High school playoff highlights: Dunbar dominates; Boyle survives; state champ falls
Highlights from the second round of the high school football playoffs around Kentucky on Friday night:
Class 6A
Paul Laurence Dunbar 35, Henry Clay 6: Howard Jackson’s huge night included a pair of long touchdowns as the host Bulldogs dominated the Blue Devils.
Jackson caught a 36-yard touchdown from Jake Smith to open the scoring before a pair of Sergei Buchheit field goals — the first from 31 yards out and the second from 29 — pulled Henry Clay (2-4) within 7-6. It was all Bulldogs after that.
On Dunbar’s next possession, Jackson reeled in a 58-yard TD pass from Smith. Kamarion Robinson pitched in a pair of second-half touchdown runs.
“We just started out sloppy and weren’t real crisp, but we fixed the mistakes in the second half,” Dunbar Coach Wes Johnson said. “I thought we had a great team win with lots of people contributing.”
Jackson caught seven passes for 164 yards, while Robinson ran for 103 yards. Smith completed 12 of 20 passes for 210 yards and two scores. Dunbar kicker Bethel Green connected on all four of her extra-point attempts.
The Bulldogs’ defense held the Blue Devils to 158 yards. Christian Barrentin had a team-high 68 rushing yards in the loss.
For Dunbar, the win marked the first time since 2000 that the Bulldogs had captured a district crown.
“None of these kids were born,” Johnson said. “It’s just special for them. The senior class can leave a legacy that nobody can ever take away.”
Johnson took over a team that went 0-10 the season before he got there. Now they’re hoisting hardware.
“Three years ago, I laid out a plan for the administration here to get us playing football at a high level,” Johnson said. “I hadn’t been a head coach in 10 or 11 years, and they trusted me. ... It takes a ton of work. It takes a ton of support. And it takes kids buying in.”
St. Xavier 10, Manual 6: The Tigers’ Michael Duddy reeled in a 38-yard Hail Mary on a fourth-and-21 play with 16.2 seconds left to stun host Manual in the 3rd District title game. The Crimsons took a 6-3 lead in the third quarter on a 2-yard Ja’Waun Northington TD run.
Trinity 49, Eastern 7: The Rocks’ Nathan McElroy threw four touchdown passes to four different receivers. Bradly West and Armon Tucker also scored for Trinity.
Class 5A
Covington Catholic 38, Highlands 21: Jacob Caleb ran for five touchdowns and completed seven of 16 passes for 108 yards as host Covington Catholic (9-1) overcame a second-half deficit. Highlands (5-6) pulled ahead 14-10 on Charlie Noon’s 14-yard touchdown run halfway through the third quarter. Jacob responded with four unanswered rushing scores to put the game out of reach. Noon ran for 141 yards and tossed a touchdown to Jake Fahlbusch in the loss.
Madison Southern 23, Woodford County 21: Jace Duerson’s 40-yard field goal with 10.4 seconds left in the game gave the Eagles the victory. The field goal came after a successful recovery of an onside kick by Mitchell Mills with 40.8 seconds left. Madison Southern cut the lead to 21-20 moments earlier on a Walt Smith touchdown, but the attempt to take the lead on a two-point conversion failed, setting up the onside kick.
Madison Southern led 14-0 in the first quarter on a TD catch and a TD run by Jonah Farnstrom. Woodford rallied to take the lead before half on scores by Bryce Patterson and JD Alexander. The Yellow Jackets took a 15-14 lead on a fake extra point that holder Stephen Reed tossed to Jackson Geilear. A Preston Stacy 25-yard TD run pushed the Woodford lead to 21-14 with 4:18 left.
Southwestern 35, Pulaski County 14: The Warriors (10-1) gashed Pulaski for big plays early and late with Connor Crisp opening the scoring on an 84-yard run in the first quarter and Tanner Wright extending the advantage with a 34-yard burst in the second. Two more big plays from another two players to start the fourth quarter virtually sealed it. Christian Walden and Giddeon Brainard went on 38- and 45-yard scoring romps, respectively. Brainard led the team in rushing with 130 yards. The Maroons (8-2) committed five turnovers. Southwestern will host Frederick Douglass next week.
