Two teams went to Louisville with championship hopes. One’s still dreaming.

Corbin and Scott County both traveled to the state’s largest city to play for state championship berths, but only one of them on the bus ride home was able to start making plans to play next weekend in Lexington.

Scott County’s season came to an end at St. Xavier, 48-35, in the Class 6A Russell Athletic/KHSAA Commonwealth Gridiron Bowl playoffs. Corbin extended its postseason run with a 21-20 win over Central in the Class 3A semifinals, setting up a championship game match with Boyle County at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1 at Kroger Field.

It will be Corbin’s first time playing for a championship in Class 3A, of which it’s been a member since 2011. The Redhounds last played for a state title in 2002 when they were in Class 2A. They lost 52-0 to a Breathitt County team whose quarterback was current Corbin head coach Justin Haddix.

“I’m glad to be a Redhound now,” said Haddix, who’s in his fourth season leading the program.

Corbin lost to Belfry in the state semifinals each of the previous two seasons. It fell 36-33 to Central in the region finals to Central in Haddix’s first year. Corbin had lost to either the state runner-up or state champion each of the last four seasons.

The Redhounds went up 21-0 with two and a half minutes left in the third quarter before Central’s offense ramped up. Rico White scored on a keeper with nine seconds left in the quarter to get the Yellow Jackets on the board, 21-6 (a two-point try failed). The Jackets forced a punt, which ultimately turned into a touchdown reception for Ukrari Baker with 9:31 remaining in the game; they converted a two-point run after that score. Central forced another Corbin three-and-out and turned its next possession into another Baker TD; a two-point rush was ruled no good with 4:30 to play.

Corbin again punted with 2:41 left, but Central’s offense ran out of time. The game ended on a pass completion near midfield.

In addition to having downs to work with where it could have spiked the ball to kill clock, Central had one timeout remaining at the end of the game. Coach Marvin Dantzler didn’t dwell on that; he said the Yellow Jackets left two TDs on the field in the first half because Corbin stepped up and stopped them in goal-line situations.

“It was a good game. We had chances,” said Dantzler, who’s in his first year leading the Yellow Jackets. “At the end of the day, somebody had to lose unfortunately. I’m proud of the guys. We fought and were one point short. Best of luck to Corbin.”

Cards clipped

Scott County pulled to within 41-35 with 8:43 left in its contest but ceded a St. X answer almost immediately. Antony Moretti’s 80-yard TD run with 8:27 to play was his second of the night and the last scored between the two teams. He led all rushers with 179 yards on 15 carries.

Austin Barnett and Brice Fryman each eclipsed 100 yards for Scott County (11-3). Barnett had 129 yards and a game-high four TDs while Fryman led the Cardinals with 154 yards on 17 rushes.

The Tigers capitalized on three first-half turnovers by Scott County to take a 27-7 advantage into the second half.

St. Xavier (12-2) will meet defending champion Trinity (14-0) in the Class 6A championship next Sunday. The Shamrocks won the regular-season meeting between the two, 28-0.

This story was originally published November 25, 2017 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Two teams went to Louisville with championship hopes. One’s still dreaming.."