These are the best Kentucky football Class 2A games each week in 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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There are certainly more storied rivalries in Kentucky high school football’s Class 2A, but there might be none hotter right now than the multiple annual tilts between defending state champion Somerset and 4th District rival Lexington Christian.
“It’s just two great teams going at each other and there’s always something on the line — the next round of playoffs or a district championship. So, it just makes it super competitive,” LCA senior linebacker Mattie Lebryk said.
Certainly, the Title Town matchup between Danville and Boyle County is everything that high school football should be about. Whatever each team’s fortunes are, that game is special. Possibly more so this year because it will be the last game of the regular season for both.
But lately, Somerset-LCA takes a back seat to no one. Consider the last three meetings:
▪ In 2018, after taking a 35-0 shellacking at Somerset in the regular season, LCA came up 1 yard short in the game’s closing seconds to lose 35-31 in the third round of the playoffs. With an LCA first-and-goal at the 2-yard line with 47 seconds left in the game, the Briar Jumpers turned the Eagles back on four tries.
▪ Last year, LCA exacted a bit of revenge over the then-No. 1 Briar Jumpers in a 35-34 regular-season victory at home in a game where the lead was taken by the Eagles on a win-it-or-lose it two-point try with under three minutes left.
▪ But that same strategy backfired in the 2019 district finals however, as Somerset again proved impossible to move in a short-yardage situation and denied an LCA two-point conversion to tie the game with under two minutes left. Somerset won 28-26 and went on to its first state title.
“Somerset has had our number the last two years,” LCA Coach Doug Charles said. “Close but no cigar. So, we’ve got to go back and get them and we’re motivated and we just play the game. Sometimes you get outcoached and sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way.”
This season their rivalry begins again in Somerset and could determine who will host their seemingly inevitable district playoff game against each other.
Here are some of the other best games in Class 2A this season against teams at or above these teams in Kentucky’s class division system. For games against top Class A opponents, see our Class A story.
Week 1 (Sept. 11-12)
Game of the week: No. 3 Beechwood at Corbin, 7:30 p.m Sept. 11. The Tigers and dual-threat QB Cameron Hergott head south to take on Class 4A No. 5 Corbin under new head coach Tom Greer.
No. 2 Mayfield at McCracken County, 7 p.m. Sept. 11. The Mustangs are ranked No. 10 in Class 6A, but the Goliath has lost this annual matchup four times in seven years.
No. 4 Lexington Christian at DeSales, 6 p.m. Sept. 12. The Eagles have scrambled to fill their pandemic schedule and this game at Class 3A’s No. 2 Colts was put together in the last week. DeSales is a state title contender with running back James Johnson (1,494 yards, 19 TDs).
Week 2 (Sept. 18)
Game of the week: No. 3 Beechwood at Covington Catholic, 7 p.m. A “see-where-you’re-at” game for Beechwood, because CovCath is the defending Class 5A champ and preseason No. 1. The Tigers last won this Northern Kentucky tilt in 2014.
No. 4 Lexington Christian at Lexington Catholic, 7:30 p.m. Some call this Lexington’s “Holy War,” and it has become the city’s best football rivalry. LCA won by a whisker, 43-42, last season.
No. 9 Walton-Verona at Simon Kenton, 7 p.m. Another David and Goliath matchup featuring Class 6A’s No. 8 Pioneers. This is the first meeting between these two programs.
Week 3 (Sept. 25)
Game of the week: West Carter at Shelby Valley, 7:30 p.m. These two teams each got votes from coaches in the Herald-Leader preseason poll. West Carter junior Leetavious Cline had more than 1,000 yards of offense and 13 TDs last year. Shelby Valley’s Jayden Newsome had 1,114 yards rushing as a freshman.
Week 4 (Oct. 1-2)
Game of the week: No. 4 Lexington Christian at Paul Laurence Dunbar, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1. Class 6A’s Bulldogs have improved immensely under Coach Wes Johnson over the last few seasons and the 2020 version can prove it’s for real with this game. This is the first meeting between LCA and a Fayette public school in football.
Middlesboro at No. 5 Breathitt County, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2. Breathitt owned this 7th District rivalry in two meetings last year, but Middlesboro has a lot of experience returning.
No. 9 Walton-Verona at Carroll County, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2. Carroll County returns eight starters on each side of the line and will be looking to prove it can contend.
No. 10 Caldwell County at No. 2 Mayfield, 7 p.m. Oct. 2. This is the first showdown in the ridiculously difficult 1st District gauntlet. Caldwell last won it in 2013.
Week 5 (Oct. 9)
Game of the week: Paducah Tilghman at No. 2 Mayfield, 7 p.m. The Cardinals lead this historic rivalry 50-46-10 over 107 meetings. Tilghman is ranked No. 7 in Class 3A.
Owensboro at No. 6 Owensboro Catholic, 7 p.m. Two high-scoring teams with Class 5A No. 6 Owensboro featuring Gavin Wimsatt, regarded as one of the best dual-threat junior quarterbacks in the nation.
No. 1 Somerset at No. 8 Danville, 7:30 p.m. The Briar Jumpers have supplanted the Admirals as a Class 2A bully. Can Danville return to its title contending form?
Newport at Lloyd Memorial, 7 p.m. Another matchup of teams just outside the Herald-Leader preseason top 10. Newport avenged a humbling regular-season loss to the Juggernauts in the playoffs last year.
Week 6 (Oct. 16)
Game of the Week: No. 4 Lexington Christian at No. 1 Somerset, 7:30 p.m.
No. 7 Murray at No. 10 Caldwell County, 7 p.m. Remember what we said about the 1st District? Silly.
Lloyd Memorial At No. 3 Beechwood, 7:30 p.m. The Juggernauts feature dual-threat QB Jacob Davidson who combined for nearly 2,000 yards and 17 TDs. Beechwood has 14 state titles, the last in 2018.
Week 7 (Oct. 23)
Game of the week: No. 2 Mayfield at No. 7 Murray, 7 p.m. First District. Face. Palm. Murray, a really good team, is 0-24 since 1998 in this matchup. They could be a regular state semifinalist almost anywhere else.
No. 4 Lexington Christian at No. 8 Danville, 7:30 p.m.
No. 10 Caldwell County at Madisonville, 7 p.m. The Maroons are ranked No. 8 preseason in Class 4A, but have some questions as to who their new playmakers will be. We’ll have answers by this game.
No. 3 Beechwood at Newport, 7 p.m.
Week 8 (Oct. 30)
Game of the week: Corbin at No. 1 Somerset, 7:30 p.m. Kentucky wide receiver targets Treyveon Longmire and Dakota Patterson of the Redhounds vs. Kentucky commit QB Kaiya Sheron.
Madisonville at No. 2 Mayfield, 7 p.m.
Pike County Central at No. 5 Breathitt County, 7:30 p.m. Pike County Central hopes to make some noise in Class 3A this year.
No. 6 Owensboro Catholic at Apollo, 7 p.m. Classic 2A versus 6A city rivalry.
Shelby Valley at No. 8 Danville, 7:30 p.m. If Shelby Valley’s for real — and some people think they are — Title Town’s the proving ground.
Week 9 (Nov. 6)
Game of the week: No. 8 Danville at Boyle County, 7:30 p.m. “Who ya with?” Quite simply, this annual Title Town meeting (11 state titles for Danville, eight for Boyle County) is the quintessential small-town rivalry. There’s none better. Just ask them. Boyle County is Class 4A’s No. 2 team this preseason and has a new head coach, Justin Haddix.
This story was originally published September 7, 2020 at 7:23 AM.
