Henry Clay crushes Tates Creek 85-52

Friday's opening kickoff should have served as a clue that something unusual was about to happen.

Tates Creek's Martrell Berry ran back the kick 75 yards for a touchdown.

That was the first of three kick-return touchdowns — in the first half — as Henry Clay outgunned the visiting Commodores 85-52.

That's 137 points, with 890 yards of offense (480-410 for Henry Clay).

Henry Clay's Vinny Miller accounted for one of the kickoff-return TDs, an 86-yarder. He also ran for four touchdowns and passed for a pair.

"He played pretty well, didn't he?" said Coach Sam Simpson, whose Blue Devils (7-2) won their fifth game in a row and clinched a district title. "He had some good blocking up front, too. And, you know, when he's got all those other people to kind of distribute the ball to, it makes it difficult to lock in on one guy."

Blake Green and Carwell Gardner caught the TD passes. James Hendron, Anthony Lindsey and Sean Bryant all ran for scores. Jerry Williams ran for one and returned an interception for another.

A.J. Yewell may have a sore leg Saturday after going 11-for-11 kicking PATs.

Miller, a junior, ran 21 times for 159 yards and completed nine of 15 passes for 145 yards. Bo Brooks also topped 100 yards on the ground, getting 114 on 16 carries.

The district title "means a lot, coming off my disciplinary action at the beginning of the year," said Miller, who missed the Devils' first four games. "I took the bullet and made the best of it."

Henry Clay has scored 49 or more points in its last four games.

"Like an arena football score," said Tates Creek's Mike Harmon, former coach of the Lexington Horsemen. "They're really fast. We knew coming in we can't miss tackles, and we knew coming in that they're good at making people miss.

"They did a great job offensively. I thought we did a pretty good job offensively. Special teams, we did a pretty good job. ... I'm proud of our kids. They kept swinging and kept playing, and we'll continue to get better."

The Commodores (5-4) have lost six straight in the series.

In addition to Berry, Jontez Jones returned a kickoff for a touchdown of 92 yards.

Jones also scored on a pair of 1-yard runs and a 2-yarder.

Berry passed for touchdowns to William Hardin and Aubrey Lewis, and Dennis Oxendine ran for a score.

Jones finished with 94 yards rushing, Berry with 92. Berry completed 12 of 26 passes for 160 yards, but was intercepted four times.

Henry Clay led 29-22 at intermission.

Henry Clay then put up back-to-back 28-point quarters in the second half.

"It's not like the old Henry Clay-Tates Creek football, I can tell you that," Simpson said. "I admire Tates Creek for the way they kept fighting. ... It was just so close, we just kind of had to keep going. I wasn't real happy with our defense tonight."

But, he added, "We won a district championship. I'm happy for our senior class."

Henry Clay 85, Tates Creek 52

Tates Creek 7 15 6 24—52

Henry Clay 7 22 28 28—85

TC—Martrell Berry 75 kickoff return (Jake Ryan kick); HC—James Hendron 1 run (A.J. Yewell kick); HC—Vinny Miller 1 run (Yewell kick); TC—William Hardin 6 pass from Berry (Ryan kick); HC—Blake Green 17 pass from Miller (Yewell kick); TC—Jontez Jones 92 kickoff return (Berry run); HC—Miller 86 kickoff return (Brooks run); HC—Miller 7 run (Yewell kick); HC—Carwell Gardner 23 pass from Miller (Yewell kick); TC—Jones 1 run (kick blocked); HC—Jerry Williams 8 run (Yewell kick); HC—Miller 21 run (Yewell kick); TC—Jones run (pass failed); HC—Anthony Lindsey 6 run (Yewell kick); TC—Jones 2 run (run failed); HC—Miller 13 run (Yewell kick); TC—Aubrey Lewis 37 pass from Berry (pass failed); HC—Sean Bryant 31 run (Yewell kick); HC—Williams 51 interception return (Yewell kick); TC—Dennis Oxendine 3 run (pass failed).

This story was originally published October 23, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Henry Clay crushes Tates Creek 85-52."