Top 10 shocker: Douglass shuts out Scott County
Frederick Douglass pulled off two stunning feats Friday night.
The first came in the first quarter as sophomore wideout Dane Key snatched a highlight reel leaping one-handed catch in the end zone, a grab that sent a buzz through the packed Broncos stadium for this Class 5A top 10 matchup.
“I was shocked myself when I caught it,” Key said.
The second came in the final score, a 36-0 shocker for the No. 2 Broncos over No. 3 Scott County, handing the Cardinals their first shutout since 2001.
“It feels really good,” Broncos Coach Brian Landis said after beating the team that knocked Douglass out of the Class 6A playoffs last year. “For two years, we just have not played disciplined football against these guys and they prey on you if you don’t play disciplined. That was our emphasis the entire offseason, and tonight it showed up.”
And it showed up from the start.
Douglass forced Scott County to a three-and-out on its first possession of the game. A poor punt set up Douglass on Scott County’s 31-yard line. It took the Broncos five plays to score on a 3 yard run by Darius Neal.
Douglass started it’s next possession on the Scott County 20 after a mishandled snap on another punt. That’s when Key made his moment.
“I don’t even practice it. We just go out there and make plays,” Key said of the “SportsCenter” worthy moment in which he reached up with just his right hand, pulled the ball out of the air and tucked it to him as he hit the ground for a 10-yard TD catch. “I jumped too early, and I was just thinking ‘I have to go make this play.”
The score put Douglass up 13-0 with 5:33 left in the first quarter.
“Dane Key had the best catch I’ve ever seen in a high school football game,” his quarterback Josh McClurg said. “He makes me look good every single week.”
McClurg appeared to pull his hamstring late in the game, but said he doesn’t believe the injury is serious. He led the Broncos in rushing with 103 yards to go with 4-8-1 passing for 56 yards and the touchdown.
One of those passes was a scrambling shovel pass to Darius Neal on a third-and-10 deep in their own territory. It kept alive a 10-play, 94-yard drive capped by a 50-yard run by Cincinnati commit Devin Neal.
“Everybody executed on all cylinders tonight,” Devin Neal said. “We just played hard-nosed football and got the job done.”
Neal’s TD made the score 20-0 with 5:41 left in the first half and came after a huge goal-line stand turned away Scott County’s attempt to get back in it.
Just before the end of the first quarter, Scott County quarterback Cade McKee found a wide-open Micah McClave on a 48-yard pass executed perfectly in the Cardinals’ run-dominated offense. Devin Neal tackled McClave at the 1-yard line.
The Cardinals would not score. The Broncos turned back four straight rush attempts. Scott County wouldn’t advance beyond the Douglass 20 the rest of the night.
Cameron Dunn came on in relief of McClurg and scored TD runs of 13 and 49 yards in the fourth quarter. Scott County, a team that averages 276 yards on the ground per game, was held to 113.
With this year’s state playoffs pitting district foes against each other in the first two rounds for the district title, a rematch of Friday’s game is almost guaranteed. The Broncos’ win secured the first step in ensuring that game is back in Lexington.
“They’re a darn good team,” Landis said. “They do a good job and they’ll be back. We’ve got to play them again, and I’m excited about it.”
