@ChazGeraghty and @Lex27Thomas promise to be the one-two punch for @HCougs_Football

When you are a 1A team, even coming off a semi-state appearance, replacing a player like Luke Davis (2020) is daunting!

Yeah, Holy Cross is a powerhouse 1A football team. Yeah, they enter the year preseason picked 7th in the 1A classification. All of that aside, replacing a running back like Luke Davis (Class of 2020) can’t be taken too lightly.

Davis, last season, gained 1,508-yards from scrimmage for Holy Cross in 214-carries and scored 23 TDs on the ground. Yeah, he will be missed.

The cupboard is far from barren. The Cougars still boast a pretty potent one-two punch in the offensive backfield both of whom return for one final tour. They still have QB Chaz Geraghty (2021) and RB Lex Thomas (2021).

Geraghty was as versatile in 2019 as any player in the classification. Chaz threw the football for 1,182-yards on 71 completions in 166-attempts. He threw 10-TD passes, but was picked off 13-times. He would be the first to tell you the number of picks he threw in 2019 is an area of concern.

Chaz ran from scrimmage 124-times in 2019 for 890-yards with 11 TDs rushing. He was his team’s second leading ground-gainer and TD-maker from the QB-slot a year ago. The only player he trailed in either category was the departed Davis.

Not too many QBs are risked with defensive snaps. It is rarer still when they go over to that side of the football and acquit themselves very well. Geraghty was one of the star defenders for the Cougars on top of what he did for the offense.

Geraghty had 47-tackles, 1-TFL, forced a fumble, and picked off a pass a year ago. Not too many QBs can boast of that level of production on the defensive side of the scrimmage-line.

Lex Thomas was far from a slouch himself in 2019. Thomas carried it 70-times for 703-yards, on the ground, with 9-rushing TDs. That was good enough to be third best on the team. Thomas was a weapon in the passing game too.

Last season, Thomas caught 13-passes for 251-yards swinging out of the backfield mostly. He had 2-TDs receiving to go with his production running the football.

Like Geraghty, Thomas played on the defensive side of the football quite admirably. He had 32-tackles a year ago.

Both of these guys are going to be heavily counted on for Holy Cross to remain in the lofty echelon of the 1A classification where they played much of last season. The Cougars were 11-3 in 2019.

Sure, they lost to mighty Pikeville in the semis, 36-7 in Pikeville. However, with what Pikeville did to Paintsville the very next week in Lexington, that margin doesn’t look all that daunting. The Cougars were three points away, on the road at Bethlehem, from 12-2.

Holy Cross still has the makings of a fine ball club in 2020. They have a pretty tough schedule coming down the stretch with away games at Campbellsville, at Walton-Verona, and at Hancock County. Walton Verona played for the regional championship in 2A and Hancock County, also a 2A team, boasts some of the best young offensive backfield talent anywhere on its end of the commonwealth.

Still, there is reason to have faith the boys from the parochial school in Louisville, Kentucky will have a very good season upcoming; perhaps another deep playoff run. In order to not get knocked-out in the early rounds, the Cougars will have to lean heavily on its one-two punch.

This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!

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About Henry Lyon 1210 Articles
Have coached at the high school and middle school level. Have worked in athletic administration. Conceal my identity to enable my candor on articles published by this magazine. Only members of the editorial board are aware of my true identity.

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