Jim Mashek

SOUTH TURNS ITS FOCUS TO KHSAA CLASS 5A PLAYOFFS; COUGARS CROSS THEIR FINGERS WITH INJURED DAVIN YATES

They came, they saw, they rolled into the KHSAA Class 5A football playoffs.

South Warren High School closed its regular-season schedule on Thursday night, in the only KHSAA game played that night in the Commonwealth, and the Spartans crushed a talented Logan County squad, 42-6, before turning their focus to postseason play.

“I think our defense played well, I think our special teams had a good night,” 10th-year South Warren head coach Brandon Smith said when it was over. “Offensively, we moved the ball … we had some penalties. Now, it gets fun (with the playoffs) …

“This is why you do it, why the kids work so hard for each other, for their team.”

South Warren improved to 8-2 overall, while winning for the fourth time in five games. Logan County, the runner-up in the KHSAA’s Class 4A, 1st District, dropped to 7-3 on the season and will play host to John Hardin High School in first-round play of the 4A playoffs in Russellville.

South Warren, meanwhile, will learn of its next opponent after tonight’s games and the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) is determined for KHSAA Class 5A schools. South has won three state championships since 2016, but the Spartans struggled through a 6-6 season in 2022, establishing the narrative for a bounce-back campaign on the Nashville Road campus.

As the late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis would put it, the Spartans are back, baby.

Last year, Logan County used the sturdy legs of senior running back Ryan Rayno to knock off the Spartans, 27-17, on its way to a 12-1 season and Class 4A state quarterfinal appearance. The Cougars have retooled under veteran coach Todd Adler, but they’ve had lopsided defeats at the hands of Paducah Tighlman (63-13) and South Warren over the last month.

Perhaps the biggest concern for the Cougars will be the health of senior running back/quarterback/defensive back Davin Yates, who was injured in the third quarter before watching the game’s completion from a golf cart on the stadium track. Yates was Logan County’s quarterback last season, but he made way for 6-foot-3 sophomore QB Ridge Holman to give the Cougars some offensive flexibility and additional firepower.

Yates scored his team’s lone touchdown, catching a Holman pass from 7 yards out on a quick slant with 10:51 left in the first half. That score trimmed the Spartans’ lead to 21-6, but South QB Bryce Button would get his squad in the end zone twice before halftime, although one of those touchdowns — a pass across the field to tight end/outside linebacker Colton Veltkamp in the corner of the end zone — was wiped out by a holding penalty.

“Losing Davin hurt this team,” Logan County fullback/linebacker Eli Hawkins said via text message on Friday morning, “but we’re going to see if there is a chance of him still playing (next week) … Sometimes, it’s next man up, and Davin knows that when we take the field, his injury won’t be in vain.”

If there were nits to be picked, for South Warren, it would be the Spartans’ frequent penalties and a clock-management mistake in the final minute of the first half.

“That was my fault,” South coach Brandon Smith said. “I thought it was an incomplete pass, on a penalty there, but the officials told me our guy (Isaiah Rigsby) had caught the ball, and they started the clock after walking off the penalty.”

Consequently, South’s Eli McIntosh couldn’t get on the field for a field-goal attempt in the final few seconds of the half.

Still, the Spartans could celebrate Senior Night in style, and many South players lingered under the stadium lights with family and friends for a half hour or so after the game.

“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Button said, “but we needed a game like this, going into the postseason. This is a hard-working team.”

Brandon Smith said it was one of Button’s best games of the season. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound junior QB — a top-flight recruit, to be sure — has now passed for more than 2,700 yards and 33 touchdowns in 10 games this season.

“I thought Bryce played really well,” Smith said. “He was really sharp in the passing game. We worked on some things in practice this week — timing, execution, things like that — and I think Bryce applied them to his game tonight.”

Button guided the Spartans down the field in his first series, getting the Spartans in the end zone for this first time by finding a wide-open Colton Veltkamp in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 6:51 left in the first quarter.

Veltkamp, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound junior and the younger brother of former South QB Caden Veltkamp, is calling the defensive signals after inside linebacker Ethan Reynolds was injured in the Spartans’ 36-29 loss to archrival Bowling Green High School on October 13. Brandon Smith has used Colton Veltkamp in a variety of roles over the last two seasons.

“He’s a Swiss army knife,” Smith said with a smile.

Veltkamp said the Spartans have had something to prove over the last month of the season.

“We want to put the state on notice, honestly,” he said. “We wanted this one, bad, after last year’s (loss to Logan County). We’ve been building toward the postseason, every week.”

Button fired a 33-yard touchdown pass to South teammate Isaiah Rigsby, immediately after the Cougars turned it over on downs, and McIntosh’s PAT extended the Spartans’ lead to 21-0 late in the first quarter. Button used a moving pocket before hitting Rigsby on the right sideline for a 20-yard gain midway through the second quarter, and senior running back Jimmy Sales scored on a 5-yard run to put the Spartans in front, 28-6.

In the third quarter, South’s Jace Cutrona scored on a 3-yard run, extending his team’s lead to 35-6, and the Spartans found the end zone one last time on Button’s 12-yard TD pass to teammate DeShawn Bridges late in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, junior linebacker Ayden Page was simply EVERYWHERE for the Spartans.

Page disrupted the Cougars’ offense time and again and made several tackles behind the line of scrimmage. DeShawn Bridges, Colton Veltkamp and the other South Warren defenders were quick to follow suit, and it was clear this night belonged to the Spartans.

Both South Warren and Logan County will be playing at home in the first round of the KHSAA playoffs next week.

“Coming in, we put a lot of emphasis on getting off blocks, getting to the football,” Page said. “This can be a great team, honestly, if we keep working, and stick together.”

It’s those sorts of intangibles that have allowed the Spartans to put last year’s 6-6 finish out to pasture. Brandon Smith has compiled an impressive 107-20 record in 10 seasons as South’s head coach.

“Coach Smith tells us the really good teams stay connected, on and off the field,” said South linebacker/fullback Ethan Reynolds, who expects to return from injury to compete in the playoffs next week. “We’ll be playing at home, so that’s a big advantage. Our senior class has been really good leaders.

“They know what to do, and how to make it happen.”