Best team in Lexington? Lexington Christian routs Lexington Catholic

On3 imageby:Troy Howell09/18/21

The No. 4 ranked Lexington Christian Eagles blasted the No. 10 ranked Lexington Catholic Knights 43-7 on a beautiful night in front of a near-capacity crowd. In the first half alone LCA rolled up nearly 400 yards of offense and picked off a pair of passes on defense to build a 36-0 halftime lead in their first home game of the year.

Even though LCA won thrillers over the Knights in 2019 and 2020, their seniors still remember being humbled 54-13 in a 2018 holy war loss. The Eagles certainly didn’t lack motivation last night.

“Last year they called us little brother. We took that very personal and this year we did, too” said quarterback Drew Nieves.

“They spit on our field, they cleated our logo, we heard about that and we were fired up,” playmaker Mason Moore added.

After not playing since Week 1 due to injury, Nieves looked sharp, completing 10-of-17 passes for 219 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no picks.

“I was at PT every single day,” Nieves said. “I was itching to be on the field. It killed me not being able to be out here with my brothers, it was awful. It was a great way to come back though against Catholic.”

Moore, who quarterbacked the team to wins over No. 8 Boyle County and the top 3A team, CAL, caught 7 passes for 139 yards and a score and added a rushing touchdown.

LCA scored on their opening drive on a 40-yard Nieves TD pass to Parker Cheney.

The Eagles got pressure on Knights QB Jack Gohmann causing a rushed throw that was picked up by Jeffrey Selby.

Jeremiah Riffle, who ran for 109 yards on just 7 carries. made it 14-0 on this 30-yard run.

After forcing a Knight punt, Nieves connected with Moore on a 74-yard bomb.

Chaney, who had a key defensive interception in last year’s holy war, picked off a pass again last night.

UVA commit Xavier Brown made it 28-0. 

Moore’s TD run and two-point conversion made it 36-0 late in the first half. Gohmann connected with UK walk-on commit Jack Monday to put the Knights on the board before Frankie Knight’s TD for the Eagles rounded out the scoring.

LCA coach Doug Charles gave a tip of the cap after the game to quarterbacks coach (and former UK QB) Morgan Newton who has worked with Moore and Nieves this year. Moore’s father, Marty, who is on the LCA coaching staff, also played at UK, where he starred at linebacker.

Charles noted that he knew LCA was ready to play. 

“We wanted to assert our will early and our guys were dialed in. I felt good about our guys. I know our guys. They play loose. But they had that look. I know they had that look. I let them play. I’m a player’s coach and I let them play and have fun. I’m really really proud of them.”

Charles said the Eagles haven’t peaked yet. That is scary because, along with No. 1 Male, the Eagles are one of only two teams to hold three top-25 wins (Madison Central, Boyle County, and Lex Cath). 

They seem to be on a collision course with No. 3 Beechwood, who defeated the Eagles by one point in overtime in the 2A finals last year. Beechwood soundly defeated No. 25 Covington Catholic 27-7 in the Kroger KSR Game of the Week last night. I’ve been on the Beechwood and LCA trains all year and I credit both of them for making my rankings look good! 

Best team in Lexington?

The Eagles can make a legitimate case to be the highest-ranked team in Lexington. So, who exactly is the best team in the city? No. 6 Frederick Douglass is currently not on the schedule, but should some COVID cancellations happen, that could be a possible matchup that fans could dream about. Who knows, maybe it will happen!? The Broncos easily defeated the Eagles last year but I think it could go either way this year. Frederick Douglass has not lost to a Lexington team, though. The Broncos, who were off yesterday, tweeted this out around 11 p.m. last night.

Charles, who likes to play the best of the best, previewed next week’s matchup with Pikeville, the top-ranked team in Class A and his alma mater.

“We’re going to really, really have to regroup quick. Put this one behind us and clean some stuff up and get ready for a really really physical football game next week because they are coming, they match up well with us.”

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