No. 12 Madison Central Defeats No. 6 LCA on Last-Second TD Pass
Hagan Harrison and Jayden West connected for three touchdown passes, including the game-winner with two seconds remaining, to give No. 12 Madison Central a thrilling 38-34 victory over No. 6 LCA in The Roy Kidd Bowl. West also picked off a pass on defense.
There was a great crowd in Richmond on a beautiful, somewhat humid night that saw many players cramping and the defenses tire out. Madison Central rallied late to avenge last year’s opening-day close loss to the Eagles.
After trailing the majority of the game, LCA went ahead 34-31 on a Jveontae Emerson touchdown run with 1:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Indians countered with a touchdown drive of their own to win it. After a West touchdown run was called back within the final seconds due to an offensive penalty, Madison Central regrouped to win on a nine-yard pass to the left side of the end zone.
Cutter Boley, who has offers from Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, etc. passed for 367 yards and two long scoring passes in his LCA debut. He transferred in from LaRue County and looked comfortable from the beginning, giving the Eagles the lead with an early bomb to last year’s quarterback Drew Nieves.
Madison Central took a 17-7 lead into the locker room, though thanks to 89 first-half rushing yards and two scores from Brady Hensley, along with some key defensive stops on fourth and short. One of the scores was set up when West drew back-to-back defensive pass interference flags on LCA.
Boley got LCA back in it with a 63-yard scoring pass to Evan Brown to open the second half.
After passing for only 11 yards on four first-half attempts, the Indians got the passing attack going in the second half with Harrison throwing a seven-yard touchdown to West.
Another long completion by Boley set up an Emerson rushing touchdown run, but the Indians again countered with another Harrison to West score to go up 31-20 with 9:47 remaining.
Boley and Emerson each had rushing touchdowns to give LCA the late lead before the Indians’ heroics.
Boley finished 17-for-25 passing and completed three passes of over 50 yards. His top target, Brown, caught five passes for 141 yards. Nieves hauled in three passes for 101 yards and added a defensive interception.
LCA coach Doug Charles was happy to play such a talented team on opening night, saying both teams got better and that he was proud of his kids.
“I’d rather play a competitive team that can play, than play an inferior team and blow them out. What do you learn from that?” Charles said. “If you look at our schedule, we’ve been the number one schedule in the state over the last three years in the KHSAA RPI because we play people. We’re a 2A school, we have 400 boys in the entire school.”
The 6A Indians provided a tough test.
Harrison, who was returning from injury, passed for 100 yards and ran for another 64. Hensley added 98 yards on the ground while West caught five passes for 68 yards.
Kentucky commit Malachi Wood’s blocking at left tackle helped the Indians roll up 171 rushing yards. He was playing both sides of the field for the first time.
“He’s getting better every game, he’s a student of the game, I think they (UK) got a great player,” said Madison Central head coach Mike Holcomb about Wood.
Holcomb, who picked up his career 300th win on Friday night, led the Indians to the 6A semifinals last year in his first year in Richmond. The team was coming off a one-win season in 2020.
“Well, it really means I’ve just been coaching a long time,” Holcomb joked. “I’ve been real fortunate in my life to have a lot of great players and have a lot of great assistant coaches. I’ve been at three schools that really supported what we were doing.”
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