Ludlow hadn’t won a district championship since 1975.
It’s been a long wait, but 48 years later the drought has ended. The
Panthers are champions once again with a 38-13 rout of Holy Cross in the Class 1A, District 4 matchup.
“It means a lot. It just doesn’t feel real. It feels amazing actually. It feels amazing to
become district champions because it’s going to be known to the school for a long
time. This gives us a lot of momentum and to strive for something bigger.” Ludlow
quarterback Jackson Mays said.
Ludlow controlled the game on both sides of the ball, racking up 419 yards of offense and doubling up Holy Cross by holding them to 203 yards.
After falling in an early 7-0 hole when Indians’ Donovan Ambrocio found his top receiver
Davonte Ryan for a 26-yard touchdown, the momentum swinger for the Panthers came when a fumble recovery eventually turned into a 33-yard passing touchdown from Jackson Mays to Ethan Powell.
They still trailed however, extra point attempts a bugaboo for them on the evening.
The following drive? Another turnover by Holy Cross. Their second fumble.
“Our defense really settled in. We got hit in the mouth early on and answered. We
had many guys that made significant contributions and that’s one of things that’s
great about this group. It’s been a real special group.” Ludlow coach John McMillen
said.
Right before halftime, the Panthers took their first lead of the game on a short
touchdown run by Aiden SmithBaxley. Heading to the locker room, the scoreboard
favored Ludlow 12-7.
The Panthers had a huge possession to open the third quarter with a chance to make
it a two-score game.
Miles Garrett did just that. He exploded for an 80-yard touchdown run extending
the margin to 11.
SmithBaxley and Garrett both scored once more for a 31-7 lead with a quarter to
play.
With 10 minutes remaining, Miles Garrett struck again, this time on a 23-yard
receiving touchdown.
The Indians’ Ulysses Porter had a rushing touchdown at the 5-minute mark, but it
was too little, too late.
Ludlow had done it. They made history.
It was a win the community will never forget.
“It’s very important to the community and I was really glad for the players. I also
grew up here and played here. There’s people here like our principal,
superintendent, my wife who have spent their entire careers at Ludlow and I’m
really glad for them too. We’ve been playing football here for a long time and I
couldn’t be happier for everyone. It’s a special community.” McMillen said.
For Holy Cross, they fall to 5-4 overall and 1-2 in the district. They take on Newport
next week in their final regular season game. It so happens they’ll also face the Wildcats in the first round of the postseason on Nov. 3.
Ludlow improves to 6-3 and 3-0 in the district. More importantly, they clinched the
one seed heading into the postseason.
“We’re not too worried about next week right now. We’re going to enjoy this one.
Usually, we say we’ll enjoy it into Saturday at noon, but we’ll enjoy this one for a
couple of days.” McMillen said.
PANTHERS 38, INDIANS 13
HOLY CROSS — 7-0-0-6 — 13
LUDLOW — 0-12-19-7 — 38
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(HC) Ambrocio 26-yard pass to Ryan (8:50) Fisk kick
2nd Quarter
(L) Mays 33-yard pass to Powell (6:27) Huff kick failed
(L) SmithBaxley 1-yard run (5:53) Mays pass failed
3rd Quarter
(L) Garrett 80-yard run (11:41) SmithBaxley run failed
(L) SmithBaxley 6-yard run (4:39) Mays pass failed
(L) Garrett 45-yard run (1:55) Huff kick
4th Quarter
(L) Mays 23-yard pass to Garrett (10:46) McDaniel kick
(HC) Porter 41-yard run (4:35) Porter run failed
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Holy Cross 56 (Ambrocio 2/7, Maddox 1/7), Ludlow 163 (Mays 11/21)
Rushing Yards: Holy Cross 147 (Porter 19-121, Figgs 3-26, Colegate 2-17, Thornsberry
1-(minus)1, Bales 1-(minus)6, Ambrocio 4-(minus)10), Ludlow 256 (Garrett 5-147,
SmithBaxley 15-54, Anness 11-25, Brandenburg 3-17, Morrison 2-9, Ralston 1-4,
Conley 1-1, Eads 1-(minus)1, Moore 1-(minus)1, Dixon 1-(minus)2)
Receiving: Holy Cross (Bales 2-30, Ryan 1-26), Ludlow (Garrett 5-70, Powell 4-66,
Anness 1-16, Ralston 1-11)
Turnovers: Holy Cross 3, Ludlow 0
Penalties: Holy Cross 5-51, Ludlow 8-62
Records: Holy Cross 5-4, Ludlow 6-3