Class 2A championship: A Beechwood block stuns LCA in OT. ‘It was just madness.’
Beechwood, a team with one of Kentucky’s most storied high school football championship histories, added another spectacular chapter Friday as junior strong safety Brady Moore burst through the Lexington Christian line and blocked the Eagles’ extra point in overtime.
The stunning special teams play gave the Tigers their 15th state title in a 24-23 overtime thriller in the 2020 Class 2A UK Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine State Football Finals.
“When we saw that ball get deflected, it was just madness. It still feels so surreal. I’m speechless right now,” said senior lineman Artie Steinmetz.
Moments earlier, it looked as though Beechwood had let what was a 14-0 start and a gutty effort to tie the game late turn into a second state title for LCA. But Andrew Dobbs’ 44-yard field goal as time expired struck the inside of the left upright and then the front side of the crossbar below to bounce out and deny the Eagles’ shot to win it at the gun.
“It was one of those high school football games that will go down as a classic,” said LCA Coach Doug Charles, whose team overcame three interceptions and a fumble to get to the OT. “We’ve been in quite a few of those and had the upper hand on most, but sometimes, we don’t get there. Tonight was one of those nights.”
Charles elected for LCA to play defense on the first possession of overtime.
Beechwood wasted no time getting on the board.
Hergott found a wide-open Torin Oshea in the right flat in a formation the Tigers knew LCA would be looking for a run out of. Beechwood ran it a number of times during the game. The Tigers threw it to a different receiver once it noticed Oshea was left unchecked on the play. He was this time, too.
“He’s a bus, so we knew he was going to get into the end zone,” Hergott said. “He trucked a kid and got in.”
Beechwood led 24-17 after the extra point in overtime.
LCA answered quickly with two Xavier Brown runs, the second from 3 yards out to set up Beechwood’s special teams block.
“We came into the game with a good game plan. We’ve just been working our butts off all season just to get to this point,” said Hergott, who led the Tigers to the Class A state title as a sophomore. “We did our jobs, and we got the (kick) block to win the game. It was just a crazy ending.”
LCA overcame four turnovers to take a 17-14 lead in the third quarter after a disastrous start.
Beechwood took the opening kickoff straight down the field for a 7-0 lead on senior quarterback Cameron Hergott’s 25-yard run just 40 seconds into the contest.
LCA drove decisively on its first series, but a Brown fumble ended the threat.
Beechwood overcame the first of two Hergott interceptions to win a field position battle over the next couple of possessions and got another TD from Hergott, this time on a 10-yard pass to a wide-open Tanner Jackson.
Dobbs hit a field goal just before halftime to get LCA on the board and set the tone for an Eagles’ rally.
“We kind of went into halftime still confident and feeling really good, but sometimes we come out of halftime and have a lapse or two,” Hergott said. “And that happened in this game.”
Beechwood Coach Noel Rash has been in charge for seven of the Tigers’ titles. Every title to this point had come in Class A.
“The amount of hard work that goes into this and the amount of good fortune that you have to have for this to happen is incredible,” he said. “And we’ve had both on our side.”
Hergott was named finals MVP. He threw for 154 yards and two TDs and rushed for 97 yards with another score. Brown led LCA in rushing with 139 yards and two TDs and had 62 receiving yards.
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 7:49 PM.
