Herald-Leader Top 10: Kentucky Class 2A high school football preseason poll for 2020
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2020 Kentucky high school football preview
The 2020 high school football season kicked off Friday, Sept. 11. High school sports beat writer Jared Peck wrote numerous stories in the Herald-Leader and on Kentucky.com previewing the season around the city, region and state and highlighting the top players and games and rankings. Click below to read all of his stories in case you missed any of them.
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Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of stories ranking Kentucky’s high school football teams class by class, according to voting by the state’s coaches.
Somerset and Mayfield staged one of the most memorable and exciting state championship games ever last year, won by the Briar Jumpers in a heroic last-minute touchdown drive.
That game and their traditions earned respect from the coaches participating in this year’s @HLpreps Class 2A Preseason Survey. No. 1 Somerset garnered 10 first-place votes among the 23 submitted by coaches in the division with Mayfield close behind with seven top nods. Beechwood and Lexington Christian split the rest.
Here are the preseason top 10 teams in Class 2A — the second-smallest football-playing classification under the Kentucky High School Athletic Association — as voted on by coaches in the division.
1. Somerset
Head coach: Robbie Lucas (12th season).
Last season: 14-1. Won 34-31 over Mayfield in the Class 2A state championship.
Quick look: How do you graduate 24 seniors and remain the favorite in your class? Returning a surefire Mr. Football candidate and Kentucky recruit in Kaiya Sheron at quarterback and his top receiver, Louisville baseball commit Kade Grundy, is a good start. The Briar jumpers return “four to five on both sides of the ball,” Lucas says. They’ve also picked up junior Lexington Catholic transfer Michael Hawkins, a 6-5, 235-pound, three-star TE/DL who has offers from Army and Vanderbilt and is rated the seventh best Kentucky prospect in the class of 2022.
The Briar Jumpers will be battle-tested, as always, via a “brutal” district that includes Danville, Washington County and Lexington Christian. “We will be taking a young team into a shortened season which is always a concern,” Lucas said, but he’s confident his team will “round into form” come playoff time.
2. Mayfield
Head coach: Joe Morris (22nd season).
Last season: 13-2. 1st District champs, regional champs. Lost 34-31 to Somerset in the Class 2A state championship.
Quick look: Having only seven starters return, five on defense and two on offense would be a major concern for most programs. Mayfield is not most programs. And no one will be weeping for the 12-time state champs who bring back leading rusher Kylan Galbreath, a 5-7, 175-pound senior who ran for 1,734 yards and 19 TDs in 2019. Senior linebacker Jax Rogers and senior two-way lineman Tre Arnold return to lead the defense. Rogers registered a team-high 135 tackles last season.
3. Beechwood
Head coach: Noel Rash (15th season).
Last season: 8-6. 6th District champs, regional champs. Lost 35-7 to Mayfield in the state semifinals.
Quick look: The 14-time Class A state champs had a rough welcome to Class 2A last season, but they also had the second toughest schedule in the class with Class A runner-up Paintsville, 2A champ Somerset, and 5A champ Covington Catholic helping them start 1-3. The Tigers will have back dual-threat QB Cameron Hergott, a 6-3, 186-pound senior who threw for 2,076 yards and 15 TDs with another 751 yards and 12 TDs on the ground. Junior Brady Moore led the team in TD receptions and senior running back Cole Stammer got six TDs and 421 yards sharing carries in the backfield.
4. Lexington Christian
Head coach: Doug Charles (second season).
Last season: 10-2. Lost 28-26 to Somerset in the 4th District finals.
Quick look: They lost their QB and the state’s top receiver from a year ago off a team that came achingly close to knocking off the eventual state champ in their district finals, but the Eagles have cause for optimism with 18 starters back. Junior RB/WR Xavier Brown just picked up his first Division I offer from Maryland and looks to build on last year’s team-high 745 yards and 10 TDs on the ground and 440 yards and five TDs through the air. Senior Will Vernon returns as the team’s second leading receiver. Senior linebacker Mattie Lebryk led the defense with 126 tackles and the Eagles expect big things out of Mason Moore in his junior season. He’s the son of former UK linebacker and LCA assistant coach Marty Moore.
5. Breathitt County
Head coach: Kyle Moore (eighth season).
Last season: 13-1. 7th District champs, regional champs. Lost 40-25 to Somerset in the state semifinals.
