Boyle, Danville host bowl games Saturday
Published 12:00 pm Friday, August 27, 2021
There are three multi-game bowls on the Kentucky high school football schedule Saturday, and two of them are in Title Town.
The bowls hosted by Boyle County and Danville return this weekend after they were not played in 2020, and for the first time in seven years they will be played on the same day.
Boyle’s bowl will kick off late Saturday afternoon at Rebel Stadium. An hour later, another doubleheader begins 2 1/2 miles away at Danville’s Admiral Stadium. Between them, the two events will include six area teams.
This will be the fifth time Danville and Boyle have staged bowls on the same day — they did so for four straight seasons beginning in 2011, when Boyle began its bowl — but it is the first time since 2014.
Danville first hosted a bowl in 1995, and its event has become one of the longest-running bowls in Kentucky.
Boyle played in that bowl in 2009 and ’10, then broke away to begin its own bowl. Since 2015, Boyle has had an agreement with Mercer County in which the two teams appear in each other’s bowls over the first two weeks of the season.
Neither bowl was played in 2020, as regular-season schedules were reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rebel Bowl sponsored by Whitaker Bank
Boyle will be looking to make significant improvement between games one and two when it faces Lexington Christian, the Class 2A runner-up last season.
The Rebels opened their season last Saturday with a 31-6 victory over Tates Creek in Mercer’s bowl, a game in which coach Justin Haddix said they didn’t play up to their expectations.
“We’ve got to find a way to make it better in a hurry, because we’ve got a challenge on Saturday,” Haddix said.
LCA returns 18 starters from 2020, including players who accounted for 95 percent of the Eagles’ offensive production. The Eagles opened their season with a 21-12 win over Madison Central.
“LCA will be a lot of athletes, a lot of talent, very well coached,” Haddix said.
LCA’s offense features wide receiver Mason Moore, a Miami (Ohio) commitment who caught six passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns last week. Quarterback Drew Nieves, who reclassified to play a second junior season after throwing for 2,651 yards and 28 TDs in 2020, threw for 163 yards at Madison Central.
This will be the first meeting between Boyle and LCA. LCA played its first two varsity seasons in 2001-02 under coach Dave Garrett, who later coached track and field at Boyle.
Boyle is 8-1 in its bowl, with its only loss coming to Lafayette in 2016. The Rebels defeated Bullitt Central 56-7 in 2019 in the most recent Rebel Bowl.
Mercer plays Bryan Station in the first game at Boyle. Mercer is coming off a 34-13 win over Madison (Ind.). They have won three of five games in the Boyle bowl, including a 32-19 decision over Allen County-Scottsville in 2019.
Bryan Station lost to Frederick Douglass 27-14 in its opener. The Defenders went 10-2 last year in their first season under coach Phillip Hawkins after a 3-8 campaign in 2019.
Rebel Bowl sponsored by Whitaker Bank
At Rebel Stadium
Bryan Station (0-1) vs. Mercer County (1-0), 5 p.m.
Lexington Christian (1-0) vs. Boyle County (0-1), 7:30 p.m.
Whitaker Bank Pigskin Classic
Danville and Lincoln County will renew an old but one-sided rivalry when they face off for the first time in nine years.
The Admirals edged Garrard County 23-20 in their season opener last week in Lincoln’s bowl, while the Patriots drubbed Somerset 50-20 in the same event.
Lincoln is led by Clayton Davis, who had a combined 205 rushing and receiving yards and scored three of its seven touchdowns last week. Davis led the Patriots in passing, rushing and receiving last season, but he is no longer playing quarterback.
Two other running backs, Lee Amon and Dalton Board, rushed for 174 and 83 yards, respectively, and two TDs each for Lincoln.
Danville leads the series 22-2, with Lincoln winning 20-0 in 1988 and by forfeit in 2004. The Admirals won the last meeting, which was also in this bowl, 51-7 in 2012.
The Admirals are 20-5 in their own bowl and have won six straight games in the event, including a 48-14 victory over John Hardin in 2019.
Garrard will face Casey County in the first game at Danville. The Golden Lions played just four games last season, going 2-2 with three COVID-related cancellations.
While Garrard was losing to Danville last week, Casey fell 21-14 to Louisville Holy Cross. The Rebels were 1-6 in 2020.
This is Casey’s first appearance in the Pigskin Classic. Garrard is 1-5; its last appearance was in a 46-22 loss to Glasgow in 2013.
Whitaker Bank Pigskin Classic
At Admiral Stadium
Casey County (0-1) vs. Garrard County (0-1), 6 p.m.
Lincoln County (1-0) vs. Danville (1-0), 8 p.m.