Game-winning touchdown drive makes Somerset a state champion for the first time
Somerset’s football program previously scaled the mountain to a state championship appearance on five occasions. It was kicked back down it in each time.
It survived a sixth boot to the face on Saturday: the Briar Jumpers rallied for a victory over western Kentucky stalwart Mayfield, 34-31, in the UK Orthopaedics/KHSAA Commonwealth Gridiron Bowl Class 2A championship.
Kaiya Sheron threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Tate Madden from 20 yards out to make Somerset a state champion for the first time in school history. The Briar Jumpers looked cooked a mere half-minute earlier, but a couple of penalties helped put them in position for an improbable rally.
“We made some mistakes late and found a way to pull it out,” Somerset Coach Robbie Lucas said. “… The kids won this. I just had the greatest seat to watch it.”
Somerset led most of the contest and pushed their advantage to 28-17 with 11:35 left to play on a 4-yard run by Mikey Garland, the junior’s third TD of the day. Mayfield answered at the 6:56 mark with an 11-yard strike from Jaden Stinson to Tate Puckett, standing wide open in the back of the end zone.
The Cardinals just 11 seconds later would seize momentum: Somerset failed twice to collect the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by Mayfield’s Gabe Spaulding at the Briar Jumpers’ 7-yard line. Kylan Galbreath on its next play rushed for a TD to put Mayfield in front for the first time, 31-28.
Sheron was sacked for a 12-yard loss to start Somerset’s next drive and it failed to get back to the original line of scrimmage. Mayfield got the ball back with 4:10 left and marched down the field, forcing the Briar Jumpers to use all three of their remaining timeouts.
A false-start penalty turned a fourth-and-1 from the Somerset 8 into a fourth-and-6, on which the Cardinals lost a yard. Somerset got the ball back at its own 14 with 28 seconds remaining.
Sheron rushed for 6 yards, threw an incomplete pass and then hit Kade Grundy — a Louisville baseball commit — for a 7-yard pickup. Madden scampered out of bounds after reeling in a 38-yard throw from Sheron with 3 seconds to go.
What would have been Somerset’s final play — an incomplete pass from Sheron to Madden in the end zone — was followed up by an untimed down after Mayfield was called for defensive pass interference. It moved the Briar Jumpers to the Cardinals’ 20-yard line, and one of the best moments in Somerset sports history followed.
“I’d like to tell ya I thought that was the way it was gonna end,” Lucas said. “I was praying that was the way it was gonna end.”
Sheron, a junior with a scholarship offer from the University of Kentucky, was named MVP of the game. He was 10 of 15 for 175 yards and rushed for 36 yards on 11 carries.
He handed his MVP trophy to Alex Miller, a senior who was Somerset’s leading rusher before suffering a season-ending leg injury in its sixth game of the season.
“I knew if I kept playing for him, we would get something done,” Miller said through tears. “This team is so dedicated to No. 21 and the rest of these 24 seniors. That’s who this game is for.”
One of those seniors is linebacker Jase Bruner, who will walk on at UK next fall. He rushed for Somerset’s first TD, a 43-yarder.
“It’s awesome. It’s the greatest feeling in the world right now,” Bruner said. “It’s probably the greatest day of my life, to be certain. It’s amazing.”
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 5:21 PM.
