It was 81 minutes before St. Henry’s inaugural football game Friday against Holy Cross, and Crusaders coach Tim Odom sweat so profusely, he had to change shirts.
In the student section, St. Henry senior Paige Von Eye and a few hundred of her closest friends joyfully wore red t-shirts. “The environment was excited,” she said. “We were buzzing with excitement.”
There was even an American Quarterhorse leading the Crusaders on the field.
Holy Cross, however, wasn’t fazed – the Indians rode quarterback Brian Ferguson’s three touchdowns, including two to Braylon Thornberry, to a 47-0 running clock win at Gumz Family Track & Field at Griffin Stadium.
Yes, the Indians out-gained the Crusaders, 408-122, but St. Henry coach Tim Odom told his team to enjoy the love Crusaders fans lavished on them.
“You know, we’re young,” Odom said. “We’re playing five freshmen on the varsity – starters. We’re going to learn the game at a pace; we’re just trying to be better fundamentally and be better spiritually.”
St. Henry senior Caden Kunstek appreciated how tight the St. Henry community is.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from anyone here,” Kunstek said. “But seeing them out there, all cheering, even during bad situations of the game … it really does show that it’s not just this game, it wasn’t just the first game, it wasn’t just all the people here. It was really the start of something, and that’s what everybody’s looking forward to and motivates all of us.”
Friday was indeed as much about family as football. Odom’s niece, Dani Odom, rode “Luke” onto the field.
“You know, it’s just crazy that I’m a part of the first varsity game ever,” Dani Odom, a Walton-Verona alumna, said. “I was kinda drug into it … I can’t wait to get back out on the field. I’ve never had my horse on a football field.”
Injuries kept Ferguson off the field for all but one game last season. He looked plenty poised against St. Henry – touchdown passes to Thornberry for 16 and 34 yards, a 4-yarder to Max Hunt and a 23-yard run –helped the Indians to a 27-0 halftime lead.
“(Ferguson) played the first game, got a non-contact injury,” Holy Cross coach Curt Spencer said. “So I was happy with the way he led the team.”
After all the pregame festivities – KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett made the trip from Lexington – Holy Cross (1-0) effectively set things straight when Thomas Maddox took the opening kickoff 80 yard for a touchdown.
Red and navy blue are St. Henry’s colors, while Holy Cross rocks red and black, but yellow penalty flags were the dominant hue much of the night; the Indians racked up 13 for 130 yards, and the Crusaders had nine for 57.
“We’ve just got to clean up a lot of mishaps and keep everybody healthy,” Spencer said.
St. Henry’s biggest play was “R Gun D 60,” which calls for outside receivers to run deep routes. It worked – Ryne Ravenscraft found Caden Kunstek, who out-wrestled Holy Cross’ Cahlil Johnson for the catch.
“We probably should’ve pressed them like that earlier in the game,” Tim Odom said. “But we were just trying to build a football foundation of knowledge and technique.”
After the game, St. Henry senior Elliot Flick liked what she saw.
“It’s just the start of a new tradition,” she said.
INDIANS 47, CRUSADERS 0
HOLY CROSS — 13-14-13-7 — 47
ST. HENRY — 0-0-0-0 — 0
Scoring Plays
First quarter
HC-Thomas Maddox 80 kickoff return (Gabriel Romito kick), 11:41
HC-Brian Ferguson 24 run (kick failed), 6:14
Second quarter
HC-Braylon Thornberry 16 pass from Ferguson (Romito kick) 3:58
HC-Max Hunt 4 pass from Ferguson (Romito kick), 0:12
Third quarter
HC-Thornberry 35 pass from Ferguson (Romito kick), 9:05
HC-Jacob Rieselman 74 run (kick failed), 2:19
Fourth quarter
HC-Charles Oglesby 16 pass from Noah Deitmaring (Romito kick), 8:22
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Holy Cross 125 (Ferguson 7-10-100-3 TD-0 INT, Deitmaring 2-2-25-0 TD); St. Henry 64 (Ravenscraft 3-14-64-0 TD-1 INT, Viveros 0-2-0-0).
Rushing Yards: Holy Cross 283 (Oglesby 7-123, Deitmaring 1-(minus-2), Rieselman 1-74, Ferguson 10-88); St. Henry 59 (L. Pate 8-37, O. Pate 4-(minus-1), Kunstek 2-9, Ravenscraft 5-8, Viveros 1-5).
Receiving: Holy Cross 125 (Hunt 3-67, Frederick 1-9, Thornberry 2-33, Oglesby 1-16); St. Henry (O. Pate 1-16, Penick 1-10, Kunstek 1-38).
First downs: Holy Cross 14, St. Henry 7.
Turnovers: Holy Cross 0, St. Henry 2.
Penalties: Holy Cross. 13-130, St. Henry 5-57.
Records: Holy Cross 1-0, St. Henry 0-1.