In a season unlike any other, Lexington state title contender thrived amid chaos
Mission accomplished. At least, one of them.
That was the message Doug Charles delivered to Lexington Christian Academy following its 35-13 victory over Pikeville on Friday night. LCA, ranked No. 1 in the Class 2A Associated Press poll and the KHSAA’s RPI rating, should retain both of those rankings heading into the postseason, which is scheduled to kick off Nov. 13.
Those kind of metrics don’t typically matter in the grand scheme of most high school seasons, but for the Eagles this year they’re trophies from a campaign filled with uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. On several occasions, including this one, LCA’s opponent wasn’t known until the middle of the week; Pikeville, the top-ranked team in the Class A poll and the reigning state champion in that class, replaced South Oldham, who was forced to back out due to COVID-19 protocols after filling an open date left on LCA’s schedule by another team that previously had to opt out.
Starting Sept. 12 — the first week of this historic season — and through Friday, LCA cobbled together enough opponents to play eight consecutive football games. If it’s not the only team to have achieved what in this year is an incredible feat, they were definitely the most successful: the Eagles went 7-1, their lone defeat at the hands of Class 5A title hopeful Frederick Douglass, 40-6, another game scheduled on the fly.
Their résumé before Friday already featured wins over reigning Class 2A champion Somerset; DeSales, a Class 3A semifinalist last year; and higher-division city rivals Lexington Catholic and Paul Laurence Dunbar. Oh, and every single one of those games was played on the road until Friday.
“Our guys are gonna show up,” Charles said. “We’ve got a resilient bunch. We knew going into the year that this was a special group, and they’ve lived up to it.”
After a couple of intra-district nailbiters following its loss at Douglass, Friday’s win was one of LCA’s breeziest. It never trailed, and led by 29 points before subbing out its starters about midway through the fourth quarter. Junior Tyler Morris scored two touchdowns and Mason Moore, also a junior, had two interceptions, including his first pick-six of the year.
“We’re blessed to have played eight games straight without any corona restrictions,” Moore said. “We just got to stay healthy and keep ourselves away from the disease.”
The Eagles managed that outcome despite having to start their junior varsity quarterback, Will Nichols, at outside linebacker and another sophomore, William Morehead, at kicker after learning an hour before the game they would be without their regular starters due to COVID-19 contact tracing protocol.
They also for the second straight game were without star junior Xavier Brown, who’s starting to receive Power Five conference scholarship offers. He tweaked a knee at Somerset two weeks ago but could have played against Pikeville, Charles said, and should be at 100 percent for its playoff opener.
Their goal now? Get to that opener without being their own worst enemy. He implored his team to not attend any Halloween parties or other gatherings for the holiday on Saturday night, so as not to risk a COVID-19 outbreak within their ranks.
“That’s the kind of stuff you have to do. They’re youngsters, they’re still teenagers, you can’t forget that,” Charles said. “These guys like to have fun, they like to be with their friends. This COVID thing’s difficult on all of us, but the stuff we’ve gone through, practicing 12 weeks without a football and all that stuff, sometimes they forget that.
“They think we’re back to normal because school’s going on. We just have to keep reminding them of all the stuff that’s in front of them.”
Highlights
This story was originally published October 31, 2020 at 1:08 AM.
