The NKyTribune is offering focused coverage of NKY high school football throughout the season, thanks to support from St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine. See all our pre-season features on each of NKY’s 21 high school football teams and follow our coverage, including roundups each week at Northern Kentucky High School Football.
By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Lloyd football coach Eric Turner added five new opponents to this year’s regular season schedule to test his team’s talent and he was very happy with the results.
The Juggernauts have a 7-3 record going into the Class 2A state playoffs with five wins coming against teams from higher classes and the other two against district opponents. Their three losses were to Beechwood, Conner and Newport Central Catholic, but the final margins in the last two games were six and three points.
The Lloyd players handled that challenging schedule so well that their confidence level is sky high going into the playoffs, according to their coach.
“This group right here has been the one saying they can play with anybody,” Turner said. “That’s why we put together the schedule that we did, and they’re not ready to be done yet.”
The Juggernauts have the best record among the eight teams in the Region 3 playoff bracket for Class 2A. They need to win three games to take the regional title and advance to the state semifinals for the first time since 2003.
The quest begins Friday when Carroll County visits Lloyd for a first-round playoff game at 7 p.m.
“The past few years it’s been a deal where we play in the first round or second round and our season is over by then,” Turner said. “That’s not the case with this group. They see that they can control their own destiny and they feel that way 100 percent.”
The Juggernauts are averaging 32.7 points and 385.1 yards per game with a well-balanced offense.
The team’s leading rusher is junior running back Justin Durham with 1,109 yards and 11 touchdowns. But three other ball carriers – LaShunn Townsend, Dashon Lunsford and Alex Runion — have combined totals of 767 rushing yards and nine TDs.
Sophomore quarterback Jordan Fann has passed to 1,205 yards and 14 touchdowns in his first year as a starter. But Runion often stops in at quarterback and opposing defenses have to adjust to deal with him.
“We’ve been playing two quarterbacks because they both bring something different to the table,” coach Turner said. “They’ve both been doing an excellent job as far as leading the team. I feel confident putting either one of them in so we’re going to keep doing that.”
But the Lloyd player that opponents worry about the most is Charles Gaines, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior wide receiver and defensive back who’s drawing the attention of college recruiters.
Gaines has caught 40 passes for 738 yards and 12 touchdowns while also rushing for 108 yards and two TDs. On defense, he’s among the team’s leading tacklers with 52.
“He’s a very physical player on the offensive side of the ball and the same on defense,” Turner said. “There’s always times when he needs to go out and make a big play, like he’s been doing in the past, and he just needs to keep doing that for us.”
Like many of the seniors on the Lloyd roster, Gaines has been playing on the varsity team since he was a sophomore. This is the season he and his senior teammates have been preparing for, and they want to make it something special.
“I think we have much higher confidence this year,” Gaines said. “We know we have a lot of playmakers and guys with skill on the line and we can all go out there and count on each other.”
Senior leadership can be a big factor in a team’s success. Gaines knows how much that will mean to the Lloyd team as the pressure mounts in the playoffs.
“As seniors, we’ve just got to keep our younger guys in mind, help them push through it all and keep them having the faith,” Gaines said. “We’re seniors and it’s our last year so we want to win state. But we’ve got to keep those (younger) guys wanting it with us because we can’t go out there and do it alone.”
FRIDAY’S FOOTBALL PLAYOFF GAMES
(All games begin at 7:30 p.m. unless listed otherwise)
Class 1A
Eminence (4-6) at Beechwood (9-1)
Kentucky Country Day (5-5) at Ludlow (6-4)
Dayton (1-9) at Louisville Holy Cross (5-5)
Bellevue (3-7) at Frankfort (2-8)
Raceland (6-4) vs. Brossart (9-1) at Campbell County Middle School
Class 2A
Gallatin County (4-6) at Newport Central Catholic (5-5), 7 p.m.
Carroll County (5-5) at Lloyd (7-3), 7 p.m.
Holy Cross (5-5) at Owen County (6-4)
Newport (1-9) at Walton-Verona (5-5)
Class 4A
Rowan County (5-5) at Scott (8-2)
Holmes (4-6) at Johnson Central (8-1)
Class 5A
Woodford County (3-7) at Highlands (5-5)
Anderson County (5-5) vs. Covington Catholic (3-7) at Dixie Heights
Dixie Heights (2-8) at Montgomery County (7-3)
Class 6A
Louisville Butler (2-8) at Simon Kenton (10-0)
Conner (7-3) at Campbell County (1-9), 7 p.m.
Boone County (0-10) at Ryle (8-2)
Louisville Seneca (0-10) at Cooper (8-2)