The positive news for Lloyd Memorial is that they’re starting quarterback Kaleb Evans has been cleared to return for the rest of the season.
The negative?
A 41-0 loss to Lexington Catholic on Friday night at Cecil Dees Field in Erlanger.
The Juggernauts ran into a juggernaut, a nightmare start that got even worse when leading rusher Yurii Collins Comer went down on their third play from scrimmage with an injury. Collins Comer returned for a play later in the game, but was unable to play anymore from there.
“That surely didn’t help, no doubt,” Juggernauts coach Kyle Niederman said. “So many silly things tonight for us. We got a little bit caught up in the stage tonight.”
The Knights meanwhile poured it on against a Lloyd team that had come in allowing just over seven points per game. LexCath came in battle tested playing against the likes of Highlands, Boyle County, Corbin and Lexington Christian Academy. Lloyd’s best opponent to date was Bethlehem and Newport Central Catholic in 1A.
“We’ve played against very tough teams and it’s been good for our kids. When we play in those, it prepares us for Friday nights like these. We’re not going to run away from anyone and that’s the attitude of our kids here,” Knights coach Nick Baisch said.
The Knights tallied 382 total yards as Jackson Wasik threw for 239 yards and three scores and ran for another 48 yards and a score. Lloyd was used to dominating at the line of scrimmage in their first seven games, the Knights flipped the script there, holding the Juggernauts to 165 yards and only 37 of them in the second half.
“Line of scrimmage is huge and if you look at it I think we dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football,” Baisch said.
Lloyd had a promising drive before halftime, but a fumble at the one-yard line in the closing seconds stalled any momentum going into the break. It was one of three fumbles on the night for the Juggernauts.
LexCath led 21-0 at the half, adding two more touchdowns in the third and one with 10:36 left in the fourth to get the game to a running clock.
Moving forward the Juggernauts will have two weeks to get Evans in rhythm as they again face two teams having tough seasons when they face Bourbon County and then Scott to close out the regular season.
“Kaleb didn’t get cleared until yesterday (Thursday) and I wasn’t going to play him tonight. Now we got two games to get him in there. He hasn’t played a game all year. Get his arm loose, turn the lights on, get the cracking of the shoulder pads. It will be good,” Niederman said.
Then comes the playoffs and what they are hopeful for is a rematch with the Knights in the third week of the playoffs for the regional championship.
“If we’re playing them again in the playoffs, that means we’re going deep and I’ll take it,” Niederman said.
That game would be played on LexCath’s turf though.
The Knights improved to 4-4, they face Pendleton County next week to close out district play.
The Juggernauts game with Bourbon is at Lloyd as they dropped to 7-1. Isaiah Sebastian led the Juggs with 89 yards on 14 carries as he’ll now get a chance to showcase his abilities at wide receiver or however they can get him the ball, filling in at quarterback the first eight games of the season.
“Truth of the matter is, Petey (Sebastian) is not a quarterback. He’s a great kid that does a fantastic job on the practice field and in the classroom. He just happens to be a great athlete that we snap the ball to. Caleb’s a quarterback. That’ll help us,” Niederman said.
KNIGHTS 41, JUGGERNAUTS 0
LEXINGTON CATHOLIC — 7-14-13-7 — 41
LLOYD MEMORIAL — 0-0-0-0 — 0
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(LC) Wasik 4-yard pass to Kreutzer (8:11) Wedding kick
2nd Quarter
(LC) Wasik 9-yard run (10:39) Wedding kick
(LC) Clements 1-yard run (1:45) Wedding kick
3rd Quarter
(LC) Rayyan 2-yard run (6:24) Wedding kick
(LC) Wasik 28-yard pass to Kern (5:36) Pass failed
4th Quarter
(LC) Wasik 32-yard pass to Nelson (10:36) Wedding kick
Game Stats
Passing Yards: LexCath 239 (Wasik 16/25, 3 TD, INT), Lloyd 54 (Sebastian 5/11)
Rushing Yards: LexCath 143 (Blair 5-27, Wasik 6-48, Rayyan 10-34, Nelson 1-(-)4, Clements 5-18, Gambrell 2-20, Kern 1-0), Lloyd 111 (Sebastian 14-89, Abrams 2-20, Collins Comer 3-7, Moran 5-6, Bishop 6-(-)11)
Receiving: LexCath (Pedroche 4-74, Kern 3-51, Clements 3-42, Nelson 1-32, Kreutzer 2-13, Gambrell 1-9, Blair 1-9, Space 1-9), Lloyd (Clegg 2-27, Collins 1-10, Moran 1-9, Griffin 1-8)
Turnovers: LexCath 1, Lloyd 3
Penalties: LexCath 4-29, Lloyd 7-45
Records: Lexington Catholic (4-4, 2-0), Lloyd Memorial (7-1, 1-1)