Covington Catholic doesn’t get to pull off too many upsets, so this one has to rank among its very biggest.
With their rich history, the Colonels are almost always the hunted rather than the hunter, but they enjoyed the view from the other side Friday when they took down four-time defending state champion Boyle County 31-28.
Cash Harney ran for 234 yards and two touchdowns to lead CovCath (11-2), which controlled the clock and contained Boyle County’s explosive offense to avenge a loss to the Rebels in last year’s Class 4A championship game and advance to the semifinals.
“It’s a huge win, huge game, probably the biggest win yet,” Harney said. “We came in focused, we were on a mission when we came in and we executed the best we could.”
CovCath coach Eddie Eviston said this was a significant win to him because of the quality of the team the Colonels defeated.
Boyle County (12-1) had won 32 consecutive games and had risen as high as No. 11 in some of the major national top 25 rankings, and the Rebels had routed the Colonels 41-0 in the state finals last season.
“They’ve been on a tear for the last two years, so for our program to come down here on the road – and I think everybody’s counted us out all year long, and we came here and our kids just fought,” Eviston said.
CovCath will travel to Franklin County for a semifinal next Friday after turning the lights out at Rebel Stadium.
The Colonels stunned the home crowd when Owen Pitzer scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 2-yard run with 5:24 remaining and silenced them for good when they ran the clock out after a Boyle County turnover with 2:09 to play.
Montavin Quisenberry, the Rebels’ Mr. Football candidate and a Kentucky commit, ran from the CovCath 18-yard line to the 1 before fumbling the ball across the goal line and out the side of the end zone, which resulted in a touchback.
Harney broke free for a 66-yard gain on the next play, and two more first downs was all it took to start the Colonels’ celebration.
Harney said he knew the Colonels were up for the fight after their first series, when they ran the ball on all nine plays of a 75-yard drive that ended with the first of his two TDs.
“We came in confident, and I think that was the biggest key, our confidence coming into the game,” Harney said. “We know what happened last year. Totally different team.”
The CovCath quarterback ran the ball more than he had all season. He had more than half of the Colonels’ rushing attempts and averaged 7.3 yards per carry.
“I think Coach really trusted me, everybody trusted me, and I trust our line,” Harney said.
Eviston said the offensive game plan worked as well as he could have hoped.
“We’ve done a lot of different things this year offensively, but we’ve been able to adapt each week,” he said. “Our kids did really well taking the plan and executing it almost exactly like we wanted to, and that was good to see.”
Boyle County’s offense became one-dimensional after running back Demauriah Brown was injured in the first quarter. Quisenberry ran the ball on 22 of the Rebels’ 31 plays for 246 yards, and they attempted only two passes.
“We told them, ‘They’re going to make plays and they’re probably going to make a lot of big plays, and he’s going to have a highlight game like he always does. We’ve just got to keep lining up and give it our best shot again,’ and our kids did that,” Eviston said. “They were able to contain them when it mattered the most.”
Quisenberry scored on a 39-yard run early in the second half to tie the game at 14-all, then returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown immediately after the Colonels’ Oliver Link caught a pass behind the defense for an 80-yard TD.
After a 33-yard field goal by Ryan Urti, Boyle County took its first lead at 28-24 with 10:49 to play on a 46-yard run by Quisenberry.
CovCath answered with a typically long drive, covering 66 yards in nine plays for Pitzer’s decisive TD.
The Colonels’ first-half scoring drives covered nine and 17 plays as Harney scored on runs of 18 and eight yards. They ran the ball on 54 of 58 plays for 325 yards, and they outgained the Rebels 423-290 overall.
COLONELS 31, REBELS 28
COVINGTON CATHOLIC – 7-7-7-10–31
BOYLE COUNTY – 0-6-15-7–28
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(CC) Harney 18-yard run (3:37) Weitzel kick
2nd Quarter
(BC) S. Driver 22-yard pass from Murphy (10:19) Kick failed
(CC) Harney 8-yard run (:59) Urti kick
3rd Quarter
(BC) Quisenberry 39-yard run (9:29) Carr kick
(CC) Oliver 80-yard pass from Harney (9:11) Urti kick
(BC) Quisenberry 85-yard kickoff return (8:19) Carr kick
4th Quarter
(CC) Urti 33-yard field goal (11:57)
(BC) Quisenberry 46-yard run (10:49) Carr kick
(CC) Pitzer 2-yard run (5:24) Urti kick
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Covington Catholic 98 (Harney 3/4), Boyle County 22 (Murphy 1/2)
Rushing Yards: Covington Catholic 325 (Harney 32-234, Gaiser 10-87, Bessler 5-14, Pitzer 4-7, team 3-minus-17), Boyle County Quisenberry 22-246, Brown 3-19, Murphy 4-3)
Receiving: Covington Catholic (Gaiser 2-18, Oliver 1-80), Boyle County (S. Driver 1-22)
Turnovers: Covington Catholic 0, Boyle County 1
Records: Covington Catholic 11-2, Boyle County 12-1