Not the way CovCath thought state title game would go against 4-time defending champ Boyle County


By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter

LEXINGTON — As difficult as it may be to imagine, a Boyle County team going for its fourth straight state championship in Kentucky’s Class 4A was better — way, way better — than advertised as it took apart an unbeaten Covington Catholic team, 41-0, Friday night at UK’s Kroger Field.

CovCath quarterback Evan Pitzer had no room to operate against Boyle County’s relentless defenders. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)

Boyle County’s 15-0 Rebels were quicker, tougher, more disciplined, better prepared, more confident and much more athletic than a 14-1 CovCath team that managed to reach two of its goals for the season by “maximizing their games” and getting back to Lexington after a four-year absence from the title game., 

“No reason to sugar-coat it,” said CovCath Coach Eddie Eviston whose teams had won four of his five previous championship game appearances here, “they beat us in all phases of the game.”

The problem for CovCath after getting to Game 15 was the team out of Danville waiting for them, a team that has now won seven of the last eight state championship games and might as well put the state finals on their regular season schedule.

Boyle’s Rebels were just so much quicker, or at least able to play so much faster that the Colonels seemed to be running in slow motion, not at all the way they looked last week in beating speedy Paducah Tilghman in last week’s semifinals.

“We didn’t have any juice,” Eviston said. “We just kind of kept putting ourselves behind the eight-ball.” Although much of that credit for putting CovCath in a tough place had to go to Boyle County.

CovCath Eddie Eviston with center JP Sullivan and quarterback Evan Pitzer. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)

And more specifically to junior Montavin Quisenberry, a 5-foot-9, 160-pound four-star prospect as a two-way player with scholarship offers from the likes of Michigan, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Louisville, who showed why the best programs in the nation want him. He jumped on the Colonels early with 75 yards rushing for a touchdown, 46 yards receiving and a 39-yard punt return for a TD — all in a first half that saw Boyle County jump out to a 20-0 lead at intermission.

It could have been worse as the stunned Colonels, 236 yards to 29 — in the first half.  You read that right: On 22 plays, CovCath gained just 29 yards, looking much like a team trying to crawl out of quicksand.

And while it seemed a bit odd that right before kickoff, that the Coach of the Year and Player of the Year in Class 4A were announced, both won by Boyle County Coach Justin Haddix and quarterback Sage Dawson, the only quibble might be over the omission of Quisenberry, the man who makes Boyle County go.

He danced, he did full spins, he accelerated and pranced his way effortlessly, it seemed, into the end zone through CovCath’s arm-tacklers who often ended up mostly with air as he went by with three or four missing on some of his runs. “I saw on film that maybe I could do that,” Quisenberry said of his ability to get to the edge on the CovCath defense — and around it. But he wasn’t alone. In the first half alone, Boyle County ripped off nine plays of 13 through 39 yards — a couple of those coming on fourth down with Boyle having to punt just once.

Boyle County’s Avery Bodner celebrates his second TD. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)

But that’s not what Haddix wanted to talk about for his Rebels. “What a bob they did in shutting that team out,” he said of putting a zero up against a CovCath team averaging 41.6 points a game, third-best in the state.

The impressive thing about Boyle County is how they don’t try to be a junior NFL team or one of those pass-crazy college teams who throw the ball all over the field. They did high school football things. And they did them very well.

They blocked. They tackled. They ran hard. They defended relentlessly. They played smart. “They were just focused on the wrong things,” he said of the CovCath defense. And they played with the kind of confidence that comes from doing all of that well — and the winning that brings. Haddix has coached at Boyle County for four seasons after moving from Corbin. His playoff record? A perfect 20-0.

Things got easier for the Rebels in the second half when CovCath had to go for it, trailing by 27 points, and failed, turning it over on downs twice and giving Boyle short fields for easier scores. 

No matter, the Rebels played to the end of every play and then some. But when UK-bound CovCath tight end Willie Rodriguez tried that, he was immediately flagged for doing the same thing. Nothing on this night went right for CovCath — or Rodriguez, who was held to one reception for three yards although he did get the game’s biggest hit. So there was that.

But just another brick in the wall that fell on CovCath. Hard to beat a team that averaged 7.6 yards a play on 55 plays with a team that averaged 1.6 yards on 40 plays. And yes, the totals are nearly inexplicable. Boyle County piled up 413 yards of offense to CovCath’s 64. That’s right — 64.

Boyle County speedster Montavin Quisenberry runs away from CovCath defenders on his 39-yard punt return to TD. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)

The quickness difference played out in so many ways and not just on offense. Where last week, CovCath called on the 6-5 Pitzer to carry the ball 24 times for 123 yards, this week they called on him again. But could create no space. On his 15 carries, Pitzer — trying with all his might — finished with a net one yard. One yard! Now you know why CovCath totaled just 64 yards.

“That’s on me,” Pitzer said, stepping up to accept responsibility that was clearly a team issue, “Not on the coaches. They had a great gameplan.” But that wasn’t the full explanation and Pitzer continued. “That’s a great football team. They flew to the ball and when they hit you, you felt it.”

All Rodriguez could say after the game was in agreeing with a question that “it was cool” to get to play on the Kroger Field turf where he’ll be playing next year. But his emotions at the way this went down made it impossible for him to say more. This was a tough deal for CovCath’s senior class that got the Colonels back here.

This game will not define this CovCath team or this senior class, Eviston said. “It was fun to be with them on their journey,” he said.

“Every challenge you put before them, they handled. A classy group of young men. I’m proud to be their coach.”

SCORE BY QUARTER

BOYLE CO. 6 14 14 7–41

COVCATH 0 0 0 0–0

SCORING SUMMARY

BOYLE: Quisenberry 13 run (PAT failed)

BOYLE: Bodner 1 run (Carr PAT)

BOYLE: Quisenberry 39 punt return (Carr PAT)

BOYLE: Bodner 9 run (Carr PAT)

BOYLE: Dawson 9 run (Carr PAT)

BOYLE: Brown 32 pass from Dawson (Carr PAT)

CovCath’s Cash Harney almost gets free as Boyle’s Gage Feltner gets him by the ankle. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
CovCath’s Class A runner-up Colonels. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)

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