Paxton Gray is a budding superstar for the Eagles and is this week’s eCampus.com, Big Man on the eCampus! #Kentuckys #fletcherwlong #LeadershipLegacy #CoachingExcellence #MentorshipMatters #characterbuilding #SportsLeadership #BuildingChampions #kentuckyfootball #highschoolfootball #DisciplineAndDedication #athletics @KHSAAFootball, @bigassfans, @eCampus.com, @LasatersCoffee
’28 multi-sport athlete among the best players on the Eagle roster
To say the Eagles, from Lexington’s Christian Academy, have started out the ’26 season with a difficult trek is a bit of an understatement. The Eagles stand at 4-2 and are coming off a lopsided win over district foe, W.E.B. DuBois Academy out of Louisville. However, iron sharpens iron as we commonly say and the Eagles draw a Shawnee bunch from Louisville sitting at 2-4 and reeling from a beat down suffered to Danville before its week off it just experienced. This is a district game and important to seeding for the looming playoffs. We are still ahead of where we were this time last year; and, last year, we won it all.
eCampus.com was built on a simple idea: make textbooks affordable, convenient, and accessible for every student. Founded in 1999 in Lexington, KY and backed by visionary investors like Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas, the company has grown into a premier online textbook retailer for high school and college students nationwide.
Their mission has always been supporting student success both on and off the field through affordable access to the course materials they need. eCampus.comis excited to invest in our student-athletes through Kentucky Prep Gridiron (KPGFootball) which was founded to promote and assist young high school football players get promoted to “next level,” college football opportunities.
That is why eCampus.com sponsors the KPGFootball, Big Man on the eCampus series. This week we are doing something a bit different. In stead of giving you a feature, we are going to recap the game with the Lexington Catholic Knights and savor the performance which will likely be talked about for years in this particular rivalry.
We aren’t sure how many of you remember this, but KPGFootball may have been the only Kentucky-wide publication which came out on the record and picked the Eagles to win the title last season (2025). We didn’t panic when the team came out of the gates losing three of its first four. We aren’t panicking now with the team standing at 4-2 through six of the toughest games any small school in Kentucky has ever played in any singular season. This schedule has been brutal.
Iron sharpens iron. We knew the tough early season schedule would pay off dividends in 2025 when it got to playoff time. We were right then and believe the similar course of action, in 2026, may well net a similar result.
The 2A classification will be a tough league in 2026 and boasts as many top-flight, top-notch teams as any other class in the commonwealth with Beechwood and Owensboro Catholic looking particularly formidable through the first half of the regular season. There are literally 11-teams who could take home the title with four to five at the top capable of beating the other depending on factors as rudimentary as the location of the game.
Lexington, KY: We have hit the district. Some of the stars to this point are exactly who we thought they would be.
Daven Hood (Sr., RB/SS): A vital senior playmaker returning to the backfield to anchor the rushing attack alongside Whelan.
Aiden Lyons (Sr., LB): Led the Eagles’ defense with 89 total tackles during their previous championship run.
Thomas Sizemore (Jr., MLB/RB): Finished second on the team in tackles with 74 stops last season.
Nash Whelan (LCA, QB): The standout signal-caller led the Eagles’ offense and title defense with tremendous poise.
Conrad Hart(LCA, TE): A 6’6″, 235-pound senior and University of Kentucky commit who created major matchup problems in the passing game and was able to use his big-body and length to come up with the two-point conversion to seal the win.
Matthew Montgomery (LCA, OL/DL): Two-time all-state performer anchoring the trenches with elite technique and footwork.
There is another one, a budding star, who is making people take notice. His name is Paxton Gray and he has a versatile skill set and can do lots of things athletically at the varsity high school level.
Paxton Gray weighs 190, runs 21.95 MPH, and clips off 40s in 4.5-seconds
Going into the DuBois game, Gray has accounted for five (5) TDs; scoring a sixth (6th) against the Lions. Gray is averaging 14 or so yards a catch and 15.7-yards per rushing attempt.
Gray is dangerous in the return game, averaging 52-yards a return and has housed two (2) kick off returns over the course of the first half of the season. Gray has been clocked running 21.95 MPH and clips off 40-yard dashes in 4.5-seconds.
That is moving. That is particularly fast for a 190-pound SS/WR/KR who can also play QB.
Gray is a star on the football team. Gray’s a star on the Track & Field team too. Matter of fact, Gray is just a dad-burn star.
Join us next week as we return to honor another eCampus.com, Big Man on the eCampus. Until then, from any classroom to every field, eCampus.com delivers an easy, fast, and affordable way to order textbooks for students everywhere.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
Two-time winner of Kentucky Press Association awards for excellence in writing and reporting news stories while Managing Editor of the Jackson (KY) Times-Voice
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