Highlights: LCA football dispatches another No. 1; Sayre and Franklin County go to 10-0
Here are highlights from Week 11 of Friday’s high school football action, the final week of the regular season.
Lexington Christian 48, Raceland 21: The Eagles (9-1) closed out the regular season with a road win over Class A’s No. 1-ranked Raceland (7-3), the fourth top-ranked team LCA has faced this season.
“We challenged the kids this week to play a little cleaner, and we challenged them to get off to a better start,” LCA coach Doug Charles said. “We’ve been down 7-0 in four of our big, meaningful games.”
Those games included wins over then-Class 5A No. 1 Bowling Green, then-Class A No. 1 Pikeville and Class 3A No. 2 Lexington Catholic. The Eagles also beat Class 3A No. 1 Christian Academy-Louisville. LCA’s only loss came to Class 4A No. 1 Boyle County.
Against the Rams on Friday, Brady Hensley rushed for 265 yards and five touchdowns as LCA jumped to a 26-0 lead before conceding the first Raceland score in the second half. Hensley’s TD runs covered 31, 35, 40, 56 and 53 yards.
Those stats put Hensley at 1,940 yards rushing on the season with 36 TDs, numbers that would have to make him a front-runner for Kentucky’s Mr. Football award given annually to the state’s most outstanding senior.
“He’s certainly put the state on notice that he’s a very good football player,” Charles said of his senior running back.
Teammate Cutter Boley, LCA’s four-star Kentucky quarterback commit, will surely be in the running too, but Charles said the two have nothing but friendship and admiration for each other.
“All you’ve got to do is watch them in practice, watch them in the locker room and watch them in games,” Charles said. “Tonight, Brady had a big night and Cutter’s the first one to celebrate with him.”
Boley threw for 126 yards and had an 11-yard TD pass to Nate Barnhardt late in the second quarter.
BJ Evans also scored for the Eagles. Raceland got two TDs from Noah Wallace and a late score by Isaac Browning.
Bryan Station 48, Central Hardin 8: The Defenders (7-3) built upon a 28-point first quarter to beat the Bruins (5-5).
Javari Burnett got things started for Bryan Station with an early 70-yard kickoff return for a TD. The Defenders also got first half scores from quarterback Trenton Cutwright (35-yard run), Kalen Washington (2-yard run), JT Haskins Jr. (34-yard catch) and Taeandre Clark (21-yard run).
Bryan Station got second half scores from Bayubahe Benit (3-yard run) and Avery Johnson (92-yard run). Central Hardin’s Gage Gergely ran for a 56-yard TD in the fourth quarter to avoid the shutout.
Sayre 46, Bethlehem 21: Luke Pennington completed 16 of 20 passes for 227 yards and five touchdowns, four of those to Charlie Slabaugh, as the Spartans ran their regular season record to 10-0 for a second time in their four years of varsity play in Class A.
Brock Coffman notched 115 yards receiving and a score. Slabaugh added a 46-yard TD return of an attempted onside kick late.
Sayre led Bethlehem (3-7) 21-0 after a quarter and 34-7 going into the fourth. Two weeks ago, the Eagles lost a close game to Class A RPI No. 1 Kentucky Country Day 35-28.
Eastern 48, Paul Laurence Dunbar 42: The Eagles (4-6) edged the Bulldogs (3-7) in their road victory.
Dunbar was first on the scoreboard with a pair of TDs from Conner Norsworthy (47-yard catch) and Myles Martin (45-yard interception return) before Eastern quarterback Zane Wagner threw a pair of touchdown passes to Joshua Shipley (46 yards) and Grayson Napier (5 yards) in the first quarter.
Eastern tacked on three more with scores in the second quarter from Zane Wagner (1-yard run). Cameron Russ (6-yard run) and Shipley (9-yard catch) after Noe Kayembe rushed for a 4-yard Dunbar touchdown to put the Eagles up 35-21 at the half.
Kayembe rushed for a 1-yard TD in the third to cut into Eastern’s lead, but the Eagles tacked on another Shipley score (28-yard catch). Trae Berry scored both of Dunbar’s fourth quarter touchdowns (33- and 2-yard catches), but a 51-yard run TD from Russ made the difference for Eastern.
Southwestern 45, Henry Clay 8: The Warriors (7-3) dominated for three quarters in their big win over the Blue Devils (0-10).
