‘Monster’ test confronts a high school football coach who has slain a Goliath before
There’s a double-edged sword tied to postseason success in Kentucky high school football’s Class 6A, the division for the programs with the largest enrollment.
The thrill of advancing through the bracket and winning trophies for district and regional championships eventually meets the harsh reality of having to face one of Class 6A’s behemoths, the Louisville teams that dominate year-in and year-out.
Only one team not named Trinity, Male or St. Xavier has won the Class 6A state title since the division was formed in 2007 (Scott County in 2013). Prior to that, those same three schools dominated the former top division with similar regularity.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, making its first state semifinals in 17 years, will meet that challenge Friday on the road at Male, the 2018 Class 6A state champion and last year’s runner-up. You’ve probably already guessed it will be Trinity and St. X in the other semi.
“It could be a huge, great rewarding upset, or an experience of a lifetime for these kids to be involved in the game,” said Dunbar Coach Wes Johnson, who did his own research and found only eight teams besides Louisville’s big three have won the largest-school division since 1975. “And here we are mentioned in the same bracket as those guys. It’s humbling and it’s an honor, but we’re going to go and fight and give it all we can.”
How they rank
Dunbar’s task might not seem all that monumental looking at how No. 5 Male and the No. 6 Bulldogs compare in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s RPI ratings used to seed the playoffs.
But the Herald-Leader’s Dave Cantrall ratings from the same week the RPI was frozen tell a different story: There, it’s No. 2 Male with a 91.8 computer rating to No. 17 Dunbar’s 64.8, a spread of 27 points that indicates the Bulldogs clad in red and black look to be the decided underdogs on Friday.
Johnson likened playing Male this week to the problem he faced as West Jessamine’s head coach in 2002 when the Colts hosted perennial power Boyle County in the midst of the Rebels’ back-to-back-to-back state titles.
“(Boyle) had a lot of D1 talent. They had a quarterback (Brandon Smith) that went on to play at Western (Kentucky), had a tight end, Jacob Tamme, that went on to the NFL,” Johnson said. “I don’t know how many Male players will make it to the NFL … It’s the same feeling a little bit when you’re going up against a complete monster like that.”
Johnson’s Colts beat Boyle County 13-9 in that game, handing the Rebels one of only two losses they would have in three years.
Team breakdowns
Dunbar (7-2) lines up with quarterback Jake Smith, who has thrown for 1,635 yards and 21 touchdowns, with Howard Jackson as his primary target. Jackson caught all three Dunbar TDs in their regional win over Bryan Station and has 632 yards and 10 scores on the year. Jackson came out of that game after getting cleated in the back in the second half, but Johnson said he’ll be ready to go Friday.
Dunbar runs well, too, with 1,394 yards of rushing offense led by Kamarion Robinson’s 762 yards and five TDs.
Male (7-1) features some big-name talent in the recruiting rankings on defense with four-star junior defensive lineman Selah Brown and three-star junior linebacker Elijah Manning. They also have a three-star junior wide receiver, Vinny Anthony, who leads Male with 413 receiving yards and seven TDs.
Male quarterback Nic Schutte is a Western Kentucky baseball commit and has thrown for 942 yards and 14 touchdowns.
But the Bulldogs in purple also have an impressive run game led by senior Jaylin Bross with 1,045 yards in just eight games.
Male lost its opener to Trinity, 43-14. They routed every other opponent by an average score of 51-7 with three shutouts.
“I think you can psych yourself out if that’s what you let resonate and concentrate on,” Johnson said of how good Male appears to be. “If that’s the only thing you’re thinking about is how great they’ve been, how great their players are and the accolades, you can kind of be defeated before you get on the bus.
“We’re just going to take it from the point of view that we’re going to play as hard as we can. We’re going to do whatever we can. We’re not going to quit, we’re not going to give up and we’ll be OK with whatever result happens.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 11:16 AM.