Bowling Green 41, South Warren 24: The Purples (7-2) forced eight South Warren (6-1) turnovers, including a blocked punt recovered in the end zone by Tucker Strode that tilted the balance of the game in the third quarter. Leading 14-13 at half, the Purples stretched the advantage to 34-24 on Strode’s TD, a 45-yard TD pass from Conner Cooper to Eli Burwash and Javy Bunton’s 3-yard score. Bunton tacked on a 22 yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal it. Cooper and Burwash also connected on a 48-yard TD in the first quarter.
Class 4A
Boyle County 49, Lexington Catholic 41: A game rally by the visiting Knights came up short as Jagger Gillis and Will McDaniel helped Boyle County remain undefeated (8-0).
The Rebels built a 28-0 second-quarter lead on a pair of Gillis touchdown passes to Luke Sheperson and two more touchdowns on the ground from the senior signal caller.
Max DeGraf’s 27-yard field goal as the second quarter expired was the first of three unanswered scores for Lexington Catholic (5-3). Jack Gohman’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Chase Blair and Darin Eldridge’s 1-yard TD plunge pulled the Knights within 28-17. McDaniel’s first two touchdown runs pushed Boyle’s lead to 42-17, and his third rushing score made it 49-31 with 5:11 to play.
DeGraf’s 40-yard field goal with 16 seconds to go set the final score. Jack Gohmann completed 21 of 36 passes for 402 yards and two touchdowns for Lexington Catholic, whose last loss before Friday came via a 40-0 beat down at the hands of this same Rebels squad on Oct. 9 in Lexington.
McDaniel ran for 152 yards in the win, while Gillis completed 12 of 17 passes for 282 yards and added 68 yards on the ground.
Franklin County 42, Central 6: The Flyers (7-1) took advantage of Central turnovers to blow open their 4th District title game, avenging last season’s loss at this stage and the regular-season loss this year to Central (6-1). Nick Broyles threw for 206 yards and four TDs with Fred Farrier on the end of 112 of those yards and two scores. Kaden Moorman and Zach Claudio also caught TD passes. The Flyers recovered a muffed punt, a fumble and got an interception from Blair Tate.
Johnson Central 50, Letcher County Central 0: Dylan Preston led the defending state champs with 213 yards and three TDs, including a breakaway for 85 yards. Mason Lawson scored twice in the rout.
Class 3A
Christian Academy-Louisville 23, Mercer County 7: The Centurions (6-2) avenged their regular-season loss to the Titans thanks to TD passes from Connor Masters to Adam Ballard and Easton Messer and a Brandt Babin TD run. The Titans (7-2) scored first on a Trosper Buchanan strike to Jalen Lukitsch, but remained frustrated offensively the rest of the game.
Ashland Blazer 10, Russell 7: JT Garrick’s 11-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter put the Tomcats (8-0) in front in an uncharacteristically low-scoring game. Ashland averages more than 40 points per game and 466 yards. Russell (7-3) held them to 190 yards total offense in a rematch of their 41-7 regular-season loss. Ashland’s SJ Lycans opened the scoring with a 33-yard field goal in the second quarter that was answered by a Russell TD pass to Carson Patrick from Charlie Jachimczuk.
Bell County 13, Rockcastle County 6: Brandon Baker rushed for 172 yards and two second quarter TDs and the Bobcats held on through a scoreless second half. Baker’s second score came on a 74-yard burst to give Bell (6-3) the lead just before half. Drew Mink scored for the Rockets (4-3).
Class 2A
Murray 28, Mayfield 21 (3OT): The Tigers (7-3) pulled off a once in a generation upset of the Cardinals (7-2), winning their first game against Mayfield since 1997 after an interception in the third overtime. Murray trailed 14-0 at halftime and suffered a pair of fumbles. But a Sebastian Lawrence TD plunge from the 2 and a 60-yard punt return TD by Charvelle McCallister tied the game late in the fourth quarter. Both teams exchanged TDs and then missed field goals in the first two OTs. Rowdy Sokolowski’s TD pass to AshKahn Nabavi set up the Tigers’ clutch defensive play.
