‘The feeling never gets old.’ Boyle County football headed back to state championship.
After spending more than three months throttling opponents, Boyle County is now one step away from completing a dominant run to the program’s ninth state football title — but it took a hard-fought victory over a defending champion to get there.
The Rebels knocked off visiting Central 31-14 in the UK Orthopaedics/KHSAA Commonwealth Gridiron Bowl Class 4A state semifinals on Friday night to improve to 14-0 on the year.
“We knew Central had a great team and great athletes and they were gonna be our biggest test of the year,” said Boyle County senior receiver Reese Smith, who made several crucial catches on Friday. “They’re the defending (Class) 3A state champs, so they’re coming in expecting to win the game. That was definitely the hardest team we’ve faced. We stayed cool, calm and collected and did what we had to do to win.”
Leading 24-6 early in the fourth quarter the Rebels appeared to have things in hand, but Central refused to fold. Yellow Jackets backup quarterback and starting safety Keileon Hathaway scrambled 54 yards for a highlight-reel TD and got a big push from his offensive line as he punched in the two-point conversion, cutting Boyle’s lead to 24-14. Running back Will McDaniel burst up the middle for a 42-yard touchdown on the Rebels’ next drive to make it 31-14 with less than eight minutes to go.
Central (8-6) made it interesting on the next possession as Hathaway drove the Yellow Jackets past midfield. A huge tackle for loss by Boyle County star defensive lineman Wilson Kelly, who’s committed to Middle Tennessee, put the Yellow Jackets in third-and-long. Reiley Colwick intercepted Hathaway’s deep ball on the next play then McDaniel capped a brilliant game by converting three first downs to salt away the win.
“Will had a great game,” said Boyle Coach Chuck Smith. “He really got after ‘em. He played well on defense but he ran the ball with a purpose, with an attitude on offense. I’m really proud of him. He ran with great balance and got after it.”
Central and Boyle both made the jump from Class 3A to 4A after last season, when the Yellow Jackets won the state championship while the Rebels fell to Corbin in the semifinals.
“It means a lot (to get back to the state title game),” said Smith. “I think the guys have really had this as their goal the whole year long. But it’s not enough just to get there. We’re going there to win.”
Friday’s game marked Boyle’s slimmest margin of victory of the season. A 54-7 beat down of Lexington Catholic two weeks ago was the closest of its postseason contests this year prior to Friday. A 30-0 shutout of Highlands on Sept. 27 marked the only other game this season in which the Rebels failed to trigger a running clock.
After forcing a three-and-out on the first possession of the game on Friday, Boyle County was poised to take an early lead. But Central forced and recovered a fumble on its own 4-yard line. The Yellow Jackets marched down field on a drive that chewed up the majority of the first quarter and included a couple of big conversions on third-and-long. Central took a 6-0 lead on Vernon Duncan’s quarterback keeper on fourth-and-inches.
Boyle struck back quickly. Three huge runs up the middle by McDaniel got the Rebels into Central territory, then Colwick caught a quick pass from Reed Lanter and raced 28 yards up the seam for a touchdown. Jackson Smith’s extra point made it 7-6 Rebels after a 76-yard drive that took just over two minutes.
There was a scary development on Central’s next possession. Duncan ran a keeper up the middle on third-and-7 and was drilled just past the line of scrimmage. He lay on the field with his arms outstretched, not moving for several minutes. Medical staff removed his helmet and pads and brought out a stretcher. Duncan appeared to be moving his arms before being loaded onto the stretcher and wheeled off the field. There was no update on his condition at the time of publishing. Hathaway took over at quarterback for the Yellow Jackets and played nearly every snap on both sides of the ball the rest of the game.
After forcing a punt, Boyle County expanded the lead to 14-6 on a drive that included two 24-yard sideline passes from Lanter to Reese Smith, the second of which was a beautiful throw in the front corner of the end zone that Smith hauled in over tight defense for a score.
On the first possession of the second half another long connection from Lanter to Smith set up a 10-yard touchdown run by McDaniel to make it 21-6. A 34-yard field goal by Smith expanded Boyle’s lead to 24-6 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.
Another championship would be a fitting cap to the careers of several Rebels seniors who’ve played key roles in an incredible three-year run for the program — including Lanter, Smith (a West Virginia commit) and running back Landen Bartleson (who’s committed to Notre Dame).
As sophomores, all three were instrumental in Boyle’s run to the Class 3A championship. Last season, they helped lead the Rebels to the 3A semifinals, where they lost their only game of the year.
Smith said he and his fellow seniors are determined to finish their Boyle County careers by raising another championship trophy.
The Rebels will face Johnson Central (14-0) for the Class 4A title at Kroger Field on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 4:30 p.m.
“The feeling never gets old,” Smith said when asked what it felt like to be headed back to a state title game. “Coach Smith had always talked about ‘keep that in the back of your mind.’ We did that all offseason and now that we’re finally here the mission’s not finished yet. But we plan on going back to work Monday and finishing that mission.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 11:00 PM.
