As far as opening moments of a high school football season go, Frederick Douglass couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start Saturday night against defending Class 5A champion Bowling Green at Western Kentucky University’s Houchens Industries-LT Smith Stadium.
The Purples, ranked No. 1 in their division in the Herald-Leader’s preseason poll, stormed down the field in nine plays and scored a touchdown on the game’s first drive. Five plays later, Bowling Green sacked Douglass quarterback Jaxon Strautman for a huge fourth-down loss, setting up another offensive series at the Broncos’ 33-yard line.
Nobody would have thought that Douglass would turn this chaos into a convincing 35-13 victory in Rafferty’s Bowl in front of the partisan crowd in Bowling Green.
“Honestly, it was all mental,” said Kaden Clay, senior linebacker at Douglass. “We had to let the nerves out.”
It took one more play for the Douglass defense to steal the ball and all of Bowling Green’s momentum. Douglass cornerback Dacoldus Fields ripped a pass loose from Bowling Green’s Trevy Barber and Clay snatched it up at the Broncos’ 24-yard line and sprinted 74 yards the other way.
Clay sheepishly admitted that he went too far with Barber’s catch. But it worked.
“I saw the ball on the ground, grabbed it and just ran,” the Southern Illinois player said.
“That’s what players are supposed to do when they’re committed to college,” Douglass coach Nathan McPeek said. “But I made it hard on him because he got caught at the 2-yard line.”
Veteran running back Pharo Watts took care of the final two yards, stormed into the end zone and helped Douglass tie the score at 7-7 with four seconds left in the first quarter.
From there, Class 6A No. 3 Douglass showed that its defense could be as good as ever and that its offense has plenty of playmakers despite two of its best players being out with injuries.
“I thought our offensive line and our backs did a great job and we were physically dominant,” McPeek said.
Sophomore Dakari Talbert led the Broncos’ talented running back force with 157 rushing yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Junior Kenoxie “TayTay” Allen ran for 42 yards and another touchdown. Watts had six carries for 49 yards.
“We’re very, very good, but I think the best thing we can do is stay humble,” Talbert said. “We’re a reflection of the O-line. When the O-line plays well, we’re even better.”
It’s scary to think how much better Douglass could be with Dakari Talbert’s older brother Derion and Taylor County transfer Peyton Smith in the lineup. Minor knee injuries could keep both out of action for a few games, McPeek said. Derion Talbert, a Ball State player, was Douglass’ leading scorer last year. Smith, an Eastern Kentucky player, has 4,621 career rushing yards.
Strautman, entering his second season as Douglass’ starting quarterback, also got off to a good start, completing a 26-yard touchdown pass to senior wideout Aveion Chenault to give the Broncos a 14-7 lead with 13.6 seconds left in the first half. He then led two long drives in the second half that helped Douglass win — an 11-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Allen to give Douglass a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter, and an eight-play, 80-yard drive capped by another touchdown pass to Chenault to give Douglass a 28-13 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Bowling Green cut the Broncos’ lead to 21-13 midway through the third quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Jaxen Smith and had a prime opportunity to get closer after Douglass fell behind on penalties on the next possession.
But the Purples couldn’t take advantage of the short field presented by Douglass’ short punt to their own 41-yard line. The Broncos’ defense forced Bowling Green to settle for a 26-yard field goal that missed wide left.
“It looked really smooth at the beginning of the game. I think our guys were thinking, ‘Hey, this is going to be easy.’ And we’ve been saying all week, ‘This is not going to be easy,'” said Bowling Green coach Mark Spader, whose Purples last faced Douglass in the 2022 Class 5A state championship game, losing 28-7. “They’re a bear team and we played right back at them.”
Bowling Green quarterback Deuce Bailey led the Purples with 187 yards passing and 48 yards running, as well as a touchdown. He was sacked twice.
Douglass next faces Class 6A No. 1 Trinity on Friday at The Farm. The Rocks defeated Douglass 14-7 in overtime in last year’s semifinals in Louisville. Douglass has built one of the toughest schedules in the state to prepare for another title shot this year, including No. 4 Male, No. 5 Bryan Station, No. 6 Manual and Class 4A favorites Boyle County and Corbin.
“We have great opponents every week, so it’s going to be tough every time. It’s going to be a tough battle,” Clay said. “We’re going to do everything we can to put ourselves in the best position to be successful. We’re going to fight through adversity whenever we get to it, and I think this team is going to be special.”
Boyle County defeated Lexington Christian
Boyle County began its quest for its fifth consecutive Class 4A championship and 13th overall with a 35-13 win over Lexington Christian in the opening game of the Rafferty’s Bowl on Saturday at WKU.
Demauriah Brown led the Rebels with 116 rushing yards, including touchdowns of 8 and 19 yards, and caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Baylor Murphy as Boyle County gradually built a 35-6 lead over the Class 2A No. 2 Eagles in the fourth quarter.
Boyle County’s Baylor Murphy, a 6-foot-1 junior quarterback making his first start, threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to senior wideout Geordon Brown on a third-and-10 play to help the Rebels take a 14-0 first quarter lead. Murphy also threw a 14-yard touchdown to sophomore tight end Seneca Driver late in the third quarter and finished the game with 251 yards passing.
“We’ve looked good at times and sloppy at times,” said Boyle County coach Justin Haddix. “We need to be more consistent. We’re not going to play our best right now, but we’ve just got to keep getting better from here on out.”
LCA’s offense struggled against Boyle for most of the day, but senior quarterback Saxton Howard gave the Rebels a 38-yard touchdown run just seconds into the third quarter and scored a 75-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
Both teams’ next game will be Saturday in the Boyle County Bowl event, with the Rebels hosting Bryan Station and LCA taking on Franklin County at Rebel Stadium.
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