'We just kept believing.' Beechwood football beats Mayfield in KHSAA Class 2A state final

LEXINGTON, Ky. – This year’s Class 2A state championship of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association football playoffs began in a special and unconventional way.

During the captains' meeting and before the coin toss, mayors and school administrators from both the Mayfield and Beechwood high school communities joined on the field for a special presentation.

The Mayfield contingent shared a proclamation and gave a plaque to their Beechwood counterparts for the help the Beechwood school community and the city of Fort Mitchell gave to the Mayfield area after it was devastated by tornadoes on Dec. 10, 2021.

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Once the game itself started, it had a conventionally wild but successful ending for the Beechwood football team, who edged Mayfield 14-13 in the state final Friday evening at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field.

Beechwood football wins 17^th state championship all-time

Beechwood won its 17^th state championship all-time and third in a row in Class 2A.

“These kind of games can go either way,” Beechwood head coach Noel Rash said. “As many mistakes as we made, and they forced us into some mistakes, too. But at the end of the day, we just kept believing and our will won out. I’m proud as can be. We’ve been through the wringer and here we are standing here.”

Said Mayfield head coach Joe Morris: “It’s a tough game to lose. Our guys played with a lot of heart. Two great teams going at it. We knew it was going to be tough. They made one more play than we did. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys. They played their hearts out for their community.”

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The Tigers won without Mitchell Berger, Beechwood’s leading rusher and defensive player, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Beechwood’s eighth game on Oct. 14. Berger, a Mr. Football contender entering the season, joined the captains for the opening coin toss.

“(The injury) was hard to swallow, but watching us win the title was something special,” Berger said.

Said Rash: “When you lose Mr. Football, we’ve never had to deal with that. You got to remember, Mitchell’s talent on the field, everybody sees that. But it’s what he does when nobody’s looking. The locker room stuff.”

'That one play did not cost us the game. He’s been spectacular all year'

With Beechwood leading 14-7, Mayfield got a chance to tie or take the lead when Zane Cartwright completed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Stevenson with 1:13 to go in the fourth quarter.

Lincoln Suiter’s extra-point kick missed, however, and after Beechwood senior Liam McCormack recovered the onside kick, the Tigers were able to run out the clock.

The ending followed the script of the previous two title wins in which Beechwood edged Lexington Christian, with a kick deciding the game.

In 2020, Beechwood won 24-23 in overtime when Brady Moore blocked a PAT to end the game. In 2021, Jake Conrad hit a 36-yard field goal for Beechwood, and the Tigers kept LCA from scoring on their last drive.

“Things went our way,” Rash said. “I feel terrible for that kid, but there are so many plays left out on that field. A missed PAT is a missed PAT. We missed our first one but thankfully they had a penalty. We made a ton of mistakes, but God love them, we hung in there.”

Said Morris: “There were about 130 plays in this game. That one play did not cost us the game. He’s been spectacular all year.”

'I thought the two teams were very mirrored in the way we attack and the way we play football'

The Tigers did not play their cleanest game, committing 10 penalties, two of them on one crucial play in the second half. Beechwood fumbled three times, giving one away late in the game. But the Tigers found a way to win a thriller again.

“They’re not supposed to be easy,” Rash said. “You’re in the finals, people ask ‘How good are they?’ They’re in the finals. I thought the two teams were very mirrored in the way we attack and the way we play football. We have talent on the edge, they have talent on the edge. They’re really good up front, we’re really good up front. These games are supposed to be hard.”

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Sophomore Chase Flaherty, who rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown, fumbled to Mayfield at the Beechwood 47 in the fourth quarter. He was injured on the play and did not return.

Mayfield drove down and scored with 1:13 left. After McCormack recovered the onside kick, Alex Courtney, who replaced Flaherty, rushed for 43 yards inside the Mayfield 10 to clinch the game.

Beechwood outgained Mayfield by 11 yards, 271-260 in what was a defensive slugfest.

Sophomore Clay Hayden, finishing his first year as starting quarterback, threw for 116 yards and a touchdown to McCormack. Senior Antonio Robinson, a Wake Forest commit at defensive back, had three catches for 59 yards, all at big moments in the first half.

Beechwood limited Mayfield junior Jutarious Starks to 104 rushing yards and a touchdown. He came in averaging over 100 yards per game with 20 rushing TDs. Cartwright threw for 137 yards in the game.