Quick look: Jaylen Turner got nine starts at QB as a sophomore and turned in 956 yards and 10 TDs in the Bobcats’ run-heavy offense. Senior Braxton O’Hara saw his offensive numbers dip a bit from his district-player-of-the-year sophomore season, but he still accounted for about 1,000 all-purpose yards and 22 TDs as a threat to run or throw out of the backfield. Senior defensive lineman William Long was second on the team with 90 tackles a year ago. All-everything senior Lane Weddle is the team’s leading returning scorer and did so via 47 extra-point kicks plus an interception return TD, a punt return TD, a kick return TD, two TDs rushing and four receiving.
6. Owensboro Catholic
Head coach: Jason Morris (third season).
Last season: 9-3. Lost 37-36 to McLean County in the 2nd District finals.
Quick look: The pass-happy Aces will have a new QB trying to replicate its more than 4,000 yards of air attack from last year, and Coach Morris says junior Lincoln Clancy looks to be the player to take the reins. He’ll have 1,080-yard receiver Braden Mundy, a junior, as a primary target. Owensboro Catholic has more starters back on defense and Morris expects them to be much-improved. Senior linebacker Chris Boarman has led the team in tackles each of the last two seasons and had a whopping 171 takedowns with 7.5 sacks in 2019.
7. Murray
Head coach: Keith Hodge (seventh season).
Last season: 8-4. Lost 56-24 to Mayfield in the 1st District finals.
Quick look: The 1st District is as ridiculously competitive as state champ Somerset’s 4th. Just look — there’s No. 2 Mayfield, No. 7 Murray and No. 10 Caldwell County. And only one can make it past the second round of the playoffs. If the Tigers are to do it, they’ll need another stellar year out of Charvelle McCallister, who tallied 1,164 rushing yards and 16 TDs as a junior. Senior defensive lineman Sebastian Lawrence ranks as one of the top players in the state and had 95 tackles and eight sacks in 2019.
8. Danville
Head coach: Clay Clevenger (eighth season).
Last season: 3-7. Lost 34-14 to Somerset in the 4th District semis.
Quick look: No one expects the Admirals to remain down for long. Back-to-back losing seasons aren’t typical for a Title Town program that won its 11th crown just three years ago. They’ll have back leading rusher Caleb Burns, who gained 1,156 yards and scored 15 TDs as a sophomore. He’ll run behind a senior-laden offensive line that includes Alex Gutierrez-Jacobs, Christian Evans, Ethan Scott and Hagen Burns. Senior linebacker Dontious Slaughter leads a defense that will need to compensate for the loss of more than 200 tackles and 13 sacks off last year’s squad.
9. Walton-Verona
Head coach: Jeff Barth (13th season).
Last season: 8-5. 5th District champs. Lost 57-28 to Breathitt County in the region finals.
Quick look: The Bearcats’ backfield by committee in a run-heavy offense worked well last year and should do so again behind an experienced line featuring seniors Dawson Catlett and Gavin Knight and juniors Carter Burch, Ethan Art and Zach Watson. Junior Jacob Gaines led the team in rushing with 756 yards on roughly half the attempts of his now-graduated backfield mates. He caught for another 228 yards and two TDs. At wideout, Colton Shawver led Walton-Verona in receiving with 422 yards and five TDs and is hailed by his coach as the “best wide receiver we’ve had in program history.” They threw enough to keep defenses honest and gained 16 yards per completion in 2019.
10. Caldwell County
Head coach: Will Barnes (second season).
Last season: 8-3. Lost 34-17 to Murray in the 1st District semis.
Quick look: With 17 starters back, nine on offense and eight on defense, Caldwell County should be able to hold its own with anyone, but the Tigers will need to fill a void at running back. Starting QB Russ Beshear has his top targets back. Seniors Tripp Branch, Baron Wells and Tate VanHooser combined for more than 1,100 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns. Beshear used his feet as well for 279 yards and four TDs and should be more of a run threat this season as a senior. VanHooser and junior Elijah Shaheen will be called upon to lead the defense and build on their combined 118 tackles. Shaheen notched a team-high 8.5 sacks.
Others receiving votes
(In order of votes received)
West Carter, Middlesboro, Newport, Shelby Valley, Lloyd Memorial, McLean County, Edmonson County, Carroll County, Leslie County, Washington County and Prestonsburg.
Survey method: Rankings reflect the participation of 23 of the 39 Class 2A teams (58.9%). Every Class 2A coach was given the opportunity to participate in the @HLpreps annual survey, emailed to their address listed on KHSAA.org. Multiple attempts were made to contact every coach.
This story was originally published August 30, 2020 at 2:27 PM.