Southwestern’s first points came via a safety early in the first quarter. The Warriors would tack on another late in the second quarter, and also got first half scores from Logan Haynes (5-yard run), Caden Cunnagin (25- and 21-yard catches) and Christian Walden (37- and 31-yard runs).
Zachary Hutchinson caught a 25-yard TD pass in the third quarter, and Henry Clay’s Luke DiNardo caught a 3-yard touchdown reception late in the fourth to avoid the shutout.
Tates Creek 42, West Jessamine 0: The Commodores (7-3) outgained the Colts (6-4) 435-181 in their shutout victory.
Tates Creek quarterback Andrew Witherington threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns, the first of which was a 39-yard pass to Luke Cooper near the end of the first quarter. Cooper also caught a 52-yard TD reception in the fourth. Witherington ran for a 3-yard score of his own in the final minute of the second quarter, and he rushed for a 19-yard TD early in the third quarter.
Marquevion Smith rushed for a 30-yard TD in the third quarter before JT Cooper caught a 27-yard touchdown pass.
Paris 50, Ludlow 26: Jayden Holman rushed for 236 yards and three TDs, including a 70-yarder in the fourth quarter, as the Greyhounds (9-1) pulled away from the visiting Panthers (6-4) late.
After Ludlow trimmed the Greyhounds’ advantage to 28-26 early in the fourth, Paris scored 22 unanswered, starting with Julius Gregory’s 63-yard TD pass to Elijah Webb. After Holman’s burst, Jakari Ransom capped the night with a 40-yard TD run.
Ransom also caught a 23-yard TD pass from Gregory in the first half and Webb scored on an 8-yard TD run in the third quarter.
Ludlow kept pace with Paris thanks to a pair of Aiden Smith TD runs, a 71-yard punt return by Ethan Powell and a 19-yard TD pass from Jackson Mays to Dameyn Anness.
Franklin County 48, George Rogers Clark 7: DuRi Trahan threw for 282 yards and three TDs with receivers Brennan Robinson and Jacob Taylor each topping 100 yards receiving as the Flyers (10-0) completed their undefeated regular season with a road rout over the Cardinals (4-6). Robinson had two TDs to Taylor’s one. Christian Moore and Jayquan Crawford added rushing TDs.
Mercer County 48, Lincoln County 28: Thaddeus Mays threw TD passes of 33 yards to Cameron Bottoms and 18 yards to Jacob Sanford and added two TD runs as the Titans (9-1) were never threatened. Denim Griffieth also had two rushing TDs. Lincoln County (4-6) got a pair of kickoff return TDs by Bryce “Bobby” Floyd.
East Jessamine 41, Lafayette 27: The Jaguars (2-8) got 133 yards rushing and three TDs from quarterback Dontae Parker-Morton to help take down the visiting Generals (2-8). Derek Morton added 83 yards and two TDs rushing to go with a 42-yard pick six in the first half. Lafayette quarterback DJ Walker had a TD run and TD passes to Kevin Amuri and Nehemiah Jarber. KJ Jones also scored for the Generals.
Great Crossing 42, Collins 34: Jacob Johnson’s 65-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter helped the host Warhawks (2-8) seal the win. Clayton Shaddix, Jeremiah Clark and Zach Morris each scored rushing TDs for Great Crossing, who also got 104 yards and two TDs receiving from Javontae Allen. Kade Goodin threw for 363 yards and three TDs and rushed for 129 yards and two scores for Collins (6-4). Logan Huelsman, Jayden Martin and Michael Schramm caught the Titans’ TD passes.
Bell County 39, Harlan County 0: Daniel Thomas rushed for 281 yards and four TDs as the Bobcats (9-1) rolled over the visiting Black Bears (1-9). Blake Burnett added 118 yards passing and a 7-yard TD throw to Hunter Everage. Thomas leads the state in rushing yards with 2,574 to go with 40 TDs at the end of the regular season.
Covington Catholic 35, Campbell County 7: Quarterback Evan Pitzer threw for 218 yards and four touchdowns and the Colonels (10-0) defeated the Camels (3-7).
The Colonels got first half touchdowns from Willie Rodriguez (5-yard catch), Tate Kruer (19-yard catch) and Owen Leen (3-yard run) to go up 21-0. In the third quarter, Pitzer found Oliver Link (25-yard catch) and Noah Johnson (41-yard catch). Campbell County got on the board in the fourth quarter with a 1-yard TD run from Nathan Smith.
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