LEXINGTON – There are things the Boyle County defense would like to improve upon before they take the field again in two weeks, but they’ll take this.

After two games in which the Rebels did not meet their own extremely high standard on defense, they came much closer to the mark Friday in a commanding win over a longtime rival.

Boyle paired a dominant defensive effort with a dazzling offensive performance in a 51-7 victory over Lexington Catholic that sent them into their bye week on a high note.

The Rebels pitched a virtual shutout at Joseph K. Ford Stadium, keeping LexCath away from their end zone until the closing minutes, and they responded to the coaches who knew they were capable of more than they had shown recently.

“We played how they’ve been coaching us all week,” Boyle safety Jaysia Richards said. “They put us through it (in practice last week). They expected more of us, and that’s what we came out here to do today, to show them that we are Boyle County football.”

Boyle (6-0) held LexCath (0-6) to 144 yards after the Rebels’ two previous opponents combined for about 550 yards and allowed only one play of greater than 15 yards.

“We feel like we had a pretty good game plan for them and shut them out (for most of the game),” Boyle coach Justin Haddix said. “They’re probably better than how they played tonight, but we did a good job of taking away what they wanted to do.”

The pass-happy Knights crossed midfield only twice. Colt Kelly intercepted a pass to end their first advance in the second quarter, and LexCath scored off Boyle’s reserves with just over two minutes remaining.

“It felt like a shutout, but it’d be better to have a goose egg and really put up zero points,” Richards said.

Two LexCath quarterbacks combined to go 7 for 22 for 112 yards with two interceptions – JiDyn Smith-Hisel had the other in the third quarter to set up his touchdown run in the fourth – and the Knights rushed for just 32 yards.

Meanwhile, the Boyle offense was at least as dazzling as the defense.

Baylor Murphy matched his career high with four touchdown passes. He connected with Montavin Quisenberry and Lyndon Smith during a 21-point first quarter, found Austin Bodner behind the defense late in the first half for a touchdown that triggered the running clock and hit Mac Hazlett for Hazlett’s first career TD in the third quarter.

Quisenberry scored three times, adding rushing touchdowns of 9 and 84 yards, and he finished with a game-high 114 rushing yards on five attempts and a game-high four receptions for 45 yards.

The Rebels ignored a steady rain that fell during the first quarter and a stiff wind that blew across the field throughout the game to finish with 489 yards – their second-highest total of the season – getting 271 yards through the air and 218 on the ground.

“They’re very dynamic and very coachable, and with some of the things that we can do it makes our offense fun, and (we have) motions and shifts and a lot of different things that make it tough on the defense,” Haddix said. “We’re able to run it, throw it, throw screens and attack at all different levels. We’re not only going to make you cover it 53 1/3 (yards) wide, but you’re going to have to cover it deep, too.”

Much of the Rebels’ offensive capability was on display Friday, and Haddix said they continue to put in new wrinkles as the season progresses.

“We’re still working on a lot of things. We want to keep them engaged and working and doing things to see what we’re best at,” he said.

The Rebels won their 26th consecutive game and extended their recent run of success against LexCath.

The Rebels defeated the Knights for the 12th time in the past 13 meetings and have won those 12 games by an average score of 47-16. This was the second-largest margin of victory for either team in the series that began in 1997 – and that Boyle now leads 24-14 – behind only a 54-7 Boyle win in 2019.

Haddix said he saw a readiness in the Rebels that wasn’t there a week earlier when he called timeout during the second quarter of a win over Taylor County and had the players do up-downs near the sideline to make the point that their level of play wasn’t meeting expectations.

“It was a little better, but obviously not the way you want it to be. You want them to play perfect, but obviously they’re never going to get that. So we’re going to coach them hard, and they’re going to get better,” Haddix said.

That will continue to happen during the bye week, and Haddix said he wants to continue to “clean up” some things that weren’t executed well Friday and in previous games.

Richards said he’d also like to see the Rebels look cleaner when they return to the field Oct. 11.

“I just want to see improvement,” he said. “No more dropped balls, no more overthrows, (and for) our defense, no more yards, no more first downs and keeping goose eggs on the board.”

* * *

Boyle will next host Russell County in the first of three consecutive District 4A-7 games.

After going 1-9 last season, Russell (3-3) is enjoying a resurgence in its first season under coach Steven French, who is the son of Larry French, who led Boyle to consecutive Class 4A championships in 2009 and ’10.

Steven French was an assistant coach on those teams and was the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator at Russell – at different times – before being promoted to head coach earlier this year.

The Lakers are averaging 36 points in their past four games, which include wins over South Laurel, Casey County and Lincoln County. They host Taylor County this Friday.

 

Scoring summary

 

Boyle County 21 14 8 8 – 51

Lexington Catholic 0 0 0 7 – 7

First Quarter

Boyle – Montavin Quisenberry 4 run (run failed), 7:32.

Boyle – Quisenberry 9 pass from Baylor Murphy (Seneca Driver pass from Quisenberry), 2:43.

Boyle – Lyndon Smith 67 pass from Murphy (Andrew Carr kick), :37.

Second Quarter

Boyle – Quisenberry 84 run (Carr kick), 3:02.

Boyle – Austin Bodner 59 pass from Murphy (Carr kick), 1:32.

Third Quarter

Boyle – Mac Hazlett 2 pass from Murphy (Smith pass from Guy Turner), 6:14.

Fourth Quarter

Boyle – JiDyn Smith-Hisel 4 run (Turner run), 9:15.

LexCath – Cole Space 8 pass from Cam Sweeney (Finnegan Wedding kick), 2:22.