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This afternoon, your Lexington Catholic Middle School Knights 8th grade team took on the North Pulaski Middle School Maroons in the Dan Cundiff Memorial Kick-Off Classic. The game was held at the Southern Middle School field in Somerset, Kentucky, and your Knights prevailed by a final score of 44-14.
The game didn't start out well for LexCath. We won the coin, and elected to kick off to the Pulaski team, who quickly drove down the field and scored a touchdown to start the game. They failed to convert on the point after, but had a serious boost of confidence after scoring to take a 6-0 lead on the LexCath Middle School team.
The ensuing kickoff further lifted the spirits of the Maroons, when the high powered offense of Coach Whitman was forced to start their opening drive on the 1 yard line. Pulaski's defense looked up to the task on the first play, with what appeared to be a tackle in the end zone for a safety. However, Pulaski had twelve men on the field for the play, and the safety was erased and Lexington Catholic had the ball moved out to about the 16. That appeared to be enough of a wake-up call for the Knights, as #15 James Maddox turned a short pass from quarterback Kyle Bolin (#4) into a long touchdown scoring run. The PAT was unsuccessful, but Catholic had tied the game at six points apiece.
#23 Anthony Kersey kicked off to North Pulaski, and they started their next offensive drive near their own 20. A short pass play turned into a fumble for them, which Maddox recovered to give the ball back to LC. A short run by Maddox, followed by two incomplete passes brought up third and a few yards for QB Bolin. That lead to Bolin's pass to #87, Casey Nash, to convert for the first down and put Catholic inside the red zone at about the 19 yard line. Two plays later, Casey's brother Alex Nash (#27) nearly converted for another first down, but the referee's spot left LexCath a couple of inches short. Anthony Kersey put an end to the suspense with a ten yard run for a touchdown. Add the two point conversion, and LexCath leads the Maroons 14-6 in the first quarter.
Even with the eight point lead, our offense gave the coaches reason to be nervous as they were a little turnover prone today. But Coach Greg Mitchell's D-FENCE put a spark to the gasoline today by getting the ball back for the offense after those turnovers and putting pressure on the Maroons throughout the game. In the second quarter, the Knights faced 4th and long in the red zone and failed to convert or score on a Maddox run. That turned the ball over on downs, and Pulaski started to engineer a drive, but that was snuffed out by some tough defense. Catholic regained control of the ball near midfield on a strip by #51 Trey Mattingly, who also recovered the fumble. Two plays later, Bolin hit a wide open Casey Nash with a pass on the right sideline for the touchdown, and the two point conversion gave us the halftime margin of Lexington Catholic 22, North Pulaski 6.
SIDE NOTE: Our thoughts and prayers go out to the injured Pulaski player who was taken off the field by ambulance with what we were told was a rib injury at halftime. Get well soon.
LC's second half opening drive was engineered to eat up some clock, with several run plays incorporated into the scheme. The result was six more points on the scoreboard after Anthony Kersey broke through the middle and ran past the Maroon's secondary several plays into the drive. The point after conversion came up a few inches short (literally) to make the score 28-6. The kickoff saw the debut of a new player for the Lexington Catholic Knights, #41 Amoh Kumengisa. With his new teammates encouragement, he quickly made his presence known to a) his new coaches, and b) the Maroon's kickoff returner. Northern Pulaski ended up with decent field position, but Amoh (pronounced ah-moo) has now been properly introduced. Following the Knights next score as well, the kickoff returner met with the same result. Welcome, Amoh!
The third quarter became a defensive battle with stops being made by both teams. #85 Chris Noll was effective on several blitzes called by Coach Mitchell, either producing a loss in yardage or a rush by the Maroons QB, as well as providing effective blocking from the tight end position to free up Maddox and Sawyer "Sausage" Shelton (#46) on runs as LC continued to eat up the clock. At the end of three quarters of play, the score remained 28-6 Catholic.
LC started out deep in their own territory in the last quarter of play. Just under a minute into the fourth, "Sausage" Shelton busted open a very nice run of about 60 yards to put six more points on the board. Kersey then put ball in the endzone on a run up the middle for the two point conversion, making the score 36-6. Catholic would go on to score another touchdown and two point conversion, but the 95 degree heat finally took a toll on the defense. A very tired defensive unit gave up a late touchdown and conversion as well.
Your final for this game in the Dan Cundiff Memorial Kick-Off Classic, Lexington Catholic defeats Northern Pulaski 44-14.
We'd like to take a moment to recognize the staff at Southern Middle School for their hospitality, and would like to thank the wonderful staff in the concession stand who provided ice and water to the Lexington Catholic 8th grade team at halftime. Good luck to the Northern Pulaski team in the remainder of their season, and to all the other teams that played today. Thanks again, and we look forward to playing in the Dan Cundiff Memorial Kick-Off Classic next season.
