By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Simon Kenton won its first Class 6A football playoff game in three years Friday when the Pioneers generated 375 yards in total offense during a 31-9 victory over Oldham County on a misty night in Independence.
The Pioneers (6-5) have to go on the road to play two-time defending state champion Louisville Trinity (9-2) next week. But coach Joe Wynn didn’t let that cast a shadow over the team’s big win.
“We just wanted to play for each other tonight and have another week to stay together,” Wynn said. “We know what lies ahead, but i told the kids after the game to just enjoy this one. It’s the first playoff win at Simon Kenton in three years and we’re at six wins now. Our kids just keep battling and playing hard.”
Simon Kenton scored on all four of its offensive series in the first half to open up a 24-9 lead against Oldham County (5-6).
The first two drives that covered 65 and 80 yards ended with short rushing touchdowns by senior Landon Brown and sophomore Jason Rabe, who had not scored during the regular season.
After an Oldham County field goal made it 17-9 with 1:01 left in the second quarter, Wynn called a trick play that worked better than he expected.
It started with sophomore quarterback Grant Webb throwing a short lateral pass to senior wide receiver Grayson Harris. He ran to the right and then threw a second pass to his sophomore teammate Forest Hughes, who was wide open behind the defense.
Hughes took the ball into the end zone to complete the 71-yard double-pass play and Miles Mullen kicked the extra point to put the Pioneers ahead, 24-9, at halftime.
“I have trust in Garyson and our kids to execute and obviously that happened,” Wynn said. “A lot could go wrong there, but you’ve got to trust your kids. They left it all out on the field tonight and came away with the win.”
Oldham County’s offense started the second half with a 14-play drive to the 20-yard line, but it ended when Harris intercepted a pass playing defensive back.
The Pioneers punted on their next two possessions, but the a roughing the kicker penalty kept the second one alive.
After Harris caught a pass from Webb that put he ball at the 4-yard line, senior running back Jordan Pendleton scored the game’s final touchdown with 2:29 remaining on the clock.
Simon Kenton finished with 216 yards passing and 159 rushing while the defense limited Oldham County to 290 total yards (107 rushing, 83 passing). Harris caught six passes for 95 yards to surpass the 3,000 mark in career receiving yards. He’ll enter next week’s game with 1,035 yards this season and 3,075 yards in three seasons.
Northern Kentucky teams won 11 of the 16 games they were involved in during the first round of the post-season playoffs. Local teams played each other in three Class 1A games. The matchups next week will be Brossart at Newport Central Catholic and Newport at Holy Cross.
In the closest game on Friday, Collins kicked a field goal with 3.4 seconds remaining to come away with a 52-49 win over Dixie Heights in Class 5A. Collins took a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and held off a comeback by the Colonels, who tied the score with 3:44 remaining in the fourth quarter.
All seven Dixie Heights’ touchdowns came on pass plays. Senior quarterback Mason Fields completed 20 of 30 passes for 408 yards. He threw for 2,669 yards and 28 touchdowns this season.
High school football playoffs scoreboard
THURSDAY
Newport Central Catholic 42, Trimble County 0
Walton-Verona 49, Morgan County 6
Lloyd 48, Bath County 0
Scott County 48, Conner 7
FRIDAY
Brossart 30, Bellevue 6
Newport 42, Ludlow 2
Holy Cross 54, Dayton 6
Breathitt County 54, St. Henry 0
Highlands 35, Greenup County 7
Covington Catholic 48, Boyd County 21
Cooper 28, South Oldham 14
Collins 52, Dixie Heights 49
Woodford County 54, Boone County 7
Ryle 48, Louisville Eastern 0
Simon Kenton 31, Oldham County 9
Louisville Ballard 35, Campbell County 21
Next week’s football playoff games
CLASS 1A
Brossart at Newport Central Catholic
Newport at Holy Cross
CLASS 2A
Walton-Verona at Beechwood
CLASS 3A
Henry County at Lloyd
CLASS 4A
Ashland Blazer at Highlands
Covington Catholic at Johnson Central
CLASS 5A
Scott County at Cooper
CLASS 6A
Simon Kenton at Louisville Trinity
Louisville Ballard at Ryle