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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville Saint Xavier has taken to beating up on Northern Kentucky teams of late. The host Tigers dispatched Ryle, 66-17 in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs Friday, a week after knocking Boone County out of the postseason, and just two weeks since walloping Covington Catholic in their regular season finale.
“To play with that caliber of team, you’ve got to believe that you can,” Raiders head coach Bryson Warner said. “And then you’ve just got to go out and play with them for four quarters, and that’s what we’re working towards.”
Ryle (8-4) was up to the task for at least the first quarter and a half as it answered the Tigers first touchdown with an 11-play, 79 yard drive, capped by sophomore running back Travis Elliott’s 1-yard touchdown run to even the score, 7-7. The Raiders then recovered a fumble on the Tigers' ensuing drive, and took the ball down to the St. Xavier 5-yard line, before settling for a 22-yard Erik Pederson field goal to go ahead 10-7 just 8 seconds into the second quarter.
After that though, the wheels came off. The Tigers started moving the ball on offense and Ryle succumbed to turnovers, allowing St. Xavier (11-1) to run off 28 straight points for a 35-10 halftime lead.
“You’re never going to be perfect, but what you can’t do is turn the ball over,” Warner said. “That’s the biggest obstacle to overcome. Teams that take care of the football win a lot of games. We didn’t do that tonight, and that was the biggest problem we ran into.”
Almost as big a problem, however, was a deep opponent that had too many weapons and fresh legs to rotate into the game, while piling up 399 yards of total offense. The Tigers ground game once again proved nearly unstoppable as St. Xavier pounded the Raiders defense for 242 yards and six rushing touchdowns.
Senior running back Michael Montano led the Tigers rushing attack gaining 72 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries. Junior Lamont McMurray added 50 yards on 10 carries, and senior Jermiah Neal scored two touchdowns on just four carries.
“They don’t have to have guys play on both sides of the ball, and they can bring in their (second string) and they’re just as good as the guys we have on the field,” Warner said.“The depth that they’ve established over the years is just tremendous, and we have to get to that point.”
St. Xavier didn’t let up much in the second half, continuing to enlarge its lead, and the Raiders continued to struggle on offense. Ryle finished with 253 yards of total offense, but never regained the rhythm they had on that first touchdown drive.
Junior quarterback Conner Hempel completed 11 of 22 passes for 110 yards, but was picked off three times. He did, however have some success running the ball, gaining 44 yards on 10 carries.
Elliott, who finished with 43 yards and a touchdown on 14 rushes, was also 1-for-1 passing with a 46-yard touchdown strike off a halfback pass to senior Trenton Fugate, who was flying wide-open down the right sideline. That score narrowed the margin to 42, 59-17 with 3:46 left in the game, but St. Xavier wouldn’t allow the game to end on that positive note, as junior Jeonta Hayden knifed through the Ryle coverage for an 85-yard touchdown return on the ensuing kickoff.
While the lopsided loss is a hard way to go out, the Raiders had an incredible season, in which 3 of their 4 losses came against arguably the two best teams in the state (St. Xavier, and Highlands twice). Warner credited his seniors for their outstanding leadership and instrumental role in the team’s success.
“Coaching is always rewarding, but this group of seniors was so special,” Warner said. “There wasn’t a day that our staff wasn’t excited about coaching this football team. They were just a fun group. They’re great leaders, and they’re going to be great, successful young men in whatever community they choose.”
From here, the Raiders will look to build on the success of this year’s team, and take the next step as a program. But Warner acknowledged the disappointment his players are feeling after a bitter end to an otherwise stellar season.
“They’re hurting; they want to win,” he said. “They realized they were up against a tough foe, but they played as hard as they could, never gave up, and just kept fighting until the end. Our guys know we had a great season. It’ll just be a matter of time before they really feel it and we’ll celebrate.”
RYLE 7-3-0-7--17
at ST. XAVIER 7-28-14-17--66
SX-McMurry 34 pass from Brohm (Gray kick)
R-Elliott 1 run (Pederson kick)
R-Pederson FG 22
SX-Montano 36 run (Gray kick)
SX-Neal 2 run (Gray kick)
SX-Noltemeyer 16 pass from Brohm (Gray kick)
SX-Neal 1 run (Gray kick)
SX-Brohm 10 run (Gray kick)
SX-Buehner 10 run (Gray kick)
SX-Gray FG 33
SX-Datillo 5 run (Raque kick)
R-Fugate 46 pass from Elliott (Pederson kick)
SX-Hayden 85 kickoff return (Raque kick)
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