©2005 by Ron Harrison
Rockcastle County (11-2) vs. Lexington Catholic (12-1) November 25, 2005
Coach Tom Larkey's Rockcastle County Rockets have developed a powerful running attack lately that has enjoyed the luxury of running behind five offensive linemen who average 284 pounds per man. RB Gabe Stallsworth has rushed for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns. QB Matthew Burkhart has passed for 1946 yards and 18 TDs with his favorite receiver Shawn Childress accounting for 741 and eight touchdowns.
Lexington Catholic's explosive offense has been led by QB Justin Burke who has thrown for 3250 yards and 57 touchdowns this season. Cornell Burbage has 65 receptions for 1141 yards and 16 touchdowns while Wes Caldwell had added 52 receptions for 980 yards and 20 touchdowns. Shane Israel has added a home-run threat on the ground for coach Bob Sphire's Knights with 979 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Lexington Catholic held a slim 21-20 margin at the half but the Knights had three long distance scoring runs in the third quarter to break open the game on their way to a 48-20 victory. Lexington Catholic got the ball first in the third quarter but was forced to punt. Rockcastle County QB Matthew Burkhart raced 67 yards on a first-and-ten from their own two yard line to the Lexington Catholic 31. However, on a third-and-nine play, Burkhart was intercepted by Jacob Locknane to end the drive.
Lexington Catholic capitalized as Justin Burke hit Wes Caldwell for a 64 yard scoring strike to make the score 28-20 after the conversion. Lexington Catholic's defense forced a punt on the next possession and Shane Israel electified the crowd with a dazzling 61 yard TD run to make the score 34-20. Rockcastle County was stopped short on a fourth-and-four on the next possession and Justin Burke added the clincher with a 60 yard TD pass to Pat Schwendeman to give the Knights a 41-20 lead after three quarters of play.
Lexington Catholic held a 585-480 yard advantage in total offense, but trailed 20-19 in first downs. Rockcastle County also held a 30:38-17:22 advantage in clock possession time. The Knights lost a fumble, had a pass intercepted, and was penalized seven times for 122 yards. Rockcastle County lost a fumble, had four passes intercepted and was flagged five times for 31 yards. Lexington Catholic dialed long distance all evening as they had scoring plays of 64, 61, 60, and 69 yards.
Shane Israel led Lexington Catholic's ground game with 178 yards and two touchdown on 12 carries. Justin Burke completed 14 of 22 passes for 318 yards with five touchdowns and one interception. Burke reached a milestone tonight as he set a Kentucky single season record for TD passes with 62 scoring strikes, eclipsing the previous record of 58 set by Justin Haddix of Breathitt County in 2002. Wes Caldwell caught five passes for 102 yards and a TD. Jacob Locknane led the defense with seven solo and three assisted tackles. Locknane, Pat Schwendeman, Will Osborne, and Ben Revere each recorded interceptions.
Gabe Stallsworth led the Rockcastle County ground game with 205 yards and a TD on 29 carries. Matthew Burkhart carried the ball 12 times for 88 yards on 14 carries. Burkhart also completed three of nine passes for 103 yards and a TD but was intercepted four times. Shawn Childress caught three passes for 103 yards including a 73 yard scoring strike. The defense was led by Charles Cunagin with nine solo and three assisted tackles.
Scoring Summary
| Lexington Catholic | 48 | Rockcastle County | 20 |
| School | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final |
| Rockcastle County | 7 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Lexington Catholic | 7 | 14 | 20 | 7 | 48 |
| LC | - Shane Israel 7 yard pass from Justin Burke (Brian Behr kick) |
| RC | - Shawn Childress 73 yard pass from Matthew Burkhart (Martin Baehrfield kick) |
| LC | - Alex Currie 33 yard pass from Burke (Behr kick) |
| RC | - Burkhart 1 yard run (Baehrfield kick) |
| LC | - Currie 15 yard pass from Burke (Behr kick) |
| RC | - Gabe Stallsworth 6 yard run (Baehrfield kick fails) |
| LC | - Wes Caldwell 64 yard pass from Burke (Behr kick) |
| LC | - Israel 61 yard run (Behr kick fails) |
| LC | - Pat Schwendeman 60 yard pass from Burke (Behr kick) |
| LC | - Israel 69 yard run (Behr kick) |
Selected Statistics
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| Rushing | No. | Yds. | Avg. | Long | Rushing | No. | Yds. | Avg. | Long | |
| Gabe Stallsworth | 29 | 205 | 7.1 | 46 | Shane Israel | 12 | 178 | 14.8 | 69 | |
| Matthew Burkhart | 12 | 88 | 7.3 | 67 | Will Osborne | 4 | 13 | 3.2 | 7 | |
| Adam Hensley | 14 | 84 | 6.0 | 28 | Vince Guagenti | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | |
| Justin Burke | 6 | 12 | 2.0 | 11 | ||||||
| Winston Guy | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | ||||||
| Team | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | ||||||
| Passing | A-C-I | Yds. | TD | Long | Passing | A-C-I | Yds. | TD | Long | |
| Matthew Burkhart | 9-3-4 | 103 | 1 | 73 | Justin Burke | 22-14-1 | 318 | 5 | 64 | |
| Cornell Burbage | 1-1-0 | 46 | 0 | 46 | ||||||
| Receiving | No. | Yds. | TD | Long | Receiving | No. | Yds. | TD | Long | |
| Shawn Childress | 3 | 103 | 1 | 73 | Wes Caldwell | 5 | 102 | 1 | 64 | |
| Alex Currie | 3 | 59 | 2 | 33 | ||||||
| Pat Schwendeman | 2 | 106 | 1 | 60 | ||||||
| Shane Israel | 2 | 52 | 1 | 45 | ||||||
| Cornell Burbage | 2 | 15 | 0 | 9 | ||||||
| Will Osborne | 1 | 12 | 0 | 12 | ||||||
| Winston Guy | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Acknowledgements
A special thanks to WL Stats for the comprehensive stats provided for tonight's game.
Other Games of Interest
Please refer to Week Fifteen in Review.
Please send your comments and questions to Ron Harrison at prepgridiron@yahoo.com.
Ron Harrison’s reports on this and other football events appear on https://www.angelfire.com/ky2/prepgridiron.
