KHSAA Football: The Three Undefeated Teams — Presented by Kroger

Male. Lexington Christian. Beechwood.

Three teams, three different stories about how they ran the gauntlet and came out on the other side, just one win away from crowning themselves undefeated KHSAA State Champions at Kroger Field this weekend.

Here’s how they got there:

Beechwood (14-0):

Life’s easy when the reigning co-Mr. Kentucky Football returns to school for his fifth season. 

EKU commit and Beechwood quarterback Cam Hergott, statistically speaking, has had the best season out of anyone in all of KHSAA this season. He leads 2A in passing touchdowns (32) and rushing touchdowns (27), rushing for 1,650 yards while throwing for 2,265 more.

The Tigers shutout their first three opponents of the year by a combined score of 133-0. It wasn’t until week four’s battle against Simon Kenton that Beechwood gave up their first points of the season, blowing out the Pioneers 49-21.

The following week, Beechwood hosted the Kroger KSR Game of the Week, defeating rival Covington Catholic 21-7, which earned them bragging rights for the first time since 2014. 

After their BYE week, they edged past yet another northern Kentucky rival in Dixie Heights, 21-14, thanks to Hergott’s heroic performance, compiling 352 of the Tiger’s 362 yards and three touchdowns to keep their perfect season alive.

The drama ended there, however. In their last eight games, Beechwood has yet to allow more than one score in a game. Since the Dixie Heights thriller, the Tigers have outscored their opposition 436-41 and have no intention of slowing down ahead of their battle of the unbeaten’s against LCA on Friday at 4 p.m.

Lexington Christian Academy (14-0):

 In LCA’s first six games of the season, they claimed victory over three different KHSAA state finalists in Boyle County (4A), Belfry (2A, COVID cancellation) and Pikeville (1A), not to mention victories over Holy War rival Lexington Catholic and 6A semifinalist Madison Central.

That victory over Boyle County has been the highlight of the Eagles’ season thus far. With quarterback Drew Nieves out with an injury, head coach Doug Charles called upon the do-it-all safety/offensive threat Mason Moore, a Miami (OH) commit, to suit up under center. 

If you wanted to see the Wildcat offense ran to perfection, find the replay of this game. Moore completed one pass for two yards on the night, but ran amok around the Rebel defense. The future RedHawk took 20 rushes for 140 yards and three touchdowns while teammate and Virginia commit Xavier Brown had 25 carries for 221 yards and one score.

The loss gave LCA a 35-28 victory that marked Boyle County’s first loss at home since August 2017. The Eagles ran for a total of 446 yards on the night. To put that into perspective, the Rebels gave up 451 total rushing yards in all of 2020.

Their schedule dropped off after their BYE week, not picking back up with any legitimate threats until the semifinal against a then-undefeated Middlesboro YellowJacket squad. The Eagles took care of business, though, bashing Middlesboro 58-0 in a game that featured the running clock from midway through the second quarter until the final buzzer.

Male (13-0):

Long since given the title of KHSAA’s top dog, the Male Bulldogs had the season everyone expected of them—an undefeated one.

The Male defense, anchored by four-star Louisville commit and defensive linemen Selah Brown, has only given up at least 21 points twice all season: week three against St. Xavier and last week’s semifinal over Trinity. Otherwise—no team stood a chance.

Jumping out to a decisive 2-0 start to their season, St. Xavier hosted Male in a game that drew a couple thousand to Brother Thomas More Page Stadium. With the Tigers down six starters on defense, the Bulldogs headed into halftime with a 28-7 lead before St. Xavier, willed by quarterback Jack Sivori, mounted a 14-point comeback.

Male held on to win 28-21 after a defensive stop in their own red zone, giving the Bulldogs the victory over the team they’re set to face in the KHSAA 6A state finals.

Their one-score victory over St. Xavier aside, Male has defeated their opponents by an average margin of 36 points and has outscored the opposition 520-79.

With two victories over Trinity and bragging rights over their state championship opponent, the Bulldogs won’t be satisfied until they’re hoisting the state title trophy on Saturday night.

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