By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Lexington Catholic senior quarterback Beau Allen put on quite a show in Friday night’s football game at Covington Catholic. The University of Kentucky recruit completed 22 of 32 passes for 443 yards and five touchdowns, but he left the field with a forlorn look on his face.
CovCath cast a shadow on Allen’s brilliant performance by scoring 15 points in the final eight minutes to come away with a 39-38 victory in the early season matchup between highly ranked teams. In this week’s AP coaches poll, CovCath (3-0) was No. 1 in Class 5A and LexCath (2-1) was No. 4 in Class 4A.
LexCath quarterback Beau Allen releases a pass just before CovCath defensive lineman John Lawrie can wrap his arms around him. (Photo by Bob Jackson)
“This is definitely a hard one,” Allen said of the one-point loss. “They’re a good team, but we definitely could’ve played better toward the end.”
The winning points were scored with 2:52 left in the fourth quarter. After CovCath junior quarterback Caleb Jacob followed his offensive line into the end zone on a 2-yard touchdown push, Trey Gronotte kicked the extra point that would’ve tied the score at 38-38.
But an offsides penalty was called against LexCath on the extra-point kick, so CovCath coach Eddie Eviston decided to go for a 2-point conversion instead.
Jacob handed the ball off to senior running back Daniel Felix and he charged across the goal line to give the Colonels a 39-38 lead.
On LexCath’s final possession, the Knights faced a 4th-and-1 at the CovCath 46 yard line. Allen walked up behind center and took the snap for a quarterback sneak, but he wasn’t able to find an opening and got pushed back for a 2-yard loss.
“I should have probably called a time out there,” Allen said. “I saw they were loading up the box and had more guys than we did up front. I should’ve called a time out and reassessed the situation.”
Four plays later, the CovCath offense converted on a 4th-and-1 situation of its own to retain possession of the ball and then ran out the clock.
“I learned that our kids will fight,” Eviston said of the victory. “It doesn’t matter what the actual score is, our kids are going to go out and execute what they’ve been coached. They were able to make some adjustments, and made them on the fly, and that was good to see, too.”
CovCath running back Daniel Felix cuts through an opening created by his teammates. (Photo by Dale Dawn)
Allen threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns during the first half that ended with the Knights holding a 21-17 lead. They had four or five pass receivers in each offensive formation and the talented veteran used them very effectively.
In the second half, CovCath’s defense covered the receivers better and sacked Allen three times, but he was still able to throw two more touchdown passes. The last one came on a short pass that receiver Chase Blair turned into a 47-yard scoring play to give the Knights a 38-24 lead with 8:16 left on the clock.
The Colonels started their game-winning rally with a four-play, 70-yard scoring drive. After a pass interference call put the ball at the 12-yard line, Felix scored his second touchdown of the game and Gronotte kicked the extra point to make it 38-31.
When a LexCath receiver dropped a pass on a third-down play, the Knights were forced to punt. CovCath ran the ball on four of six plays during its final 74-yard scoring drive. Felix rushed for 29 yards on one play and then ran in the 2-point conversion.
“It feels amazing to come back from two touchdowns,” Felix said. “It was really a team effort. It wasn’t one individual. Our whole team really pulled this one out.”
The two high-powered offenses had a combined total of 918 yards. LexCath finished with 461 and CovCath had 457.
Felix picked up 87 of his team’s 210 total rushing yards and caught a 29-yard touchdown pass. He also made a team-high nine solo tackles at linebacker with three quarterback sacks and a fumble recovery. Senior linebacker Michael Mayer was right behind him with seven solo tackles, one sack and a forced fumble.
“It was kind of hard, especially when they had no running back in the backfield and five receivers,” Felix said of LexCath’s passing attack with Allen. “It was really hard to cover them all, and their quarterback is really good, but our defense held out and it was a really good win.”
Jacob had a good night running CovCath’s offense. He completed 17 of 26 passes for 247 yards and one touchdown to go along with two rushing TDs. The Colonels’ leading receiver was Andy Molique with five catches for 105 yards.
“Beau is a great quarterback,” Jacob said of his counterpart. “He performed really well (Friday), but our defense held strong and our O-line and receivers all did really well.”
COVCATH 7 10 7 15 — 39
LEXCATH 14 7 10 7 — 38
CC — Jacob 1 run (Gronotte kick)
LC — Bracken 12 pass from Allen (DeGraff kick)
LC — Gohmann 19 pass from Allen (DeGraff kick)
CC — Gronotte 57 field goal
LC — Busson 80 pass from Allen (DeGraff kick)
CC — Felix 29 pass from Jacob (Gronotte kick)
LC — Busson 32 pass from Allen (DeGraff kick)
LC — DeGraff 32 FG
CC — Nally 9 run (Gronotte kick)
LC — Blair 47 pass from Allen (DeGraff kick)
CC — Felix 12 run (Gronotte kick)
CC — Jacob 2 run (Felix run)
RECORDS: CovCath 3-0, LexCath 2-1.
High school football scoreboard
Friday’s games
Somerset 46, Beechwood 14
Brossart 27, Bellevue 26
Lloyd 22, Boone County 14
Highlands 47, Campbell County 0
Scott 42, Holy Cross 6
Conner 35, Dixie Heights 0
Ryle 20, Cooper 16
Covington Catholic 39, Lexington Catholic 38
Holmes 58, Owen County 6
Ludlow 47, Gallatin County 0
Newport 42, Carroll County 0
Roger Bacon (Ohio) 41, Newport Central Catholic 14
Simon Kenton 13, Oak Hills (Ohio) 10
Walton-Verona 22, North Laurel 21
