Jim Mashek

SPARTANS WIDEOUT/CORNERBACK JAKE CARTER: ‘WE’VE JUST GOT TO BRING IT …’

LEXINGTON — No one has to tell Jake Carter, Isaiah Bridges and the other members of South Warren’s secondary about what Trinity quarterback Zane Johnson can do with the football in his hands.

Namely, spin it.

“We’ve got stop the pass,” Spartans running back/safety Kayden York said Thursday at the South Warren campus on Nashville Road. “They do RPO (run/pass option) plays on first down, on second down … On just about everything but third-and-short situations …)

That’s the backdrop for the KHSAA Class 6A state championship game set for Saturday evening at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field. South Warren, in its first season as a Class 6A school, assumes the role of the underdog against Louisville’s Trinity High School, which has won back-to-back state championships under fifth-year head coach Jay Cobb.

And that’s just the start of it.

Trinity has won 29 state championships, in football alone, to set the standard for high school football in the Commonwealth. Not only that, the Shamrocks have gone 28-4 in state championship games. They claimed the title last year with a 42-23 victory over Ryle High School, capping another banner season with a 13-2 overall record.

That trend has continued over the last three months, as Trinty has compiled a 12-2 record heading into Saturday’s championship game.

“I think they’ve had a (KHSAA-mandated) running clock against every Kentucky team they’ve played,” said South Warren coach Brandon Smith, who is looking for his fourth state championship in 12 seasons as the Spartans’ head coach.

Trinity’s two losses came at the hands of Cincinnati private schools. On September 5th, Moeller High School slipped past the Shamrocks, 24-21. One month later, the Shamrocks again ventured east, and Cincinnati’s St. Xavier High School — not Trinity’s crosstown rival in Louisville — defeated Jay Cobb’s Trinity squad, 17-14.

In the playoffs, the Shamrocks have flexed their muscles.

They opened postseason play by pummeling Great Crossing High School, 56-0. Simon Kenton was equally overmatched, falling 50-0 to Trinity quarterback Zane Johnson and the mighty Shamrocks. In the quarterfinals, Trinity motored past Madison Central, 64-27. And in the state semifinals, in Kevin Wallace’s farewell game as the head coach at Louisville’s St. Xavier High School, Trinity dismantled the Tigers, 50-7.

The Shamrocks have gotten everyone’s attention, to say the least.

“We love being the underdog,” South Warren senior Jake Carter said. “We’ve just got to bring it …”

Trinity’s Johnson has put up some dizzying numbers in his final season as the Shamrocks’ quarterback. He’s completed 164 of 223 passes, an amazing 70 percent clip, for 2,763 yards and FIFTY-ONE touchdowns. He’s been intercepted just three times in 14 games.

The sturdy 6-foot-1, 210-pound Johnson doesn’t run the ball much, particularly compared to South Warren’s starting quarterback, 6-foot-4, 200-pound junior Camden Page. Page, a multi-sport star in both football and baseball, even has a better completion percentage than the Trinity QB. Page has completed 156 of 212 passes (73 percent) for 2,123 yards and 23 touchdowns. He’s been intercepted six times, in 13 games.

Page is dangerous when he breaks the pocket. He’s rushed for 280 yards and seven touchdowns, while getting the ball to South Warren receivers such as Jake Carter (a team-high 71 receptions, 941 yards, nine touchdowns), Justin Capps (28 receptions, 563 yards, eight TDs) and versatile slot receiver Griffin Reynolds (29 catches, 362 yards, five touchdowns).

Kayden York has emerged as the Spartans’ 170-pound battering ram in the postseason.

York carried the ball 30 times for 228 yards and four touchdowns in last week’s impressive victory over Ryle High School. It was the Spartans’ fourth consecutive home game, not including the forfeit by Christian County in first-round play, which gave South Warren a bye until the second round against Hopkinsville.

The Spartans rolled to a 51-23 victory over Hopkinsville, which will merge with crosstown Christian County for the 2026-27 academic year. From there, South Warren coach Brandon Smith’s squad drubbed Henderson County, 49-21, before reaching the state championship game with last week’s 36-20 victory over Ryle.

“This is a special group of kids,” Smith said. “They’ve put in the work, they play for each other, they understand what it takes to win.”

Smith, who has compiled an impressive 134-23 record in 12 seasons at South Warren, is looking for his fourth state championship as the Spartans’ head coach. In 2021, former WKU quarterback Caden Veltkamp guided the Spartans past Lexington’s Frederick Douglass High School, 38-26, to put the finishing touches on a 14-1 season and a KHSAA Class 5A state title.

Senior cornerback Isaiah Bridges, who leads South Warren with five interceptions, said the Spartans have made adjustments since losing junior cornerback Joseph Fentress midway through the regular season. York, the team’s workhorse in the backfield, has taken plenty of snaps at free safety, while Bridges has returned to cornerback.

“I like playing corner. I like the pressure,” Bridges said. “We know everybody’s talking about Trinity, but we’re a relatively new school … we’re going to be ready to play.”

Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, followed by the KHSAA Class 5A game pitting Owensboro High School (12-2 overall) and Pulaski County (12-2).