Lexington Catholic stuns No. 1-ranked defending champ in furious final minute
With a daring last-minute drive and a clutch blocked field goal as time expired, Lexington Catholic stunned Class 5A No. 1 Covington Catholic, 29-28, Friday night.
“It came down to one play, but it was a team effort the whole way,” LexCath defensive back Jackson Klein, who knifed through the Colonels’ line to stuff David Gronette’s 46-yard field goal attempt to win the game, said. “Our team battled the whole time. All four quarters. We’ve got heart. Over any other team in this state, I’ll take these brothers every single time.”
It looked as though LexCath (5-2), Class 4A’s No. 6 team according to the latest media rankings, had let slip away a prime opportunity to topple the defending 5A state champions after giving up 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Covington Catholic turned a 21-7 deficit into 28-21 lead with only 1:06 on the clock.
Then, junior quarterback Jack Gohmann led the Knights on a five-play, 62-yard touchdown drive in 32 seconds. A 20-yard pass to a wide-open Jack Monday in the front corner of the end zone cut the Colonels’ lead to 28-27 with 32 seconds left. LexCath Coach Nigel Smith signaled for a two-point conversion attempt.
“We came into this game, and I don’t think anyone in the program besides us thought we were going to win,” Gohmann said. “We knew what we were supposed to do. We work on last-minute situations every single day, and it paid off for us.”
After getting a look at CovCath’s goal-line defense, Smith called a timeout before trying for the lead. He just wanted to make sure what they were going to do would be open. It was.
Gohmann rolled left out of the pocket and hit Jackson Corbett in the front corner of the end zone for the go-ahead conversion to make it 29-28 Knights.
The Colonels (7-1) quickly marched down to the LexCath 28-yard line to set up the failed field goal attempt with 7 seconds left. The block was recovered by JD Woodall as time expired.
“It was going to come down to who had the most fight right there at the end,” Smith said. “It came down to guys knew they had to make plays. The pressure’s on and they stepped up.”
Last year, Lexington Catholic nearly pulled off an upset of Covington Catholic in a game that was played much earlier in the season. Much like last year, LexCath scrapped with their bigger foe and got the best of the first three quarters. The Colonels stormed back in 2019 and won the game on a two-point conversion. This year, Lexington Catholic returned the favor.
“The guys were ready for it,” Smith said of the two-point play. “We love that play right there and it took us to victory.”
Gohmann threw for 180 yards, four TDs and an interception. Monday’s first TD — a bruising 46-yard catch-and-run in which he leveled one CovCath defender and broke the tackles of two more — hyped up the sideline, established a 21-7 lead and signaled the Knights were going to be a legitimate threat to win the game. The highlight of the play ranked No. 6 on ESPN “SportsCenter’s” Top 10 plays Friday night.
“That was the most unbelievable run I’ve ever seen,” Gohmann said.
Monday led the team with 89 yards receiving. Blake Busson and Corbett caught the other LexCath TDs. CovCath’s Jacob threw for 144 yards with two picks and scored on two short runs. Owen Nally had a 3-yard score and Aiden Jones pounced on a Jacob fumble in the end zone for the other.
Lexington Catholic will host Bourbon County in the first round of the playoffs. The Knights beat Bourbon 52-0 earlier this season.
Highlights
This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 12:56 AM.
