Georgetown Kentucky
October 31, 2003
©2003 by Ron Harrison
Lafayette (7-2) vs. Scott County (6-3) October 31, 2003
This is a key district game for both teams tonight. Lafayette is 4-1 in the district and could clinch their first district championship since 1985. Lafayette coach Mike Harmon also could open the door for his alma mater Tates Creek to make the playoffs with a victory tonight. Coach Jim McKee's Scott County Cardinals, on the other hand, are fighting for their playoff lives. The Cardinals are 3-2 in in the district but a loss coupled with a Tates Creek and Dunbar win could keep them home come playoff time.
The Lafayette ground attack has been led by Kevin Trahan, who has carried the ball 110 times for 600 yards and six touchdowns. Tony Rawlings has added 428 yards and five scores on 84 carries. QB Brian Dinger has completed 59 of 114 passes for 763 yards and six touchdowns. Dinger has thrown 10 interceptions. His favorite target has been Spencer Fain, who has caught 28 passes for 398 yards and three touchdowns. Nic Mullins has 16 catches for 307 yards and four scores. Spencer Fain has rolled up 961 yards including 178 yards rushing, 398 yards receiving, 139 yards on nine punt returns, 239 yards on eight kickoff returns, and seven yards on three interception returns. The defense has been led by Hunter Petit, Chris Wiseman and Jared Leedy with 59, 56, and 43.5 tackles respectively.
The Scott County ground attack has been led by Ted Sberna, who gained 870 yards and 15 touchdowns on 104 carries. Percy Hargrove has rushed for 548 yards and seven scores on 108 carries. C. T. Trumbo has added 412 yards and seven touchdowns on 58 rushing attempts. QB Chris Cronin has completed 58 of 96 passes for 623 yards and five touchdowns. Cronin has only thrown two interceptions this season. Kyle Tucker has led the receiving corps with 24 receptions for 300 yards and two touchdowns. Ted Sberna has caught 15 passes for 119 yards and William Lewis has 13 receptions for 172 yards and two touchdowns. C. T. Trumbo has returned 17 kickoffs for 512 yards including a 93 yard TD return. The Cardinal defense has been led by Ted Sberna with 58 solo and 17 assisted tackles, while Courtney White has recorded 41 solo and 13 assisted tackles. Cornerback Derrick Ritchie has recorded 23 solo and six assisted tackles despite missing four games with an injury.Lafayette's Spencer Fain galloped 72 yards for a TD on a punt return with 3:39 remaining on the clock to give his team a 19-18 come-from-behind victory over Scott County. This was a big victory for Lafayette as they enter the playoffs as district champion. Things did not start off rosy for Lafayette as Scott County recovered Lafayette's attempt to recover an onside kick to start the game. Scott County took over on the 50 yard line. Scott County took a 6-0 lead on an eight yard run by Ted Sberna, but the kick attempt failed. Two plays later Scott County recovered a Lafayette fumble on the Scott County 45. Sberna scored on a two yard run to give Scott County a 12-0 lead. Lafayette's Brian Dinger scored on a one yard run and Kevin Minke added the conversion to pull Lafayette within 5, 12-7, at the end of the quarter. Scott County increased the lead to 18-7 at the half on a bruising 19 yard run by Dondrece Christopher.
The third quarter remained scoreless, but Lafayette started showing signs of life. The Generals were facing a third-and-seven from their own eight yard line when Dinger connected with a 40 yard completion to Spencer Fain and a roughing the passer penalty tacked on moved the ball to the Scott County 37 yard line. The quarter ended with Lafayette on the Scott County one yard line.
Tony Rawlings scored on a one yard run early in the final period to make the score Scott County 18, Lafayette 13. Neither team could score until Spencer Fain fielded a punt late in the quarter and maneuvered 72 yards down the right sideline for the winning score. Fain's heroics were not done as he intercepted a Chris Cronin pass and returned it 24 yards to the Scott County 33 yard line with 2:55 remaining on the clock. Fain later ran 23 yards on a third-and-eight play, allowing Lafayette to keep the drive alive and eventually run out the clock.