Beechwood senior Austin Waddell named MVP of game

Senior Austin Waddell, who plays offensive line and linebacker, was named the most valuable player of the game. He led Beechwood in tackles with six and led the offensive line.

“I make some simple calls and he makes the complex calls on the field,” Rash said. “He runs the show for us out there. Then, when you got to run against him and you want to cut back in the middle against that dude, you better strap it on. He made a difference today. (Starks), wow, what a great player, but I thought we neutralized him for the most part. When it got down to (crunch) time, he couldn’t do what he wanted to do, but that was because of (Waddell), and all the other guys, too.”

Said Waddell: “We knew if we played hard, we could blow them off the ball. That’s what we work on: Double teams, driving and playing hard-nosed football. It starts up front.”

'Adversity calls, and you keep playing hard. As long as we keep playing our game and trust ourselves, we’re going to be all right'

The first quarter went quickly as the Cardinals took up most of the period with a 71-yard drive. Mayfield had fourth-and-goal at the Beechwood 1 and was set up to go for it but committed a false-start penalty. Mayfield settled for a Suter field-goal attempt from 23 yards that missed.

Beechwood got the ball back and converted its scoring opportunity after a long and productive drive.

Flaherty gained 15 and 16 yards on consecutive plays to the 50. Hayden converted two passes on third-and-long, throwing to Robinson for 14 yards to the Mayfield 36. Then, on fourth and 12, Hayden completed a pass to an open McCormack for 16 yards to the 7. On the next play, Hayden threw a 7-yard TD pass to McCormack in the endzone. Matt Kappes’ PAT gave Beechwood a 7-0 lead with 8:20 to go in the half.

On Mayfield’s next drive, Carson Craycraft intercepted a Cartwright pass for his eighth pick of the year. Craycraft returned the ball 17 yards to the Mayfield 31, but the drive stalled and Kappes missed a field. goal.

Mayfield drove down into Beechwood territory only to have the Tigers stuff Starks on fourth-and-1 from their 33 with 2:13 to go in the half, and Beechwood led 7-0 at halftime.

In the second half, Beechwood seemed to have momentum and a chance at a two-score lead when McCormack intercepted a pass at his own 15-yard line and returned it about 40 yards to the Mayfield 45.

However, Beechwood was called for roughing the passer on the play, and then added an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and just like that, Mayfield was at the Beechwood 16.

The Cardinals made the Tigers pay right away, as Starks ran in for a score on the next play. Suiter’s PAT tied it at 7-7 with 9:02 to go into the third quarter.

Beechwood took the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when Flaherty scored from 10 yards out for his 19th touchdown of the year. Kappes’ PAT made it 14-7. Flaherty had a 16-yard run on the drive and Hayden had a 13-yard run on a QB keeper.

Beechwood’s defense controlled the fourth quarter. With eight minutes left in the period, Mayfield faced fourth-and-2 from its own 49, and perhaps mindful of its short-yardage difficulties against the Tigers, Morris opted to punt.

On Mayfield’s next drive, junior lineman Xavier Campbell batted down Mayfield passes on the first two plays, and the Tigers defended another pass on third down with Landon Aylor credited for the breakup, and Mayfield punted with 5:40 left.

“Adversity calls, and you keep playing hard,” Waddell said. “As long as we keep playing our game and trust ourselves, we’re going to be all right. Everything that happened during the year, the way we started. We didn’t have (Hayden). Mitchell goes down. We just knew if we wanted to get it done, we had to trust ourselves, trust our coaches, and keep playing hard for each other.”

'We haven’t had many happy times lately. This team made our community smile'

The hard times the Mayfield community has been dealing with were not far from Beechwood’s mind.

“I hope we all put them in our hearts because of all the stuff they’ve been through,” Rash said. “Now you have 14 to 18 year olds struggling in their hearts to deal with this loss.”

Said Morris: “We haven’t had many happy times lately. This team made our community smile. This is a great football community. What these guys did was put a smile on Mayfield’s face. I guarantee they are proud of this group of young men.”

Beechwood 14, Mayfield 13

Here is Cincinnati Enquirer writer James Weber's Twitter feed during the game.

A Twitter List by DanKadarABJ

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Beechwood football beats Mayfield in KHSAA Class 2A state final