Topic: Football
Lexington Catholic vs. Lexington Christian Academy
Lexington Christian Academy
Lexington, KY
September 20, 2019
© 2019 by Ron Harrison
Lexington Christian Academy defeated Lexington Catholic 43-42 to capture the latest installment of Lexington’s “Holy War.” LCA raced out to a 28-14 halftime lead but Lexington Catholic roared back to take a 42-35 lead with 5:56 left in the game. LCA recovered a Beau Allen fumble late in the game and Will Vernon scored on a 21 yard pass from Jayden Barnhardt to trail by one point; 42-41 with 55 seconds remaining on the clock. The Eagles decided to roll the dice and converted on a two point Jayden Barnhardt pass to Dearious Smith to take a 43-42 lead. However, the drama was not over as Lexington Catholic’s Max DeGraff failed on a 33 yard field goal attempt as time expired.
Lexington Christian Academy recorded 23 first downs and 452 yards of total offense. The Eagles were penalized twice for 30 yards and had a pass intercepted. Lexington Catholic recorded 21 first downs and 434 yards of total offense. The Knights were penalized seven times for 50 yards and lost a fumble.
Jayden Barnhardt led LCA’s ground game with 126 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries. Xavier Brown carried the ball eight times for 43 yards. Will Vernon added 41 yards on one carry. Jeffrey Selby carried the ball eight times for 39 yards. Jayden Barnhardt completed 14 of 22 passes for 203 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Dearious Smith caught five passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. Xavier Brown added four receptions for 49 yards and a touchdown. Will Vernon caught two passes for 41 yards and a touchdown. Will Vernon returned four kickoffs for 76 yards with a long return of 35 yards. Mattie Lebryk led the defense with eight solo and one assisted tackles. Andrew Long added six solo and one assisted tackles with one of his tackles resulting in a four yard loss. Neal Dickey recorded five solo tackles and Tyler Morris recovered a fumble.
Beau Allen led Lexington Catholic’s ground game with 142 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries. Ryan Nichols carried the ball 12 times for 57 yards. Beau Allen completed 24 of 28 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson Corbett caught 11 passes for 121 yards. Blake Busson added four receptions for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Dylan Bracken caught three passes for 33 yards. JD Woodall returned three kickoffs for 98 yards with a long return of 49 yards. Jackson Corbett returned one kickoff for 60 yards. Phillipe Irumva led the defense with eight solo tackles with two of his tackles resulting in losses totaling three yards. Ryan Gallagher added five solo and two assisted tackles. John Simms recorded five solo tackles. Kimwanga Mafuta added four solo tackles and intercepted a pass he returned 26 yards for a touchdown.
Scoring Summary
| School | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final |
| Lexington Catholic | 7 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 42 |
| Lexington Christian Academy | 14 | 14 | 7 | 8 | 43 |
| LCA | - | Jayden Barnhardt 5 yard run (Andrew Dobbs kick fails) |
| LC | - | Blake Busson 21 yard pass from Beau Allen (Max DeGraff kick) |
| LCA | - | Dearious Smith 14 yard pass from Jayden Barnhardt (Xavier Brown run) |
| LC | - | Beau Allen 6 yard run (Max DeGraff kicks) |
| LCA | - | Xavier Brown 4 yard pass from Jayden Barnhardt (Andrew Dobbs kick) |
| LCA | - | Jayden Barnhardt 1 yard run (Andrew Dobbs kick) |
| LC | - | Beau Allen 43 yard run (Max DeGraff kick) |
| LCA | - | Jayden Barnhardt 1 yard run (Andrew Dobbs kick) |
| LC | - | Beau Allen 19 yard run (Max DeGraff kick) |
| LC | - | Blake Busson 31 yard pass from Beau Allen (Max DeGraff kick) |
| LC | - | Kimwanga Mafuta 26 yard interception return (Max DeGraf kick) |
| LCA | - | Will Vernon 21 yard pass from Jayden Barnhardt (Dearious Smith pass from Jayden Barnhardt) |
Selected Statistics
| Lexington Catholic | ||||
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| Rushing | No. | Yds. | Avg. | Long |
| Beau Allen | 15 | 142 | 9.5 | 43 |
| Ryan Nichols | 12 | 57 | 4.8 | 16 |
| Darin Eldridge | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 3 |
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| Passing | A-C-I | Yds. | TD | Long |
| Beau Allen | 28-24-0 | 232 | 2 | 47 |
| Team | 1-0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| Receiving | No. | Yds. | TD | Long |
| Jackson Corbett | 11 | 121 | 0 | 47 |
| Blake Busson | 4 | 61 | 2 | 31 |
| Dylan Bracken | 3 | 33 | 0 | 14 |
| Ryan Nichols | 2 | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Jack Monday | 1 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| JD Woodall | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Darin Eldridge | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Jackson Klein | 1 | -3 | 0 | 0 |
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| Lexington Christian Academy | ||||
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| Rushing | No. | Yds. | Avg. | Long |
| Jayden Barnhardt | 24 | 126 | 5.2 | 39 |
| Xavier Brown | 8 | 43 | 5.4 | 20 |
| Will Vernon | 1 | 41 | 41.0 | 41 |
| Jeffrey Selby | 8 | 39 | 4.9 | 8 |
| Frankie Knight | 2 | 3 | 1.5 | 5 |
| Team | 1 | -3 | -3.0 | 32 |
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| Passing | A-C-I | Yds. | TD | Long |
| Jayden Barnhardt | 22-14-1 | 203 | 3 | 28 |
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| Receiving | No. | Yds. | TD | Long |
| Dearious Smith | 5 | 75 | 1 | 28 |
| Xavier Brown | 4 | 49 | 1 | 24 |
| Will Vernon | 2 | 41 | 1 | 21 |
| Elijah Hammond | 2 | 27 | 0 | 14 |
| Jeffrey Selby | 1 | 11 | 0 | 11 |
Acknowledgements
A special thanks to WL Stats for the comprehensive stats provided for tonight's games.
Please feel free to send your comments and questions concerning the event, teams, or players to me at prepgridiron@yahoo.com.
Ron Harrison’s reports on this and other football events appear on https://www.angelfire.com/ky2/prepgridiron.