“We knew we were going for 2” - Lexington Catholic uses late 2-pt conversion, blocked FG to upset Covington Catholic

Troy Howellby:Troy Howell•11/07/20

Jackson Klein blocked a Covington Catholic field goal on the final play to preserve a 29-28 home win for the Knights on a beautiful night in the KSR Game of the Week.  The wild game saw Covington Catholic claw back from a 21-7 4thquarter deficit to take a 28-21 lead with 1:10 remaining, only to have the Knights answer 38 seconds later.  Lexington Catholic converted the 2-point conversion to take a 29-28 lead, only to have the Colonels drive down into field goal range.   That’s when Klein’s heroics sealed the win for Lexington Catholic.

“JD Woodall had been coming on the outside all night long,” Klein said.  “He opened up that hole and I was able to get right through there and block the kick.  (Covington Catholic has) a very good kicker, he definitely has the leg for that, and we knew we had to get in there and block it to win the game.  I’m so proud of these guys.  We have a whole lot of heart, a lot of grit.”

The block, which was recovered by Woodall, set off a wild celebration, highlighted by lineman Bernie Sams jumping around with his crutches.  I love it!  This is what high-school sports are all about!

Both offenses were slow getting started.  Teddy Bullock picked off Cov Cath QB Caleb Jacob’s deep pass on the first play of the game.  Both teams promptly punted, followed by a Lex Cath turnover on downs near mid-field. Cov Cath punted again and Lex Cath turned it over on downs again.  The Colonels finally put up points on the scoreboard on a 1-yard QB sneak from Jacob midway through the 2nd quarter.

The Knights quickly answered, using several Darin Eldridge runs to march down the field to set up a 4-yard Jack Gohmann-to-Blake Busson TD pass with 3:14 left in the 2nd quarter.  After forcing another Colonel punt, Gohmann fired a 32-yard strike to Jackson Corbett with 12 seconds remaining in the half to put the Knights ahead.  Corbett intercepted Jacob on the final play of the half to preserve the 14-7 lead.

The Knights scored on the opening drive of the 2nd half, their 3rd consecutive scoring drive, on a 46-yard pass from Gohmann-to-Jack Monday.  Monday caught the short pass in the left flat and broke 3 tackles down the sideline to give the Knights a 21-7 lead.

“I was just trying to make a play for my team,” Monday said.

He certainly did. The play ended up as the #6 ranked play on last night’s SportsCenter Top 10.  Check out the video from Jared Peck of the Lexington Herald Leader.

Just like that, the underdog Knights had scored 21 points in a 7-minute span on the #10 team in the state.  The reigning 5A champion Colonels would respond with a 21-point flurry of their own in the 4th quarter.

The Colonels rally started with an incredible 13-minute scoring drive that was kept alive due to a 4th down face mask penalty on a QB sack.  Jacob threw a 20-yard pass to Trevor Wilson to set up a 3-yard TD run by Owen Nally with 8:48 remaining in the game to trim the Lex Cath lead to 21-14. This is when the game started getting crazy, and amazing!

Charlie Sora picked off Gohmann’s pass on the very next play, giving the Colonels the ball on the Lex Cath 35.  Three minutes later Jacob fumbled on the 5-yard line, but the ball rolled into the end zone and was picked up by the Colonel’s Aiden Jones to give them an improbable TD, tying the game at 21.  Take out one play and Lexington Catholic’s defense was on the field for nearly 17 straight minutes!

The Colonels, with all the momentum, forced another Knight punt and drove down into field goal range.  With an incredible kicker and time winding down, the Knights were perhaps relieved to see Jacob run it in for a 3-yard TD with 1:10 remaining.  That did give the Colonels a 28-21 lead, but the Knights had time to answer.  If Jacob gets ruled down inside the 1, it would have meant the Colonels could have burned off more time and forced the Knight’s to use timeouts.

Lexington Catholic showed resolve and fight down the stretch.  They used a 25-yard scramble from Gohmann and back-to-back 20-yard passes from Gohmann-to -Monday to pull within 28-27.

“We prep a 2-minute offense.  Just like everybody else does,” coach Nigel Smith said.  “Practicing with the kids to understand time and situation.  That was just a comfortable situation for us.  That is things that we prepare our kids for.  We knew we were going to go for 2 if we scored, so we are prepped and ready for that situation.”

They hit the 2-point conversion on a pass from Gohmann-to-Corbett to take a 29-28 lead with 32 seconds left on the clock.  There was no question on the decision to go for 2.

“No.  Not at all,” Gohmann said when asked if he had any doubt that the Knights would go for 2.  “For sure we were going for it.  Last year they beat us on a 2-point conversion, and we weren’t going to let them have another chance again.  We wanted to end it.  Jackson Corbett is an unbelievable receiver.  He is super reliable.  I knew he was going to make a play.”

“We had been running that play in practice all week, so I was excited for the call,” Corbett said of the 2-point conversion.  “Basically I just ran across the field, I went behind the corner and Gohmann threw a perfect ball.  Snuck it right behind him and it was a toe-tap catch.”

Covington Catholic wasn’t done.  Caleb Jacob’s pass to Ethan Reardon got the Colonels within field goal range.  The valiant comeback fell short on the game’s final play, though, and Lexington Catholic pulled off the stunner.

Jacob finished 10-of-22 for 147 yards and 2 picks.  He had 14 carries for 47 yards and 2 TDs.  Reardon finished with 4 catches for 71 yards.  Freshman Cam Giesler, a recent transfer from Highlands, had a team-high 50 yards on 7 carries in his first game with the Colonels.  Owen Nally, who came in leading the Colonels in rushing, was limited to 2 carries and did not appear to be 100%.  Credit Covington Catholic for their incredible 4th quarter rally.

The Colonels came in ranked #1 in the state AP poll in 5A but #3 in the KSR 5A rankings behind Frederick Douglass and South Warren.  They defeated Frederick Douglass 14-7 in the state finals last year but lost 10 defensive starters including Mr. Football TE/LB Michael Mayer, who is doing great things at Notre Dame.  They will need to improve in order to beat a team like Frederick Douglass again.  The Broncos have the 2 highest rated recruits in the state in UK commits Jager Burton and Dekel Crowdus, plus several other players being recruited by the Wildcats.

The jack-of-all-trades Knights team was led by a plethora of guys named Jack.  Jack Gohmann was 16-of-27 passing for 180 yards, 4 TDs and a pick.  Jack Monday had a team high 89 receiving yards and 2 TDs.  Jackson Corbett had a TD reception, 2-point conversion reception, and a pick on defense.  Jackson Klein had the blocked field goal and Jack Powell made some huge plays on defense.

“This is the most unbelievable win of my life,” Gohmann exclaimed.

With most other teams around the state sitting out last night, coach Smith wanted to make sure his team was battle tested going into the playoffs.

“As long as I’ve been here at Lexington Catholic, even before I became the head coach, one of the things we’ve done traditionally is we have tested ourselves in that last regular season game,” Smith said.  “This game doesn’t mean anything in the standings.  It is one of those games that, if you want to believe you are a state championship caliber team, you’ve got to be able to play and beat state championship caliber teams.  It is a big boost for our confidence for our kids to say, alright you went and you did it.  You know you can do it so do it again next time.”

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2024-04-27