By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
After committing a pair of turnovers that let a 10-point lead slip away, Simon Kenton’s offensive unit got a chance to redeem itself in the final minutes of a home game against Ryle on Saturday.
The score was tied, 31-31, when the Pioneers got the ball with 7:24 left on the clock and the offense scored a touchdown by picking up 65 yards on 13 rushing plays to come away with a 38-31 win in a game that decided the top seed in the local Class 6A district.
Simon Kenton senior quarterback Chase Crone scored the winning touchdown on a 2-yard run off left tackle with 2:12 remaining. He was one of four ball carriers who benefitted from the blocking provided by their offensive line during the final drive.
“We’ve done it all year and we’ll do it again,” said senior right guard Nathan Bieber. “We knew it was up to us. Our O-line coach (Jason) Frazier is the best coach you could have. He tells us all the time, ‘It’s on you guys. If you want to win, you’ve got to play.’ We came out and played and we won.”
The other starters on Simon Kenton’s super-sized offensive line are tackles Jake Puthoff and Aba Selm, center C.J. Heflin, guard Kaleb Russell and tight end Josh Bowling.
They played so well Saturday that the Pioneers rolled up 623 yards in total offense with 431 coming on the ground. The leading rusher was Crone with 185 yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns. He also completed 11 of 23 passes for 192 yards and two TDs.
On the game-winning drive, Crone carried the ball seven times for 31 yards, including the 2-yard run into the end zone. Kaleb Bleier picked up 18 yards on four carries and Durell Turner had a 15-yard run that ended with a fumble that was recovered by one of his teammates.
The other yard came on a fourth-down run by Jayden Lawson that kept the drive alive. He finished with 125 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown.
“We want our offense on the field in those situations,” said Simon Kenton coach Roy Lucas Jr. “Anytime it comes down to do it and we’ve got our offense on the field we like our chances.”
Simon Kenton had a slim 17-14 lead at halftime even though the Pioneers outgained the Raiders, 304-126, in total yards.
Late in the second quarter, Ryle intercepted a pass near midfield and scored six plays later on a 23-yard pass from quarterback Logan Verax to Kaden Gardner that cut the lead to three points at halftime.
In the third quarter, Simon Kenton scored on its first two possessions to open up a 31-14 lead, but Ryle ran off 17 straight points to tie it.
The Raiders recovered a bad snap that went over Crone’s head to get the ball at the 8-yard line. On the next play, Jayce Harden scored on a shovel pass from Verax and Gavin Moses kicked the extra point to make it 31-28 going into the fourth quarter.
With 8:30 left in the fourth quarter, the Raiders recovered a fumble by Lawson at the 23-yard line. They could only get to the 10-yard line, however, and Moses converted a 28-yard field goal that tied the score.
Simon Kenton returned the ensuing kickoff to the 35-yard line. That set the stage for the offensive unit to make amends for its mistakes on previous possessions.
“We’ve just got to forget about it and move on,” Crone said of his mindset before the final drive. “When the other guys got down, I told them the same thing. We cannot have our heads down. We’ve just got to keep playing. We know what we can do, but keeping our heads down is not going to help us at all.”
Ryle finished with 334 yards and Verax accounted for most of it. He completed 15 of 30 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 34 yards and one TD.
Both teams have one game remaining on their regular season schedule. In the first round of the Class 6A playoffs on Nov. 4, Louisville Eastern will be at Ryle and Marshall County will visit Simon Kenton.
SIMON KENTON 10 7 14 7 — 38
RYLE 7 7 14 3 — 31
SK — Kitchens 36 pass from Crone (Petty kick)
SK — Petty 29 FG
R — Verax 3 run (Moses kick)
SK — Williams 23 pass from Crone (Petty kick)
R — Gardner 24 pass from Verax (Moses kick)
SK — Lawson 36 run (Petty kick)
SK — Crone 41 run (Petty kick)
R — Harden 53 pass from Verax (Moses kick)
R — Harden 8 pass from Verax (Moses kick)
R — Moses 28 FG
SK — Crone 2 run (Petty kick)
RECORDS: Simon Kenton 6-3 overall, 3-0 district; Ryle 5-4, 2-1