Published: November 07, 2009 01:06 am      

LCA rolls past Berea

LEXINGTON — For a short period time of time, the Pirates were hanging right with the top-ranked team in the state.

Berea Community battled back from a three-touchdown deficit and only trailed Lexington Christian Academy 21-13 late in the first quarter Friday in the opening round of the Class A Playoffs.

However, a powerful Eagle offense, led by Dominique Hayden, quickly overpowered Berea Community as they rolled to a 70-31 win.

Hayden tied the state’s career rushing touchdown record, matching former Fort Knox player Derek Homer, with 110 on his final TD of the night. The standout senior had 217 yards and six TDs.

“He’s a great player,” Berea coach Kenan McWhorter said. “Even if you blitz him, the problem is if you miss him, he’s going to get 20 yards and then he’s out there on the little guy. They’re just hanging on for dear life. We just tried to stay back and hope they would make a mistake.”

The Pirates (6-5) started off the night badly, fumbling the opening kickoff and the kick following Hayden’s 12-yard rushing TD just three minutes into the game.

Hayden scored again less than three minutes later off a 5-yard run, then had a 43-yard run to the 37-yard line to set up a 24-yard TD pass from Lucas Witt to Adam Hall.

Then, the Pirates began to battle back. Jordan Clontz had a 65-yard reception that set up a seven-yard TD run by Bo Brewer. On the next possession, Curtis Payne intercepted a pass setting up a 29-yard TD reception by Joseph Parker with 1:12 left in the first quarter.

“For us to be 21-13 in the first quarter, proves to the kids and to us that there aren’t any moral victories,” McWhorter said. “But if we can play with that intensity and that focus and that emotion all the time, the sky’s the limit.”

However, with around two seconds left in the quarter, Branden Burdette had a reception to the 12-yard line that set up a TD by Hayden on the next play. The rest of the first half was all LCA, as the Eagles scored from the 28 (Hayden rush), 22 (Scout McCarny interception), 19 (Hayden run) and 18 (Burdette).

“They’re going to know that Berea was here, we tried our best, we can play football, the coaching staff can coach and the effort was tremendous. You couldn’t ask for more effort,” McWhorter said. “Against a team that is this well-coached, I told them, ‘If you get down 20-0 again, you’re just going to try to have fun and score on offense because you’re not going to come back from that deficit.’ That’s their memory of this. We came back. We scored.”

LCA (10-1) and Berea traded scores early in the second half. Parker picked off Witt and ran it to midfield, setting up a 20-yard TD reception by Clontz, then Hayden rushed for a one-yard TD (the record-tying score) to take a 63-19 lead.

“Jordan’s greatest attribute is he’s the same all the time,” McWhorter said. “Jeremy Hamilton and Joseph Parker put a lot of pressure on themselves. Sometimes they’re really nervous and sometimes, they’re really calm. But I know, in a game like this, Jordan Clontz is going to be the same. He’s there to make plays. I figured this would be a nice game for him.”

The Pirates scored yet again late in the third quarter, when they went for it on fourth down and Parker caught an eight-yard pass from Brewer in coverage. They also scored with just 30 seconds left, when Clontz’s reception to the 1-yard line set up a Jeremy Hamilton score.

Berea’s 31 points was the most scored on the Eagles all season. The Pirates had 362 yards to LCA’s 488, including 311 yards through the air off of 23-of-39 passing.

The loss marked the end of the season for the Pirates, who lose another talented senior class, including Brewer, Hamilton, Clontz, Auto Becker, Ben Fraley, Justin Johnson and Collin Hester.

The end of a season is always quite bittersweet, McWhorter said.

“My heart beats with love for these kids,” he said. “That’s the only thing I hate about them is I love them so much. Look around at all of these seniors, I cried in the huddle twice. It’s a heart-wrenching thing because now they’re not my players. They’re my brothers.”