Sayre received the opening kickoff and started on their own 32.  Luke Pennington went 7 for 7 on the drive which culminated in a 1 yard TD pass to Brock Coffman with 634 left in the 1st quarter.  Raceland started on their own 23 and the Rams marched down the field running the football and scored on a Jonah Arnett to Jaxon Rister 2 yard TD pass. The 17 play drive made the score 7 to 6, Sayre, after a missed extra point. 

Jonah Arnett intercepted Luke Pennington on the Ram 44 and Raceland converted the turnover into a 28 yard FG to go up 9-7 with 520 left in the 1st half.  Raceland stopped Sayre on downs and took over on their own 36 with 326 left in the half.  The teams exchanged possessions and Sayre drove right down the field throwing the ball and scored on a 2 yard pass from Luke Pennington to Brock Coffman with 25 seconds left in the half to go up 14-9.

Raceland received the second half kickoff and returned it to their own 40.  The teams exchanged possessions and then Raceland went for it on 4th down deep in their own territory and did not get it giving Sayre the ball at the Ram 36.  On the next play Luke Pennington connected with Brock Coffman for a 36 yard TD pass to go up 20-9 midway through the third after a missed extra point.  Raceland drove the length of the field and answered with a 1 yard Shannon Marushi TD run.  The Rams received a 5 yard penalty but still went for two from the 8 yard line and the attempt was no good.  After the Raceland TD the score was 20-15 with 222 left in the 3rd quarter. 

With 1108 left in the game Charlie Slabaugh scored from 2 yards out and the extra point put the Spartans up 27-15.  The Rams answered with a long drive of their own on a short Jacob Waller run to make it 27-22, Sayre with 722 left in the game. Raceland drove to the Sayre 26 with 130 left in the game but was stopped on downs.  Sayre ran out the clock to become your 2024 Kentucky 1A State Football Champions!

Congrats Sayre Spartans!  Congrats Coach Pennington!

Sayre with a very huge win here on its first appearance in its first ever Finals.

 

Great recap, thanks!

Great opening game, hope they all have the same sort of competitiveness. Glad Raceland didn’t lay down. Congratulations to the Spartans on their first State Championship, maybe the Aces can get theirs too.

13 minutes ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Great recap, thanks!

Trust me when I say I am on the struggle bus with everything going on.  And then the TD celebration and Da BGP Boyz came out to play.  LOL

Congrats again to both teams, it was a great 1A game. 

Great game. The radio broadcast from KHSAA was dryer than cracker juice, but at least I got to decipher some of what they said. Congrats Sayre!

Just now, TheBallCoach said:

Great opening game, hope they all have the same sort of competitiveness. Glad Raceland didn’t lay down. Congratulations to the Spartans on their first State Championship, maybe the Aces can get theirs too.

I like all that until the word Aces came out of your keyboard.  Go Tigers, Beat Aces!!

Congrats to Sayre as state champions and congrats to Raceland as state runner up! ?

Raceland should have never went to for that 4th down. It was way to early for that then.

Just now, Bac2369 said:

Raceland should have never went to for that 4th down. It was way to early for that then.

I think attempting to throw the ball on their last drive, resulting in an 11 yard loss, is ultimately what did them in. They had the momentum and plenty of time to keep running the ball. It was over after that. 

Raceland, a bridesmaid again.  Just can't seem to win the big one.

This probably be the most painful Raceland finals loss.

Raceland was in position to win this game today and just had the wrong decisions or wrong execution at the worst possible times.

Huge shoutout to Pennington and Sayre. Ten years ago people probably would laugh at you to suggest Sayre would be a State Champion football program.

Has Raceland ever won a state championship?

5 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

I think attempting to throw the ball on their last drive, resulting in an 11 yard loss, is ultimately what did them in. They had the momentum and plenty of time to keep running the ball. It was over after that. 

I absolutely agree with that too. The defenses traded punts to start the 2nd half, so the defenses tightened up a little bit there so they should have just played it out. 

1 minute ago, Randy Parker said:

Has Raceland ever won a state championship?

Now 0-4.