ERLANGER —If last week’s Murray High football drama was not enough to elevate Tiger fans’ blood pressure, Friday night’s game sent those readings off the chart at Dees Memorial Stadium in the Cincinnati suburbs.
Undefeated Murray High needed every bit of junior running back Gage Chapman’s 206 rushing yards and a few breaks that it created to survive a gut-wrenching third quarter and, somehow, power through to a 27-20 win over undefeated host Erlanger Lloyd Memorial in a Kentucky Class 3A Playoffs Sub-State championship game. The reward for the Tigers’ resilience is the program’s first state championship appearance in more than three decades with Murray High remaining perfect this season at 14-0 and Lloyd Memorial ending its season at 13-1.
The game started like almost every Tiger game this season — business as usual.
A little more than three minutes into the game, senior quarterback Wyatt Robbins scrambled for a 5-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers in the lead, 7-0, after a seemingly effortless opening drive.
The Juggernauts immediately answered, almost exhausting the rest of the opening quarter. Lloyd quarterback Kaleb Evans hit running back Lincoln Tomlinson on fourth-and-goal for a one-yard touchdown pass, but the point-after attempt failed, leaving Murray High with a 7-6 lead with 51 seconds remaining.
Chapman ended the quarter with a big run into Lloyd territory, setting up senior kicker Hank Fronza’s 29-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-6 with 8:58 left until halftime. The Tigers’ Braylon Patterson then recovered a muffed kickoff, and the Tigers were ready to quickly pounce. Following a 43-yard pass from Robbins to senior receiver Josh Bridges Jr, senior running back Simon Rickman scored on a one-yard run to capitalize on the turnover and send the lead to 17-6.
It seemed easy and the Tigers eventually roared their way into their locker room with all the momentum, bolstered by Chapman and Rickman hammering the Lloyd defense to the tune of 174 rushing yards to go with an outstanding defensive performance.
Then, everything changed, right as it appeared the Tigers were ready for the kill.
Junior cornerback Collin Winters intercepted an Evans pass to end the Juggernaut opening drive inside the Tiger 10-yard line, but Murray High suddenly was not able to move the ball. Then, after the teams swapped punts, everything went wrong for the Tigers.
First, Robbins scrambled toward the right sideline halfway through the quarter and landed awkwardly out of bounds. He had to be carried to the Tiger sideline.
The drive ended with Fronza— also the Tigers’ punter — pinning the Juggernauts back at their own 2. It seemed the Tigers had another chance to perhaps finish Lloyd.
Instead, Evans threw over the top of the Murray High defense to a wide- open Colten Barger, who snagged the ball in full stride and outraced every defender 98 yards to pull Lloyd within 17-12. A successful 2-point conversion then made the score 17-14 with 5:42 left in the quarter. Now, the Lloyd side of Dees Memorial, quiet for much of the game, was full of excitement. Seconds later, the noise level exploded.
Freshman quarterback Kenyon Cunningham — on to relieve Robbins — made a good run toward the left side, only for the Lloyd defense to knock the ball from his grasp. Lloyd recovered at the Tiger 30. Less than two minutes later, the Juggernauts grabbed a 20-17 lead when Evans used his linemen to plow through Murray High’s line from a yard out.
In an antagonizing seven-minute odyssey, Murray High had gone from great shape to the verge of disaster. However, there was still time to turn this situation back in a positive direction.
Cunningham, son of Head Coach Melvin Cunningham, helped lead the charge.
Back to the field he went, and he quickly showed he has a short memory. The southpaw found fellow freshman Patterson on a 47-yard pass play to the Juggernaut 11 in the final seconds of the third quarter. Only seconds into the final quarter, senior receiver Isaiah Martin was inserted as a wildcat quarterback and lobbed a nine-yard pass to Rickman to the 1. Martin finished what Kenyon started by powering his way into the end zone to give the lead back to the Tigers, 24-20, with 11:30 to go.
The offense had defied the odds when it probably could have easily mailed it in. Now, it was the defense’s turn.
On the ensuing Juggernaut drive, Lloyd moved near the Tiger red zone. But as the offense had delivered on its previous possession, the defense seemed to say, “watch this.”
Barger was hit and coughed up the ball and Tiger senior defensive end De’Erik Jackson fell on it to stop the Juggernaut rally in its tracks.
On Murray High’s second offensive snap, Chapman barreled 60 yards to the Lloyd 4. The Juggernaut defense did prevent the touchdown, but Fronza split the uprights from 20 yards to give the Tigers a 27-20 lead with 6:22 left.
Three plays later, Rickman’s interception gave the Tigers the chance to end the game. Chapman and Martin took turns carrying the ball, collecting a couple of huge first downs and ending the game outside of Lloyd’s red zone.
“Another example of this team being comfortable being uncomfortable,” said Coach Cunningham. “We did not play our best. We had several key injuries, but these kids don’t blink. I let them know we were fine. We were exactly where (God) planned us to be. Then, I asked them what our superpower is. They responded, then they went out and responded.”
“That’s special,” said Cunningham about the players filling in for the injuries. “Everyone stayed together and held each other accountable to do their job.”
And their job just got harder heading into the finals. A date with Christian Academy of Louisville awaits Saturday in Lexington. CAL will be seeking its fourth straight Class 3A championship.