Beechwood wasted no time once again.
Just 11 seconds into their Class 2A Region championship with Martin County, the Tigers put points up on the board.
It was all they needed, but they added 49 more in a 55-0 victory over the Cardinals.
The victory was their 10th straight region championship as their quest for a four-peat will take them to a familiar foe next week, heading to Mayfield for the state semifinals.
Things get real now.
“It’s those exact same words. Now it’s for real,” Tigers coach Jay Volker said after the game to his team. “Everything has to be on point. Before we played the team down the street (Covington Catholic), everything was going to come down to the inches. I used a quote from Any Given Sunday that the guys didn’t get, but we didn’t get those inches. We blinked and the team down the road came back and beat us.”
Not that things weren’t real the last eight games, but the Tigers have made a mockery of their schedule, including the playoffs. They’ve outscored teams 419-15 in the last eight contests, reaching a running clock in all of them.
“We’re hoping now that at least our guys are fresh. We just keep harping on it’s not just a 36-minute game, we’re going to have to play for 48 minutes,” Volker said.
Friday it took them less than 24 minutes to hit the mandated running clock when up by 36 points or more. Failing on a two-point conversion on the touchdown prior, Clay Hayden’s sixth touchdown pass of the first half made it 41-0 with 19 seconds left before the half.
Hayden’s first half line of work: 17-of-18 passing, 300 yards, six touchdowns. It brings his passing tallies to 3,490 yards and 46 touchdowns on the season.
“The past couple games like Breathitt County and tonight, we had teams to try to run the clock down on us,” Hayden said. “So we really made it a big part of our game this week to really get going early. Luke (Erdman), (Tyler) Fryman, all those guys had a touchdown tonight so we really got going fast.”
The second half, much like they’ve done the prior seven weeks, Hayden and most of the starters got to watch the younger players get in the game and do their thing.
“We’re trying to support our JV guys that get in because obviously, I mean as a freshman when I was a freshman, it was big for me to go out there and play varsity,” Hayden said. “I was scared and nervous so you got to talk those guys up. I like to talk to our quarterback Bo (Sowder) and try and teach him some things because really he’s going against varsity teams out here when he comes in for the second half.”
One of the younger players did his damage early, freshman Tyler Fryman the recipient of the 52-yard pass on the Tigers first play from scrimmage that got the scoring started. He added a 30-yard pass from Hayden for a score on the Tigers first play of a drive. They scored three times on the night on the first play of a drive, the other a 70-yard bomb from Hayden to Luke Erdman.
The defense and the reserves did the rest. The Tiger defense pitching their sixth shutout in the last eight games. Facing a familiar type of offense the week before in Breathitt County helped, a run first attack that wants to stack the box with their big bodies.
“Stop the run,” Tigers senior Xavier Campbell said. “Everyone did their job. The d-line won up front and they did their job. It started with them and ended with them.”
Campbell is all too familiar with the Beechwood-Mayfield series, being a part of it since 2019 as freshman and now a fifth-year senior, using the COVID waiver for an extra year of eligibility.
“That was a tough game. We’ve never beat them down there,” Campbell said. “I’ve told these guys with RPI and if we travel to Mayfield, no matter who we play it’s going to be a tough, hard fought game.”
Now Campbell and the Tigers will make the near five-hour drive the day after Thanksgiving in a state championship rematch of last year’s epic 14-13 Tiger victory, their third straight state title.
Next week’s matchup will be the fourth in five seasons in the postseason, Beechwood winning the last two.
“They know what’s up next. We know they are going to be legit and our biggest test since CovCath,” Volker said.
Beechwood outgained Martin County 436-132 in the contest and forced four turnovers, all via the interception.
James Cusick added two receiving touchdowns, Talon Linder with one. Brody Aylor and Bo Sowder cashed in rushing touchdowns in the second half.
TIGERS 55, CARDINALS 0
MARTIN COUNTY — 0-0-0-0 — 0
BEECHWOOD — 14-27-8-6 — 55
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(B) Hayden 52-yard pass to Fryman (11:49) Lair kick
(B) Hayden 9-yard pass to Cusick (3:57) Lair kick
2nd Quarter
(B) Hayden 9-yard pass to Cusick (9:37) Lair kick
(B) Hayden 30-yard pass to Fryman (7:40) Lair kick
(B) Hayden 71-yard pass to Erdman (5:22) Run failed
(B) Hayden 14-yard pass to Linder (:19) Lair kick
3rd Quarter
(B) Aylor 4-yard run (2:43) Aylor run
4th Quarter
(B) Sowder 8-yard run (2:37) Run failed
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Martin County 9 (Miller 1/8, Maynard 0/1), Beechwood 335 (Hayden 17/18, Sowder 2/2)
Rushing Yards: Martin County 123 (Messer 19-86, Horn 4-10, Cline 3-10, 2-18, Miller 3-(-)1), Beechwood 101 (Aylor 4-28, Sowder 4-19, Flaherty 5-19, Brewer 3-16, Fryman 1-15, Erdman 1-9, Craycraft 1-2, Hayden 1-(-)7)
Receiving: Martin County (Maynard 1-9), Beechwood (Erdman 3-96, Fryman 3-88, Linder 5-68, Cusick 4-32, Arrasmith 2-22, Flaherty 2-16, Flesch 1-13)
Turnovers: Martin County 4, Beechwood 1
Penalties: Martin County 4-30, Beechwood 5-35
Records: Martin County 7-6, Beechwood 12-1