You couldn’t miss the cheers.

As Boyle County wrapped up another district championship and continued its march toward the postseason with another one-sided win Friday, its starters were once again out of action for the entire second half. But that doesn’t mean they were out of the game.

As the Rebels’ reserves seized their opportunity to make plays in what would become a 55-0 whitewashing of Wayne County, those who had already left the game cheered their every attempt loudly enough for everyone in Shawn Thompson Stadium to hear.

The roars are real when someone scores who doesn’t often get a chance to do so, and they are music to the ears of Boyle coach Justin Haddix.

“I think it tells you something about the type of team that we have,” Haddix said. “It’s not just about one or two and maybe what everybody perceives. We’re a football team. We work together and we grind together, and that’s what you see.”

Three more players scored for the first time in their high school careers as Boyle (9-0, 4-0 District 4A-7), which remained at No. 13 in both the MaxPreps and USA Today national top 25 rankings last week, wrapped up its second straight district title and its seventh in eight years.

On those plays and others, the starters on the sideline celebrated the successes of those who work. alongside them every day.

“There’s nothing fake about any of that, and they’re genuinely happy for each other, seeing them being successful in executing what we do a lot,” Haddix said.

Lyndon Smith was on both ends of those cheers Friday. Smith is a starter who started Boyle’s rout by forcing and recovering a fumble on the opening kickoff, but he remained on the field in the third quarter and felt the love when he scored a touchdown, then joined the cheers after he left the game.

“It’s a great feeling when the first string guys come out and cheer on the second or even third string,” Smith said. “It’s no different than in practice when everybody gets a chance to come out and compete with each other.”

Nathaniel Schepman caught a long pass and turned it into a 91-yard touchdown that was the Rebels’ longest offensive play this season, lineman Micager Peyton ran for a TD and Adryan Newell ran for a two-point conversion.

That increased the number of Boyle players who have scored this season to 20, the highest total in Haddix’s five seasons. (Nineteen players scored in 2021.)

Smith set the tone for the Rebels in their 29th consecutive victory when he separated Wayne’s kick returner from the ball on the opening kickoff, then recovered the fumble on the Cardinals’ 19-yard line.

“I just wanted to go down and find the first person I could see, and luckily he just came my way,” Smith said.

A Montavin Quisenberry touchdown on the first play from scrimmage was erased by a holding penalty, but he reached the end zone on the second play for the first of his two TD receptions in the first quarter.

Quisenberry left for good following his second touchdown, having played only a handful of snaps and with four receptions for 71 yards.

Demauriah Brown scored on runs of 42 and 19 yards in the first half and had 90 rushing yards on four attempts.

Baylor Murphy threw a touchdown pass to Gage Feltner to start the running clock with 4:21 left in the second quarter.

Murphy finished 9 for 11 for 127 yards with three TDs, while Raleigh was 5 for 5 for 137 yards and had the first two TD passes of his career.

Boyle passed 2,000 team passing yards, and Murphy, who has 25 touchdowns and no interceptions in 138 attempts, raised his total to 1,661 yards.

The Rebels passed for 264 yards as they outgained Wayne (7-2, 2-2) 427 yards to 46, and their first-team defense allowed the Cardinals only two first downs.

“Pretty good, not many negative plays,” Haddix said. “We had a few little penalties, but we talk about being efficient and … we were pretty efficient on offense and defensively.”

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Boyle will get a legitimate test for the postseason and a chance to improve its RPI standing when it hosts Frederick Douglass in its regular-season finale Friday.

Douglass (6-3) is No. 5 in Class 6A in the latest statewide media poll – where Boyle is No. 1 in 4A – and No. 4 in the RPI standings.

Boyle is No. 1 in 4A in the media poll and No. 3 in the RPI behind Paducah Tilghman and Franklin County. Regular-season RPI standings are used to determine pairings and host sites for the third and fourth rounds of the playoffs.

Douglass has won three straight games over Madison Central, Bryan Station and George Rogers Clark since a loss to 6A No. 1 Male, holding those opponents to a total of 20 points. The Broncos have not allowed more than 14 points in a win or less than 23 points in a loss.

This will be the fourth straight meeting between Boyle and Douglass in the final week of the season. The road team has won the previous three games, with the Rebels winning 34-7 in 2021 and 28-7 in 2023 and the Broncos winning 37-6 in 2022.

“We’ve got to be ready for a four-quarter game next week, and it’s going to be a battle,” Haddix said.