By MIKE MARSEE

Contributing Writer

CAMPBELLSVILLE – This is the way you want to start district play.

On the road, facing a hungry team in front of a packed house, Boyle County planted its flag in its new district Friday night with a 49-3 rout of Taylor County.

The Rebels scored on all five of its first-half possessions and bottled up Taylor’s offense as they rolled in their district opener at Thomas Porter Stadium.

“It sets us up good for the rest of the year and it helps us for the rest of the season,” Boyle linebacker Jayce Crowe said.

Realignment put Boyle (5-0, 1-0 District 4A-7), the No. 1-ranked team in Class 4A in the statewide media poll, in a new district with four new opponents, and coach Justin Haddix said the Rebels got off on the right foot in the first of those games.

“I felt like we came out and played, we executed the way we wanted to and guys made plays,” Haddix said.

Taylor (3-2, 0-1) was ranked No. 9 in 4A after three straight wins, and a standing-room only crowd came to see the Cardinals take their best shot at Boyle, but this game went the same way as most of the others between the teams.

Boyle is now 11-0 all-time against Taylor and has allowed more than seven points in only one of those games with an average winning score of 50-5.

The Cardinals averaged 328 offensive yards in its first four games, but the Rebels held them to 128 yards and allowed only one play of more than 10 yards.

They ran the ball on 37 of their 44 plays and Peyton Smith carried the ball 18 times, but he was held to about half of his average at 75 yards.

Smith had a 28-yard gain early in the second quarter to set up a field goal that was Taylor’s only score, but he averaged only 2.8 yards on his remaining attempts.

“We knew they have athletes on offense, and we have athletes on defense. We just knew we had to stop the run first and if we stopped the run, just like every other week, we can stop them,” Crowe said.

Meanwhile, Boyle’s offense was typically efficient and was effective on both long and short drives as the Rebels opened a 35-3 halftime lead.

They drove 61 yards in seven plays to score on their first series, then needed only five plays to put up three more touchdowns, then drove 62 yards in six plays for one more score late in the first half.

Boyle tried a few things on offense it hadn’t showed this season and finished with 231 passing yards and 219 rushing yards, and Haddix said he was pleased with both the balance and the execution.

Avery Bodner had touchdown runs of 66 and 50 yards on consecutive series and finished with 144 yards and three TDs on eight attempts, giving him 525 yards at the midpoint of the regular season.

“He acted like he was shot out of a cannon a couple of times,” Haddix said.

Sage Dawson completed his first six passes and finished 12 for 17 for 200 yards and one TD, and he has 1,037 passing yards through five games.

Montavin Quisenberry had a 48-yard TD catch and a 26-yard TD run and 88 combined offensive yards, Demauriah Brown caught six passes for 75 yards and had an interception and freshman Maddox Hager scored his first career TD on a 31-yard pass from Baylor Murphy.

Boyle breaks away from district play this Friday for what is now a non-district game against longtime district rival Lexington Catholic, which was ranked No. 2 in Class 3A prior to a 49-42 loss to Lexington Christian last week.

The teams decided to continue their series after LexCath dropped to 3A. They were in the same district for 20 of the previous 26 seasons, and Boyle leads the series 22-14 after losing 28-27 in the regular season and winning 41-21 in the third round of the playoffs last year.

“We know who we’re playing, and it’s a game our guys get up for. It’s a great rivalry,” Haddix said. “We owe them one from last year, so we’ll be excited about that one.”

In its first season under coach Nick Baisch, a former assistant at Bowling Green and St. Xavier, LexCath is 2-3 with losses to powerhouses Highlands, Corbin and LCA.

“We just look forward to playing them every year,” Crowe said.

Scoring summary

BC 14 21 7 7 – 49

TC 0 3 0 0 – 3

First Quarter

BC – Sage Dawson 2 run (Andrew Carr kick), 4:15.

BC – Montavin Quisenberry 48 pass from Dawson (Carr kick), 2:06.

Second Quarter

BC – Avery Bodner 66 run (Carr kick), 10:10.

TC – FG Jagger Shirley 31, 7:34.

BC – Bodner 50 run (Carr kick), 7:24.

BC – Quisenberry 26 run (Carr kick), :55.

Third Quarter

BC – Bodner 7 run (Carr kick), :20.

Fourth Quarter

BC – Maddox Hager 31 pass from Baylor Murphy (Carr kick), 6:01.