Breathitt County 41, Leslie County 19: Lane Weddle scored on runs of 40, 20 and 1 yards and the Bobcats (6-1) put away the Eagles with three fourth quarter TDs. Breathitt quarterback Jaylen Turner had two TD runs and a TD pass to Bryce Hoskins.
West Carter 48, Shelby Valley 18: Comets quarterback Orry Perry became West Carter’s all-time leader in passing TDs and yards with his four-score effort for the district title. The strikes included tosses of 10, 30, 30 and 55 yards, two of those to Gage Leadingham. Leetavious Cline led the Comets with 163 yards rushing and had a 56-yard score.
Class A
Hazard 21, Pikeville 12: Max Johnson’s interception return for a touchdown with 1:48 to go in the game sealed the Bulldogs’ (4-5) upset win over the defending state champs. Earlier in the second half, Johnson scored on a 10-yard run to put the Bulldogs in front after trailing 12-7 at the break. Brayden Thomas and Blake Birchfield scored first-half TDs for Pikeville (6-3). Hazard began the season 0-5. This is Hazard’s first second-round win since 2017.
Paintsville 28, Raceland 21: Karsten Poe scored his third touchdown of the game in overtime and the Tigers (7-2) made a goal-line stand denying the Rams a tie from the 1-yard line to end the game. Harris Phelps had 128 yards rushing and a score for Paintsville, as well. Jake Heighton scored a pair of TDs for the Rams, including the tying score in the fourth quarter.
Bishop Brossart forfeits: Bishop Brossart announced it would have to forfeit its district final due to a COVID-19 issue just three hours before it was set for its rematch with Nicholas County. “COVID-19 wins before we have opening kickoff. Best wishes to Nicholas County moving on,” a statement from the Mustangs’ official Twitter account said. Brossart beat Nicholas County after three overtimes in the regular season. Brossart became the third team that had to bow out of the district finals due to COVID-19, along with Class 3A’s Lawrence County and Class 6A’s Henderson County.
Regional pairings
With RPI ratings; Times TBA
CLASS 6A
No. 6 Paul Laurence Dunbar (6-2) at No. 3 Bryan Station (10-1)
No. 10 St. Xavier (5-2) at No. 2 North Hardin (9-0)
No. 7 McCracken County (5-2) at No. 5 Male (6-1)
No. 12 Dixie Heights (6-3) at No. 1 Trinity (7-0)
CLASS 5A
No. 9 Frederick Douglass (6-1) at No. 4 Southwestern (10-1)
No. 14 Madison Southern (6-3) at No. 3 Covington Catholic (9-1)
No. 11 Fairdale (7-0) at No. 1 Owensboro (10-0)
No. 8 North Bullitt (8-2) at No. 5 Bowling Green (7-2)
CLASS 4A
No. 19 Allen County-Scottsville (5-3) at No. 7 Franklin County (7-1)
No. 18 Rowan County (4-3) at No. 1 Boyle County (8-0)
No. 3 Corbin (8-1) at No. 2 Johnson Central (9-0)
No. 14 John Hardin (5-2) at No. 12 Hopkinsville (6-2)
CLASS 3A
No. 12 Bell County (6-3) at No. 7 Belfry (6-3)
No. 17 Fleming County (4-3) at No. 2 Ashland Blazer (8-0)
No. 19 Union County (5-4) at No. 1 Elizabethtown (10-0)
No. 9 Christian Academy-Louisville (6-2) at No. 8 Glasgow (7-2)
CLASS 2A
No. 14 Metcalfe County (5-2) at No. 1 Lexington Christian (7-1)
No. 19 Walton-Verona (7-4) at No. 2 West Carter (9-1)
No. 12 Breathitt County (6-1) at No. 4 Beechwood (7-2)
No. 11 Owensboro Catholic (7-3) at No. 9 Murray (7-3)
CLASS A
No. 19 Hazard (4-5) at No. 4 Paintsville (7-2)
No. 11 Nicholas County (6-1) at No. 10 Williamsburg (5-2)
No. 7 Newport Central Catholic (7-2) at No. 1 Holy Cross
No. 6 Crittenden County (7-2) at No. 2 Kentucky Country Day (8-1).
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 11:38 PM.
