Jim Mashek

SOUTH WARREN LINEMAN KYLER LYONS: ‘JUST HAND HIM THE ROCK …’

Ryle High School’s football team made the four-hour journey to Bowling Green intent on claiming a berth in next week’s KHSAA Class 6A championship game next weekend at UK’s Kroger Field.

At halftime, the Raiders had reason to believe they could hang with third-ranked South Warren High School, an unbeaten squad that’s won all 14 of its games by double digits this season.

(Well, excluding a 2-0 forfeit in the first round of the playoffs, when Christian County chose not to take the field against the Spartans.)

Ryle’s optimism, however, proved to be short lived.

Senior tailback Kayden York, and the hulking South Warren offensive line, made sure of that.

“My teammates rely on me, so I tried to put them on my back,” York said.

That’s exactly what happened on a bone-chilling Friday night at Spartan Stadium. York, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound tailback, carried the ball 30 times for 228 yards and FOUR TOUCHDOWNS in South Warren’s 36-20 thumping of Ryle.

“We just wanted to wear them down,” York said. “We knew it was going to be a battle.”

Ryle, which finishes its season at 10-4 overall, twice led in the first half. The Raiders actually took a 14-13 lead into halftime, after tight end Gavin Lyons made a sensational grab in the end zone, on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Ryle teammate Nathan Verex.

Then the narrative took a decisive turn …

“We’ve got the opportunity that we wanted,” South Warren coach Brandon Smith said.

York actually uses his size to his advantage, taking the ball from South quarterbacks Camden Page and Cameron Bell before finding a seam in the opponents’ defense. The Raiders couldn’t stop the York Train, particularly in the second half, as South Warren motored into the KHSAA Class 6A championship game next Saturday against No. 1-ranked Trinity High School.

Trinity thrashed crosstown rival St. Xavier, to the tune of 50-7, on Friday night in Louisville. The Shamrocks (12-2 overall) will be gunning for a third consecutive KHSAA Class 6A state title next weekend in Lexington, but the Trinity defense will have to contend with a versatile South Warren attack that has produced 567 points in 13 games this season.

In this game, that meant getting the ball in Kayden York’s hands.

“Just give him the rock,” South Warren offensive lineman Kyler Lyons said. “Kayden finds the hole … and he just goes.”

South Warren will be looking for its fourth state championship, all under veteran coach Brandon Smith, since the Nashville Road school opened its doors in 2010. The Spartans won their last state title in 2021, when former WKU quarterback Caden Veltkamp guided South to a gritty 38-26 victory over Lexington’s Frederick Douglass High School in the KHSAA Class 5A title tilt at Kroger Field.

This time, South Warren multi-sport star Camden Page will try to follow suit.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot, in the first half,” Page said. “We talked about it, at halftime. We just looked at each other and said, ‘We got this …’

“When they’re dropping six guys into coverage, it’s time to get the ball in Kayden’s hands.”

Ryle was without the services of injured running back/linebacker Jacob Savage, the Raiders’ leading rusher on his way to Indiana University and the Big Ten. That meant the Spartans definitely had the upper hand, in a slugfest decided at the line of scrimmage.

With the 6-foot-1, 225-pound Savage on the sideline, Ryle coach Mike Engler had to take a different approach against the gang-tackling South Warren defense.

“To lose somebody like a Jacob Savage, and (injured teammate) Kai Workman, it’s really, really hard,” Engler told Micheal Compton of the Bowling Green Daily News. “Our guys stepped up, and I thought we played well enough. A few breaks here or there, and we could have won the football game.

“Hats off to South Warren. They did an excellent job. They’ve got a great football team. Coach (Brandon) Smith does a great job.”

South Warren, which deferred after winning the pregame coin toss, took the kickoff to open the second half and drove 77 yards in 10 plays for the go-ahead touchdown.

Carter made a diving grab on Chase Bell’s quick slant for a 17-yard gain on a third-and-5 play, and three plays later, Kayden York plowed into the end zone from a yard out. The Raiders closed to within eight points on Verax’s 22-yard TD pass to Ryle teammate Dylan Lee, but South Warren blocked the extra-point try and the Spartans still led, 28-20.

York pounded out some tough yardage between the tackles, but the Spartans faced a fourth-and-three situation at the Ryle 31-yard line midway through the third quarter.

That’s when South QB Camden Page faked an inside handoff and rolled to his right, finding Spartans receiver Justin Capps at the goal line for a pretty 31-yard touchdown pass. Page then used a quarterback draw to add the two-point conversion, putting the Spartans in front, 21-14.

“We were taking what the defense gave us,” South coach Brandon Smith said. “We just kept riding it out …”

South’s Camden Page and Chase Bell passed the ball sparingly, so the Spartans just kept riding it out with mighty mite Kayden York.

Ryle’s Grant Foley came up with an interception to thwart one South Warren drive, but the Spartans’ defense was equal to the task. South Warren senior linebacker Drayson Moore recorded a third-down sack to force a punting situation, dropping Ryle QB Nathan Verax for a critical 10-yard loss.

From there, the Spartans took control.

South Warren wideout Jake Carter, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound senior who doubles as a Spartans cornerback, came up with a critical reception that led to the Spartans’ fourth touchdown of the night.

York’s 18-yard bolt to the end zone, through the teeth of the Ryle defense, and Camden Page’s subsequent two-point conversion with 1:55 left accounted for the final margin.

Now the Spartans turn their attention to next week’s KHSAA Class 6A state championship game, against one of Kentucky’s blue bloods, Trinity High School, at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field in Lexington.

“It’s exciting. Exciting … that’s the only word I can come up with,” South Warren coach Brandon Smith said. “(Trinity) is the real deal, they’re the top dog (in the statewide rankings). I’m just thrilled to death, that these boys will get the opportunity to play for a state championship.”