The South Warren football team kept it simple in the second half, turning a halftime deficit into a 36-20 win over Ryle in the semifinals of the 6A playoffs on Friday at South Warren High School.
Led by a huge night from senior running back Kayden York, South Warren (13-0) used three lengthy second half drives to take control and advance to next week’s title game in its first year in Class 6A.
It’s the fourth trip all-time for the Spartans and the first since winning the 5A title in 2021.
“We are excited for the opportunity,” South Warren coach Brandon Smith said. “That is all you are fighting for, the opportunity. Once you get there anything can happen. These boys have earned the right to get there.”
South Warren had a field goal blocked on its opening drive, but got the ball back at the Raiders 16 after Ryle tried to scramble for a first down after a bad snap on a punt. One play after the special teams stop, York ran it in for his first of four touchdowns on the night. Ryle was able to block the extra point to keep the score at 6-0 midway through the second.
Ryle (10-4) answered with a nine play, 70-yard drive capped by a 16-yard touchdown run by quarterback Nathan Verax to push in front 7-6 with 1:27 left in the first quarter.
York’s 17-yard touchdown run put the Spartans back in front 13-7 with 3:11 left in the first half, but Ryle was able to respond on its next drive. The Raiders marched 97 yards, regaining the lead on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Verax to Shouncey Wynn with 15 seconds remaining before halftime.
South Warren regained the momentum on the opening drive of the second half.
The Spartans ran the ball nine out of 10 plays, chewing almost six minutes off the clock before Camden Page found Justin Capps for a 31-yard touchdown pass to take the lead. Page ran the 2-point conversion in to make the score 21-14.
South Warren tried some trickery, recovering an onside kick to get the ball right back, but the drive ended with an interception. On the next drive the Spartans went back to the ground game with another lengthy drive that lasted more than six minutes and stretched into the fourth quarter. South Warren needed 12 plays to go 80 yards with York scoring on a wildcat play at the 1 to finish the drive and make the score 28-14 with 7:50 remaining.
The drive included nine run plays, all to York who accounted for 50 yards on the drive.
“I thought the offensive line, the tight ends, the receivers, really all of them did a tremendous job of blocking,” Smith said. “There was a situation in the second half where we started running. They knew we were gonna run it and it was one of those things where could they stop it. We kept converting third downs and fourth downs and were able to finish it off.
“The secondary was bailing out of there. They weren’t going to let us throw anything deep. They were just asking us to run it so we just kept taking what they would give us.”
Ryle cut the deficit to 28-20 on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Verax to Dylan Lee with 6:11 remaining, but South Warren sealed it with a 64-yard drive capped by York’s fourth touchdown run of the night with 1:55 left.
York amassed 228 yards on 30 carries to pace a ground game that totaled 284 yards on the night.
“I give all the credit to the linemen up front.” York said. “They did an amazing job tonight – opened up the holes and they were huge. I give all the credit to them.”
Page was 10-for-13 for 65 yards passing, while Chase Bell had 25 yards passing.
Verax threw for 113 yards and added 89 yards rushing. Ryle was without leader rusher and leading tackler Jacob Savage as well as second-leading tackler Kai Workman.
“To lose somebody like a Jacob Savage and a Kai Workman it is really, really hard,” Ryle coach Mike Engler said. “Our guys stepped up and I thought we played well enough. A few breaks here or there and we could have won the football game. Hats off to South Warren. They did an excellent job. They’ve got a great football team. Coach Smith does a great job.”
South Warren will face two-time 6A champion Louisville Trinity at 3 p.m. CST on Dec. 6 at Kroger Field in Lexington.
SPARTANS 36, RAIDERS 20
RYLE — 7-7-0-6 — 20
SOUTH WARREN — 6-7-8-15 — 36
First quarter
SW – Kayden York 16 run (kick blocked), 5:04
RHS – Nathan Verax 16 run (Gavin Moses kick), 1:27
Second quarter
SW – York 17 run (Alen Alic kick), 3:31
RHS – Shouncey Wynn 23 pass from Verax (Moses kick), 0:15
Third quarter
SW – Justin Capps 31 pass from Camden Page (Page run), 6:16
Fourth quarter
SW – York 1 run (Alic kick), 7:50
RHS – Dylan Lee 22 pass from Verax (kick blocked), 6:11
SW – York 18 run (Page run), 1:55
Records: Ryle 10-4, South Warren 13-0