© 2007 by Ron Harrison
Highlands broke open a close game in the third quarter on their way to a 32-9 victory over Lexington Catholic. Lexington Catholic pulled to within two points, 11-9, on a six yard TD run by Shane Israel with 7:56 remaining in the third quarter. However, on the ensuing kickoff, Highlands' Zach Hurtt shook off a tackle and raced 84 yards to the Lexington Catholic one yard line. Josh Conner scored on a one yard run and Highlands scored 21 unanswered points. Highlands' offensive line (6-1 222 pound Sr. Brady Dowling, 6-0 220 pound Sr. Ryan Ball, 6-3 234 pound Sr. Luke Stein, 6-2 224 pound Jr. Adam Dempsey, and 6-4 276 pound Sr. Alex Hempfling) was very effective in the second half, opening up some big holes for the talented Highlands backs.
Highlands recorded 15 first downs and 297 yards of total offense. The Bluebirds were penalized three times for 15 yards. Lexington Catholic had 13 first downs and 302 yards of total offense. The Knights were penalized seven times for 57 yards and had one pass intercepted.
The Highlands ground attack was led by Josh Conner with 139 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. Clay Cecil carried the ball 17 times for 64 yards and a TD. Zach Hurtt recorded 60 yards and a score on seven carries. Cecil completed five of nine passes for 34 yards. Jay Draper caught two passes for 25 yards. Ryan Ball led the defense with four solo and four assisted tackles. Jimmy Hall added four solo and two assisted tackles.
Shane Israel led the Lexington Catholic ground game with 69 yards and one TD on 21 carries. Nic Ward completed 14 of 26 passes for 195 yards with one interception. Mack Kersey caught four passes for 82 yards. Tyler Corvin added three receptions for 45 yards. Will Letton led the defense with four solo and two assisted tackles. Winston Gay added three solo and four assisted tackles.
| Highlands | 32 | Lexington Catholic | 9 |
| School | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final |
| Highlands | 0 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 32 |
| Lexington Catholic | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 9 |
| LC | - | Lane Pumphrey 38 yard field goal |
| H | - | Drew Bathiany 42 yard field goal |
| H | - | Clay Cecil 4 yard run (Drew Simons run) |
| LC | - | Shane Israel 6 yard run (Nic Ward pass fails) |
| H | - | Josh Conner 1 yard run (Michael Laber pass from Simons) |
| H | - | Zach Hurtt 6 yard run (Simons run fails) |
| H | - | Conner 1 yard run (Bathiany kick) |
| Highlands | Lexington Catholic | |||||||||
| Rushing | No. | Yds. | Avg. | Long | Rushing | No. | Yds. | Avg. | Long | |
| Josh Conner | 14 | 139 | 9.9 | 37 | Shane Israel | 21 | 69 | 3.3 | 15 | |
| Clay Cecil | 17 | 64 | 3.8 | 22 | Greg Raglin | 4 | 19 | 4.8 | 20 | |
| Zach Hurtt | 7 | 60 | 8.6 | 34 | Winston Guy | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 9 | |
| Team | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | Devon Williams | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | |
| Nic Ward | 5 | 2 | 0.4 | 5 | ||||||
| Passing | A-C-I | Yds. | TD | Long | Passing | A-C-I | Yds. | TD | Long | |
| Clay Cecil | 9-5-0 | 34 | 0 | 27 | Nic Ward | 26-14-1 | 195 | 0 | 33 | |
| Winston Guy | 1-0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Receiving | No. | Yds. | TD | Long | Receiving | No. | Yds. | TD | Long | |
| Jay Draper | 2 | 25 | 0 | 17 | Mack Kersey | 4 | 82 | 0 | 24 | |
| Terry O'Brien | 2 | 12 | 0 | 7 | Tyler Corvin | 3 | 45 | 0 | 33 | |
| Josh Conner | 1 | -3 | 0 | 0 | Nick Vicini | 2 | 33 | 0 | 21 | |
| Winston Guy | 2 | 14 | 0 | 13 | ||||||
| And. Hutchinson | 1 | 10 | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Devon Williams | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 | ||||||
| Daniel Vogelsang | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | ||||||
A special thanks to WLStats for the comprehensive stats provided for tonight's games.
Please refer to Week 8 in Review .
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.
