KHSAA scores: St. X holds off Manual, Male, Trinity, CAL win in big

Week 2 of the KHSAA playoffs in Kentucky is full of intriguing rematches from the regular season. Manual High School football will look to avenge a blowout loss to St. Xavier. Ballard plans on ending Trinity's title run. Male's defense once again faces Bullitt East's red-hot offense and CAL takes on Mercer County.

We'll have updates from those four games and scores from all the statewide playoff action. Follow along with our live blog packed with scores and highlights from the Louisville area’s biggest games.

Check out our Player of the Week: Meet Ramont Townsend, The Courier Journal's Athlete of the Week

8:50 p.m. Friday Night Scoreboard

Here are the scores we're tracking tonight:

CLASS 6A

Male 56, Bullitt East 8 | Final

St. Xavier 18, Manual 16 | Final

Trinity 40, Ballard 0 | Final

Ryle 36, Dixie Heights 7 | Final

Paul Laurence Dunbar 41, Tates Creek 34 | Final

Madison Central 41, Bryan Station 18 | Final

CLASS 5A

Bullitt Central 48, Fairdale 7 | Final

South Oldham 33, Atherton 3 | Final

Woodford County 51, West Jessamine 16 | Final

Southwestern 27, Pulaski County 7 | Final

Covington Catholic 35, Conner 14 | Final

Owensboro 43, Graves County 0 | Final

Frederick Douglass 48, Scott County 7 | Final

CLASS 4A

Spencer County 7, John Hardin 5 | Final

Johnson Central 50, Letcher County Central 14 | Final

Franklin County 14, Central 8 | Final

Boyle County 47, Lexington Catholic 13 | Final

Corbin 42, Lincoln County 21 | Final

Allen County-Scottsville 35, Franklin-Simpson 28 | Final

Scott 43, Harrison County 7 | Final

CLASS 3A

Christian Academy 43, Mercer County 7 | Final

East Carter 26, Ashland Blazer 16 | Final

Mason County 8, Fleming County 0 | Final

Bardstown 42, LaRue County 8 | Final

Belfry 21, Lawrence County 14 | Final

Bell County 28, Rockcastle County 8 | Final

Glasgow 48, Taylor County 13 | Final

Class 2A

Mayfield 55, Murray 6 | Final

Beechwood 48, Holy Cross (Covington) 0 | Final

West Carter 27, Martin County 19 | Final

Walton-Verona 27, Carroll County 7 | Final

Owensboro Catholic 36, Hancock County 0 | Final

Lexington Christian 61, Danville 13 | Final

Green County 32, Metcalfe County 13 | Final

Middlesboro 43, Breathitt County 33 | Final

CLASS A

Holy Cross 28, Bethlehem 27 | Final

Bishop Brossart 36, Nicholas County 0 | Final

Pikeville 28, Hazard 6 | Final

Raceland 28, Paintsville 14 | Final

Newport Central Catholic 54, Dayton 6 | Final

Kentucky Country Day 30, Frankfort 0 | Final

Russellville 24, Crittenden County 7 | Final

9:30 p.m. Moving on...

While most of the squads our high school sports team covered tonight cruised to relatively easy wins, No. 2 St. X needed to dig deep to put this one away.

8:55 p.m. St. X takes control

For the first time tonight, the No. 2 team in Class 6A has a lead against an upstart, upset-minded Manual bunch. Can the Tigers hold?

8:51 p.m. CAL is back on top

8:39 p.m. St. X is in trouble

No Ja'Waun Northington? No problem — at least so far. Manual is giving St. X everything it wants and is about one quarter away from pulling off a major postseason upset.

8:35 p.m. It's a low-scoring affair at CAL

8:14 p.m. Manual living up to its word

Coming into this game, several members of the Crimsons' squad said they were confident their rematch with No. 2 St. Xavier wouldn't end like the first one. The halftime score seems to suggest that Manual's talk was much more than just pre-game bluster.

7:39 p.m. Bullitt East stops the bleeding ... for now

Quarterback Travis Egan gets the Chargers on the board, and they get aggressive with the PAT. It's a sign that Bullitt East won't lay down despite falling behind by three scores early. Then, the Chargers recover a fumble and are back in business.

7:33 p.m. All knotted up

It took a minute, but No. 2 St. X responds and ties the game back up against an inspired Manual squad. Interestingly enough, two of the best place kickers in Kentucky have both whiffed on PATs.

7:18 p.m. Top Teams, Fast Starts

The headliners are up big so far. Male, Trinity are up big to begin, but Manual is shocking St. X.

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Here's a recap of the week's biggest headlines to get you ready for Friday's slate of games.

Lil' Durk and trash talk? How Male football keeps its emotions leveled in KHSAA playoff run

What is the proper emotional tone for a football team to strike during the season? According to Male football coach Chris Wolfe, teams don’t necessarily do themselves any favors if they’re relying on high levels of emotional energy to play well week in and week out.

“Teams can play above their emotional level once or twice, but generally that’s about it,” said Wolfe. “If you’re trying to emotionalize your team every week, it’s not going to happen. The guys can’t play at a high emotional level every week, there’s only a few games a year where they can actually play with that type of emotion.

Read more.

Will Manual stun St. Xavier in round 2?

Many of Friday's best matchups are rematches from the regular season. St. Xavier vs Manual is no different. The Tigers may have handed Manual one of its worst losses this season, but the Crimsons look to emerge as the better team on Friday night.

Who are some of the players that'll need to step up to lead their teams to victory? Which side has the edge in one of the most important early round games of the postseason?

A changing of the guard

Several of last season's champions could face elimination tonight. Whether it'd be a team that lost a lot of talent the year before, or just a squad that's destined to run into a bigger dog on the block, it's likely that multiple champions will have their quest to defend their title ended tonight.

Which of the six champions from last year is in the most trouble? Read more to find out!

Can we pick 'em?

Take a look at who The Courier Journal's high school sports staff has picked to win this week's biggest area games.

Follow Courier Journal reporter J.L. Kirven on Twitter @JL_Kirven for more updates on Louisville prep sports.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA football 2021 scores: Playoffs scores, updates, highlights