Beechwood 24 Lexington Christian Academy 23 (Class 2A State Championship) (OT)

[WCardinal]

 

[Voice of Reason]

4 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

Where does this rank among Beechwood's championship wins? Despite what the BGP poll showed, the Tigers were the clear underdog coming in. I can't think of too many occasions where that was the case and they won.

Not to mention the drama and how it ended.

This one is up there because Beechwood was an underdog, because it is the first one in 2A and because it was such an exciting game.

I would put the 2007 win over LCA in the top 5 also. That was just a great game and it was Coach Rash's first title. That proved he could win titles.

[Beechwoodfan]

4 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

 

It could just be me, but I think it's been a very quiet six championships. He's building his own legend while following a Mount Rushmore caliber coach at Beechwood, plus several other guys around him on the list of titles won are contemporaries that are either still coaching or recently retired. On top of that, he seems like a humble, unassuming man. 

He is an incredible, selfless human being who has given so much to Beechwood.  As an added bonus, his wife is an amazing teacher there as well.   I feel very blessed that my children were coached/taught by both of them.  

 

[Voice of Reason]

Brady Moore follows in the footsteps of his brother Jake making huge plays in the state championship game. 

[Voice of Reason]

6 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

He's a junior.   They have a large part of their starting lineup returning next season.   

Beechwood has almost their entire starting lineup back next year. They do have the big hole to fill at QB though.

[Brcatz]

6 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Beechwood has almost their entire starting lineup back next year. They do have the big hole to fill at QB though.

Perfect timing for someone to move into district, maybe from Ft Thomas to Ft Mitchell??

[Voice of Reason]

3 hours ago, catholicdude said:

I couldn't agree more with this.  Class guy that probably doesn't get the credit he deserves.  They have talent but he works with what he has every year and each team looks a little different.  Don't know that I could even put a finger on their "system".  He adapts to what he has and makes it work.  Congrats o Beechwood!  

On defense, the system is there. That is Coach Rash's baby and it showed up big today against a very talented and explosive LCA offense. He has tweaked the defense as offenses became pass focused over the years but you can always count on defense and the same base system from Beechwood. Beechwood is a defense first team in a high powered offense era and they have titles to show that defenses do still win championships.

The offensive side is where Beechwood will adapt their system to the talent they have. Offensive coordinator Greg Hergott finds what works best in the playbook for each team and builds off of that. He has a versatile wide ranging playbook that he can pull the plays from that work best with the talent in front of him. This offense with Cam Hergott at QB had a lot of QB runs. When the Tigers won the two titles with Brayden Burch at QB a couple years ago, there were no QB runs at all in the offense. 

[teeroy]

I thought LCA would go for 2. If they had made the kick to force 2OT LCA would have had to get the ball first in 2OT. I see both teams likely scoring and then Beechwood going for 2 and the win like they did vs West Carter last week. That would be advantage Beechwood with Hergott having the ball in his hands and 1 play to win it. 
In LCA’s defense they do have a great kicker snd had out scored Beechwood by 14 down the stretch so maybe wanted the game to simply continue into a 2nd OT.

[Sweeperboy]

7 hours ago, Brcatz said:

Perfect timing for someone to move into district, maybe from Ft Thomas to Ft Mitchell??

Or vice versa...😂

[Beechwoodfan]

3 hours ago, teeroy said:

I thought LCA would go for 2. If they had made the kick to force 2OT LCA would have had to get the ball first in 2OT. I see both teams likely scoring and then Beechwood going for 2 and the win like they did vs West Carter last week. That would be advantage Beechwood with Hergott having the ball in his hands and 1 play to win it. 
In LCA’s defense they do have a great kicker snd had out scored Beechwood by 14 down the stretch so maybe wanted the game to simply continue into a 2nd OT.

I thought they were going for two as well.  The Tigers had a hard time stopping Xavier Brown,, and I thought 10 yards would not be a problem for him.  Hindsight is always 20/20.

Two great teams, but I do think LCA was out coached, which made the difference in the outcome.  
 

[Tkinslow]

This is the only game that surprised me I thought LCA would win by a couple scores so congratulations to BW you guys went out and took care of business.

[colonel-fan]

Nice win for the Beechies. Way to bring one home to NKY.

