Miles Simpson broke the Simon Kenton football team’s career rushing record on Thursday night, but he wasn’t the only reason the Pioneers whipped Ryle, 49-29, to take sole possession of first place in the Class 6A district.
Junior quarterback Chad Lawrence also had a big game for the Pioneers, who had a net total of 474 yards against the visiting Raiders.
“We’ve done that before, but this was different,” Lawrence said of his team’s offensive performance. “Ryle’s defense is tremendous. We just did a great job blocking and other things like that. It was awesome.”
Simpson picked up 275 yards on 23 carries to raise his career rushing total to 3,821 yards. That broke the previous team record of 3,637 yards set by Daniel Morrison.
Simpson also scored four touchdowns with one coming on a pass from Lawrence.
“Chad is the playmaker,” Simpson said. “He never stops. He’s more of a key on offense than I am.”
Lawrence rushed for 187 yards on 19 carries, scored two touchdowns, and completed four of nine passes for 91 yards and two TDs.
It was his best game of the season, and it came against his team’s biggest district rival.
“We talked all week about how we wanted to make a statement and about how Ryle was ranked higher than us,” Lawrence said. “We just wanted to show everybody we’re serious about (winning district) and we want to get back to state.”
The first half was played in a steady rain, but Simon Kenton put together scoring drives of 75, 80 and 80 yards on its first three possessions.
Lawrence scored the Pioneers’ first touchdown on a 4-yard run and finished off the second drive with a 36-yard TD pass to junior wide receiver Matt Reilly.
The next time Simon Kenton got the ball, Simpson scored on a 26-yard run and Zach Carroll ran in a two-point conversion to make 22-0 at halftime.
At the break, Simon Kenton had 257 total yards while holding Ryle to 74.
“Up front, they came out a little bit more physical than we did and that’s always a factor in football,” said Ryle coach Bryson Warner.
Simpson broke his team’s career rushing record by getting 120 yards in the first half, but he didn’t let up. In the second half, he picked up another 155 yards and scored three times.
“Miles Simpson is just unreal,” Warner said. “As a team, you’ve got to surround him. We did a good job at times, but he’s just a big-time weapon.”
After Ryle scored on its first offensive possession of the second half, Simon Kenton responded by running off 20 straight points to open up a 42-7 lead going into the fourth quarter.
During that run, Simpson and Lawrence each scored a rushing touchdown and hooked up on a TD pass.
Ryle sophomore running back Kiefer Eubanks scored three touchdowns during the final period when the Raiders got most of their 321 total yards, but it wasn’t enough to catch the Pioneers.
Simon Kenton coach Jeff Marksberry gave much of the credit for the victory to his team’s “unsung heroes” on the offensive and defensive front lines.
“Those guys come to work everyday and don’t get a lot of glory,” Marksberry said. “They just come in and do their job and have fun doing it.”
RYLE 0-0-7-22—29
at S. KENTON 14-8-20-7—49
SK-Lawrence 4 run (Repka kick)
SK-Reilly 37 pass from Lawrence (Repka kick)
SK-Simpson 26 run (Carroll run)R-Hempel 1 run (Pederson kick)
SK-Simpson 27 run (run failed)
SK-Lawrence 51 run (Repka kick)
SK-Simpson 42 pass from Lawrence (Repka kick)
R-Eubank 2 pass from Hempel (Pederson kick)
R-Eubank 10 run (Elliott run)
SK-Simpson 55 run (Repka kick)
R-Eubank 9 pass from Hempel (Pederson kick)
RECORDS: Simon Kenton 6-1, Ryle 5-2.