Scott County held a 332-229 yard advantage on total offense. Lafayette lost two fumbles and Scott County had one pass intercepted. Scott County was penalized eight times for 77 yards while Lafayette was flagged 10 times for 70 yards.
Lafayette was led on the ground by Kevin Trahan with 54 yards on 17 carries. Tony Rawlings carried the ball 13 times for 53 yards and Spencer Fain added 49 yards on four rushing attempts. Brian Dinger completed four of eight passes for 57 yards and Spencer Fain caught two of those passes for 47 yards. The defense was led by Demar Shearer with five solo and one assisted tackle. Jared Leedy added four solos and two assists while Bilal El-Amin recorded four solo and one assisted tackle.
Dondrece Christopher led Scott County on the ground with 81 yards and a TD on 15 carries. Ted Sberna added 46 yards and two touchdowns on seven rushing attempts. Chris Cronin completed 12 of 19 passes for 175 yards. William Lewis caught eight passes for 147 yards. The Cardinal defense was led by Courtney White with five solo and three assisted tackles. Dondrece Christopher added three solo and four assisted stops.
This was a great win for Lafayette but a heart-breaking loss for Scott County. The Cardinals chances were hurt when all-everything Ted Sberna left the game early in the second half with an injury. The Cardinals rang up two impressive victories this season over Seneca and Lexington Catholic, who both finished 9-1 in regular season play.
Scoring Summary
| Lafayette | 19 | Scott County | 18 |
| School | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final |
| Lafayette | 7 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 19 |
| Scott County | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| SC | - Ted Sberna 8 yard run (kick fails) |
| SC | - Sberna 2 yard run (pass fails) |
| L | - Brian Dinger 1 yard run (Kevin Minke kick) |
| SC | - Dondrece Christopher 19 yard run (run fails) |
| L | - Tony Rawlings 1 yard run (run fails) |
| L | - Spencer Fain 72 yard punt return (pass fails) |
Selected Statistics
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| Rushing | No. | Yds. | Avg. | Long | Rushing | No. | Yds. | Avg. | Long | |
| Kevin Trahan | 17 | 54 | 3.2 | 14 | Don. Christopher | 15 | 81 | 5.4 | 24 | |
| Tony Rawlings | 13 | 53 | 4.1 | 12 | Ted Sberna | 7 | 46 | 6.6 | 10 | |
| Spencer Fain | 4 | 49 | 12.2 | 28 | Courtney White | 5 | 24 | 4.8 | 11 | |
| Brian Dinger | 5 | 12 | 2.4 | 10 | C. T. Trumbo | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 5 | |
| Myron Russell | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | Chris Cronin | 5 | 2 | 0.4 | 11 | |
| Team | 2 | -1 | -0.5 | 0 | ||||||
| Passing | A-C-I | Yds. | TD | Long | Passing | A-C-I | Yds. | TD | Long | |
| Brian Dinger | 8-4-0 | 57 | 0 | 40 | Chris Cronin | 19-12-1 | 175 | 0 | 53 | |
| Receiving | No. | Yds. | TD | Long | Receiving | No. | Yds. | TD | Long | |
| Spencer Fain | 2 | 47 | 0 | 40 | William Lewis | 8 | 147 | 0 | 53 | |
| Travis Stephens | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 | Kyle Tucker | 2 | 14 | 0 | 9 | |
| Nic Mullins | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | Ted Sberna | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 | |
| Don. Christopher | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||||||
| C. T. Trumbo | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Acknowledgements
A special thanks to WL Stats for the comprehensive stats provided for tonight's game. Also, A special thanks to Mike Ritchie of Scott County for providing me with the Scott County individual season stats. I would also like to thank Sonny Denniston, the director of athletics at Scott County for the hospitality extended me during my stay.
Other Games of Interest
Please refer to Week Eleven in Review.
Please send your comments and questions to Ron Harrison at prepgridiron@yahoo.com.
Ron Harrison’s reports on these and other football events appear on https://www.angelfire.com/ky2/prepgridiron.