[oldgrappler]

16 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Beechwood's Michael Hatfield & Brady Moore coming in CLUTCH in the fourth quarter. Hatfield intercepted LCA's pass when LCA was threatening to put the game away with 1st and 10 on Beechwood's 13. Returned the pick to LCA's 28 yard line, and set up Beechwood's field goal to tie the game up with 2:09 left in the game. Then Moore leapt over the LCA offensive line to block their PAT in overtime and win the game 24-23.

Well done, young men!

(EDITED)

 

16 hours ago, Bac2369 said:

No!

LCA was gashing Beechwood on runs plays on that last drive and chose to throw the ball. They cost themselves.

I had the pleasure of attending this game.  As was noted above, LCA could run on BW.  I think the LCA coaches will look back at the film and have to ask themselves why they chose to pass at certain key moments, like when down on the BW 13.  Towards the end of the first half, LCA started running the ball consistently and they were gashing the BW defense.  They turned the momentum of the game with the run.  And I thought, "Uh oh, they just found the formula to win this game."  On the first possession of the 2nd half, LCA turned loose Xavier Brown and he responded with a 67 yard TD run.  The momentum had completely turned at the beginning of the 2nd half.  But then it seemed like the LCA coaches started to over-think it.  Again, I thought to myself, "If I'm BW, I'd rather the LCA QB pass the ball than run it himself or hand-off to Brown or #9.  All three of them were getting large chunks of real estate on the ground.  When they went to the air, it was a crap shoot as to what might happen. 

They were getting 7 yards a carry. Why not stick with the run?  Didn't they watch the Dixie film or the film from the previous game with West Carter?  Down on the BW 13 with an opportunity to really put the pressure on with a score, my assumption was LCA will pound the ball.  It will take them two plays max to score.  But, instead they throw a dinky pass out to the side and Hatfield anticipated it and picked it off and added a long return.  That was a huge play.  

You have to give the Tigers a lot of credit.  They went through some adversity in this game but hung in there and made the big play when it was needed.  Rash picked the right time to throw to a FB that hadn't caught a pass all year and easily score on the first possession of OT with one play.  Kick was good.  That kick would be the margin of victory as the middle of the BW line came up with a huge block to end the game.  I am very happy for BW.  What a great victory!  Their first 2A State Championship.  It was electric.  

 

10 hours ago, WCardinal said:

A "shout out" to my favorite BW player, Sr slot receiver and cornerback, Cole Stammer.  His long reception on the 2nd play from scrimmage set up BW's first score and set the tone for the start of the game.  You could see it when they lined up for that play, the outside receiver was covered and the LCA defense set up with 2 defenders stacked vertically about 5 yards inside of Stammer.  He would be open immediately.  Hergott saw him and delivered the ball for about a 30 yard gain.  Stammer later would make a big interception on a long attempt down the LCA sideline.  He also caught a 15-yard pass and run for a first down in the second half to keep things alive for BW.  And his biggest contributions to the team comes as a corner where he is usually on an island with a great athlete.  He is always right there.  I couldn't help but think of his Grandpa who would have been so proud of his grandson on Friday as he contributed to his team's win for the State Championship. What a great day to be a BW fan!   

 

[BadaBing]

15 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

Where does this rank among Beechwood's championship wins? Despite what the BGP poll showed, the Tigers were the clear underdog coming in. I can't think of too many occasions where that was the case and they won.

Not to mention the drama and how it ended.

I thought it was apparent after the game that wasn't the case.  These were two evenly matched teams, with the exception of a few plays.  Beechwood owned the first half, and LCA owned the second half with the exception of the interception that set up the game tying field goal for Beechwood, and the missed field goal by LCA as time expired.  I was hoping LCA would hit that extra point so we could keep the fun going.   

[BlueKernels]

6 hours ago, teeroy said:

I thought LCA would go for 2. If they had made the kick to force 2OT LCA would have had to get the ball first in 2OT. I see both teams likely scoring and then Beechwood going for 2 and the win like they did vs West Carter last week. That would be advantage Beechwood with Hergott having the ball in his hands and 1 play to win it. 
In LCA’s defense they do have a great kicker snd had out scored Beechwood by 14 down the stretch so maybe wanted the game to simply continue into a 2nd OT.

Agree here. Beechwood hadn’t stopped #20 for LCA for less than 3 yards all day.