coach Melvin Cunningham, started in his place and completed eight passes for 56 yards. He was intercepted twice.
Cantwell’s CAL program averaged more than 47 points per game going into the finals, while allowing fewer than 10 points per contest. CAL had won its seven games over Class 3A opponents this season by an average of more than 46 points.
That dominance continued against the Tigers.
CAL enjoyed a 14-0 scoring advantage over Murray in each of the first, second and third quarters. The game shifted to a running clock with more than eight minutes still to go in the third quarter after an electrifying 64-yard catch and touchdown score by Brown.
“If you’re a ball carrier, and you don’t think any time you touch the ball that you can go for six, you shouldn’t have the ball,” said Brown, a four-star recruit who holds a bevy of college offers including from Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky and Louisville.
Murray’s lone score came in the closing minutes with a 3-yard touchdown run from junior Gage Chapman.
Saturday was Murray’s first title-game appearance at the Class 3A level. It previously made four trips to the state championship game in the Class A division with titles in 1961 and 1974 and runner-up finishes in 1960 and 1994.
The Tigers’ path to Kroger Field included an overtime win over Lexington Catholic in the state quarterfinals.
The Centurions are more familiar with the venue.
“Our guys are comfortable here,” Cantwell said. “They know what it takes to compete and play at a high level at Kroger Field. And they were able to do that again today and defend Christian Academy’s dominance at Kroger Field.”
CAL has now won all six of its state championship game appearances in school history.
And they’ve all come in the past decade — 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024 and now 2025. Those 2016 and 2018 state championships came at the Class 2A level. Cantwell has been in charge for all four of CAL’s Class 3A championships.
During the Centurions’ four-year run atop Class 3A, they’ve only lost four of 60 games.
“They’re coached well,” Melvin Cunningham said. “They’re disciplined. They’re physical. They’re aggressive. They’re everything you want in a football team.”
This story was originally published December 6, 2025 at 4:19 PM.
