Lexington high schools flexing their football muscles. It’s been a while.
When Kentucky’s high school football playoffs resume Friday night, teams from Lexington will have a big say in things.
When it comes to football, that has not been the case in a long time — at least not to this degree.
Frederick Douglass, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Bryan Station and Lexington Christian each have chances to win a regional and be in their respective classes’ state semifinals.
The last time Lexington had four teams this deep in the playoffs came in 2005 when two privates, LCA and Lexington Catholic, and two publics, Henry Clay and Dunbar, reached their class quarterfinals.
This year’s two public programs, Bryan Station and Dunbar, haven’t had any substantial postseason success during most of their players’ lifetimes. Bryan Station made a run to the Class 4A finals in 1999 and hasn’t made it past the second round since. Dunbar hadn’t won a district title since 2000.
Last year, Tates Creek made it to the Class 6A semifinals representing its deepest run in the playoffs in two decades, as well.
It’s a nice trend, and the Dunbar game at Bryan Station on Friday guarantees another city team will make a state semifinal again.
“Bryan Station and Dunbar playing for the regional championship in the city — what a story that is,” Johnson said. “In terms of a program that was down — Coach (Phillip) Hawkins turned that crew around and Dunbar’s turned around — we’ve flipped the district.”
Hawkins has turned in a coach-of-the-year worthy performance at Bryan Station, taking a program that barely had as many wins in the previous four years as it’s accomplished this season with a 10-1 record.
“I’m already excited about how the season’s been,” Hawkins said. “Nobody thought we’d win 10 games. So, I feel really good about the program. And an 11th win would be great.”
Douglass must travel to Southwestern for a repeat of last year’s regional finals, except, this time, the Warriors have home field advantage. Douglass beat Southwestern 44-8 a year ago, and arguably has a more balanced and potent offense this season. Having to play on the road because the KHSAA’s RPI ratings system hasn’t favored them is just more motivation for Douglass.
“We have high expectations in our program. (Former) Coach (Brian) Landis set that foundation for us and I’m just trying to steer us in the right direction being who I am,” McPeek said. “So far, it’s going really well and, hopefully, we can continue playing really good football down the stretch.”
Lexington Christian won a state title in 2009 — not bad for a program that’s only been around for about 20 years — but the Eagles haven’t made it past the regional round since 2010. As the No. 1 team in Class 2A, LCA has both the expectations and the target on its back.
“Our kids are dialed in,” LCA Coach Doug Charles said. “One loss and you go home, so you’ve just got to go out there and play and forget who the opponent is — just go out there and play.”
Lexington Christian has secured Lexington Catholic’s turf field for its game against Metcalfe County after this week’s weather and last week’s action have made playing conditions on its home grass field difficult at best.
Friday
Lexington schools competing in Kentucky’s high school football playoffs this week:
Class 6A
7 p.m.: Paul Laurence Dunbar (6-2) at Bryan Station (10-1)
Class 5A
7 p.m.: Frederick Douglass (6-1) at Southwestern (10-1)
Class 2A
7 p.m.: Lexington Christian (8-1) vs. Metcalfe County (6-2) at Lexington Catholic
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 11:31 AM.
