Boyle County left no doubt who the best team in Class 4A is.
Might even be the best team in the state overall.
“That’s for you guys to decide,” Boyle County coach Justin Haddix said.
The Rebels dominated the Class 4A state championship game with Covington Catholic at Kroger Field in Lexington, taking down the Colonels 41-0 for their fourth straight state title.
There wasn’t much Boyle did wrong on Friday night under the bright lights, a spot they’re all too familiar with over the past four seasons. They racked up 413 yards while holding CovCath to 64, the first time the Colonels have been shut out since Dec. 11, 2020, a 20-0 loss to Bowling Green in the state semifinals.
“There’s no reason to sugarcoat anything, they beat us in all three phases of the game tonight,” Colonels coach Eddie Eviston said. “We tip our hat to them. Great football team. We ran into a buzzsaw tonight.”
Early momentum was in the Rebels favor, converting on a 3rd-and-17 on one drive, a 4th-and-2 on another to set up their first two scores.
“Anytime you’re in a game like this you want to start off strong, but we just put ourselves behind the 8-ball,” Eviston said. “Offense put our defense in bad positions, special teams put our defense in bad positions and we just couldn’t stop them. A lot of third down conversions, a lot of fourth down conversions.”
Montavin Quisenberry was the common factor in the first half, his first scoring run coming from 13 yards out after making a couple tacklers miss for a 6-0 Rebels lead with 2:38 left in the first. After an Avery Bodner run for a touchdown from a yard out in the second, Quisenberry made it 20-0 with 5:16 left before halftime on a 39-yard punt return for a score, his third punt return for a touchdown this season.
The Colonels had a chance to get something going in the late stages of the half, but a drive stalled out near midfield on a sack, the Rebels collecting four on the day on Evan Pitzer.
While Boyle was able to pick up third and fourth down conversions throughout, the Colonels struggled to do so, collecting just six first downs in the contest.
Avery Bodner’s second touchdown run from nine yards out made it 27-0, Sage Dawson also finding paydirt on a nine-yard run to make it 34-0 with 40 seconds left in the third.
The Rebels got the game to a running clock with 6:56 left to play when Dawson hit Geordon Brown for a 32-yard touchdown pass.
They end out on top for the fourth straight season, which also happens to be how long Haddix has been with the program.
“Been an emotional week. Some people talk about family and all this, but it really is a family. We expect a lot out of them and put too much into this and be our best and be remembered,” Haddix said. “Emotional when you think about it, trying not to think about losing some of these guys, going to enjoy this one tonight.”
The Colonels were making their first state championship appearance since 2019, their 23 seniors closing out their season with a 14-1 record and one game shy of the program’s ninth state title in program history. In the last four years, they went 42-10 and this being their deepest playoff run.
“Very exceptional group of seniors, very exceptional group of young men,” Eviston said. “Every challenge we put in front of them they were tearing it down. Obviously this was the last one, just couldn’t get it done. There’s so many things that go into a high school football team and so many things we do a certain way at Covington Catholic. Very pleased with how these guys handled themselves both on and off the field all year long. Just proud to be their coach.”
The loss dropped Covington Catholic to 8-2 all-time in state championship games.
REBELS 41, COLONELS 0
BOYLE COUNTY –6-14-14-7 — 41
COVINGTON CATHOLIC — 0-0-0-0 — 0
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(BC) Quisenberry 13-yard run (2:38) Kick failed
2nd Quarter
(BC) Bodner 1-yard run (8:29) Carr kick
(BC) Quisenberry 39-yard punt return (5:16) Carr kick
3rd Quarter
(BC) Bodner 9-yard run (7:14) Carr kick
(BC) Dawson 9-yard run (:40) Carr kick
4th Quarter
(BC) Dawson 32-yard pass to Brown (6:56) Carr kick
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Boyle County 131 (Dawson 11/16), Covington Catholic 36 (Pitzer 7/17)
Rushing Yards: Boyle County 282 (Quisenberry 12-93, Bodner 16-76, Dawson 7-65, Smith-Hisel 1-39, Murphy 1-5, Brown 1-4), Covington Catholic 28 (Leen 6-26, Pitzer 15-1, Miller 2-1)
Receiving: Boyle County (Bodner 5-44, Quisenberry 3-46, G. Brown 2-39, D. Brown 1-2), Covington Catholic (Miller 3-22, Link 2-9, Rodriguez 1-3, Johnson 1-2)
First Downs: Boyle County 19, Covington Catholic 6
Turnovers: Boyle County 0, Covington Catholic 1
Penalties: Boyle County 9-113, Covington Catholic 5-49
Records: Boyle County 15-0, Covington Catholic 14-1