Trinity grinds out Class 6A title game win over South Warren

South Warren hung around, but the Class 6A newcomers couldn’t thwart Kentucky’s flagship football program.

Trinity prevailed 28-14 on Saturday for its third straight 6A title in the penultimate game of the UK HealthCare Sports Medicine State Football Finals at Kroger Field. The Shamrocks won their state-leading 30th overall championship.

The final score wasn’t as eye-popping as most Trinity put up throughout the 2025 playoffs, but the Shamrocks (13-2) were no less dominant, especially on the defensive line. South Warren’s ground game, which generated 164.8 yards per game coming in, finished with just nine yards on 29 rushing attempts.

Keandre Thompson, a senior lineman, had two of Trinity’s five sacks and a quarterback hurry. Camden Page led the Spartans (14-1) with 221 passing yards but Trinity’s pressure kept him to just 13 completions on 31 passes, two of them intercepted in the end zone to shut down promising drives.

“We could’ve pressured him some more and gave the secondary more chances, more time to be on their man in coverage,” Thompson said. “But I feel like other than that, we played very well.”

It was an uncharacteristic finals performance for junior Zane Johnson, who made his third straight championship start at quarterback for the Shamrocks. A 73% passer with 51 TD passes on the season who went 15 of 23 (65%) and 18 of 24 (75%) in his freshman and sophomore finals, Johnson was 12 of 25 for 149 yards and a TD against South Warren. He delivered that to Cross Watson with 33 seconds left in the second quarter, and then sent a 2-point pass to Kaleb Warner to put the Shamrocks up 21-0 at halftime.

At the break, Johnson was 9 for 14. Trinity head coach Jay Cobb didn’t shy from pinning the team’s offensive woes in the second half on his quarterback.

“I’ll put it right square on him,” Cobb said. “They were bringing a little pressure, but I’ll be honest with ya, it wasn’t anything special. … Early, he threw it really well and got comfortable. … We didn’t handle that well, but when we did handle it well, we did catch it well. They played well and put him in a bit of an uncomfortable spot.”

Still, Johnson thrust himself into elite company with the win. He became the sixth player in state history to win a third championship as the starting quarterback. He joined two other Shamrocks, Brian Brohm (2001-03) and Travis Wright (2010-12), along with Jeff Duggins (Boyle County, 1999-2001), Greg Hergott (Beechwood, 1992-94) and Patrick Towles (Highlands, 2009-11).

By this time next year, he could stand alone as the only Kentucky quarterback to do it all four years of high school. Trinity’s won four titles in a row just once in its history, from 2005-2008.

“If you’re telling me I envisioned three in a row, no,” said Cobb, who’s coached the Shamrocks since 2021 (Trinity fell in the state semifinals and the third round in his first two seasons). “Last year’s team was a surprise to us, credit goes to those seniors that really woke up and got with the program, played really well. I was extremely proud of those guys and I’m proud of these guys. …

“We knew Zane, as he’s getting older, he’d get better and he did. Same with (the rest of) the junior class too. All of them are maturing.”

Strong debut for South Warren

Despite hanging with the Shamrocks for most of the first half, South Warren was down three scores at the end of it. Page threw his first interception with about 3 minutes left in the second quarter, enabling a final

That was the second of four red-zone trips that ended without points for the Spartans, who moved up from Class 5A ahead of the 2025 season. Isaiah Bridges got them on the board with a 98-yard return TD on the opening kickoff of the second half — a trot matching the second longest in state history — but Trinity quickly responded with the second of two TD runs by Jamaurion Berry, who ran for a game-high 78 yards and was named MVP.

The Spartans followed that with a fast answer of their own. Page found Jake Carter for a 46-yard TD strike to end a five-play, 81-yard drive that pulled them within 28-14 with 9:09 to play in the third quarter. Neither team found the scoreboard again from there.

South Warren entered with three titles to its credit, one from its Class 4A days (2015) and two in Class 5A (2018 and 2021). The program hadn’t advanced to the finals since its last victory but remained a steady challenger in the second-biggest division. Last week the Spartans eliminated Ryle, last year’s 6A runner-up, to reach their fourth championship game under head coach Brandon Smith.

It was an impressive first season in the “big leagues,” but Smith — the son of legendary Boyle County coach Chuck Smith — isn’t interested in moral victories.

“To be blunt, we came here to win,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of teams that come up here to take pictures when they get this matchup. That wasn’t our message. We came here to win and that was the game plan. I thought we had some opportunities, and that’s all you can ask for, to give yourself opportunities to make plays.

“We just didn’t make enough of ’em.”

This story was originally published December 6, 2025 at 8:41 PM.