Reed Lanter and Reese Smith were on the same page Friday night.

Like they’ve done so many times this year, the superstar juniors connected against Lawrence County, leading the Rebels to a 42-8 victory in the second round of the 3A state football playoffs.

Lanter and Smith connected six times for 205 yards and four touchdowns, as Boyle’s offense was fluid throughout the game. Running back Tanner Crawford finished with 126 yards on the ground.

“I really thought that we were locked in and focused,” Boyle head coach Chuck Smith said. “I think we did a pretty good job throughout the entire game, really. I think Lawrence County is a really good football team, I don’t think people give them enough credit. They’re a good football team and I was concerned about them.”

After its first drive stalled, Boyle opened the scoring with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Lanter to Reese Smith with 3:30 left in the first quarter.

Will McDaniel earned the first touchdown on the first play of the second quarter to make the score 14-0, then Lawrence County quarterback Jacob West scored the only touchdown of the game for the visitors with 8:44 left in the second quarter.

Crawford scored a 3-yard touchdown run before halftime, making the score 21-8 at the break.

Lanter and Reese Smith caught fire in the third quarter, connecting on touchdown passes of 27, 93 and 21 yards.

“They did a nice job, Reed threw some nice balls and Reese can go get the football any time it’s in the air. It was good stuff,” coach Smith said.

That aerial assault helped open up the ground game for Crawford, something that the Rebels needed to see.

“I was really proud of my guys, they came out and we knew what we had to do and we executed it pretty well,” coach Smith said. “I thought the offensive line did a really nice job and Tanner did a really nice job running as well. When you’ve got the passing game, it opens things up. It makes things easier when you have a threat of a passing game.”

Boyle County will now take to the road against eastern Kentucky powerhouse Belfry. The Pirates went to seven straight 3A state championships from 2010-16, winning four.

“When you get here, there’s only eight teams left. We’re just proud to be one of them and we’re going to play. Now it gets tougher,” coach Smith said.