Every year we pick some games from week to week. We discuss these picks on the various podcasts on which we regularly appear. This year we will be on Cleats 2 Whistle and (of course) Friday Night Kentucky. Here is a preview of what we will be discussing on Cleats 2 Whistle this coming Tuesday (August 19, 2025).
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Lexington, KY; Featured Game of the Week
Kentucky Country Day (KCD) @ Sayre
Kentucky Country Day, 10-3 in ’24, lost in the Semis to Raceland in Louisville
Every year KCD is in our top five and, seemingly every year, the preseason pronouncement seems warranted before it is all said and done. The Bearcats have virtually the entire accoutrement returning and the roster will be senior laden when the season opens.
If you don’t like KCD and enjoy it when they struggle, your year is a year away. For now, you would be wise to avert your eyes in ’25 as they will be very good and this won’t be a fun year for the Bearcat Hater’s Club.
Caden Long is back for his senior year and he was a reliable signal caller who was about as dangerous with his feet as he was throwing the football. He is a slick ball handler in that offensive backfield and one of the ball club’s better athletes.
Parker Rudolph is a ’26 kid, like Long, and he gained over a thousand yards a year ago rushing the football and was the team’s leading scorer. Parker, Long, MacLean Cantley (’26), and Tyler Wilson (’26) give the Bearcats four very viable rushing options who combined for around 2,500-combined rushing yards and 29-rushing TDs. It is called “strength in numbers” or “running back by committee.”
All of the top receivers return in Miller Bates, Tyler Wilson, Miles Bahe, and Brohm Garlove. Of the four, Garlove is the youngest and he will be a junior (’27).
Colt Mizuguchi was automatic at PK in the PAT game (95.2%) and he is a ’26 kid like much of the roster. Having a reliable kicker who can automatically convert PATs is worth a ton in the high school game come crunch time. Take our word for it.
Rocco Huffman may be among the best defensive players in the KHSAA at any level. The ’26 defender had 132-stops, 11-TFLs, Eight and a half (8.5) sacks, five (5)-FFs, and a pair of FRs. Huffman separates ball carriers from the ball, gets regularly downhill, and makes plays.
Bowen Johnson is also a ’26 prospect and he had 100-stops, nine (9) TFLs, and four (4) sacks in ’24. Johnson contributed both a FF and a pair of FRs.
Of the six top defensive statistical contributors from a season ago, five are returning this year and 10 of the top 11. Jackson Miles is the only defensive stalwart not returning for another tour of duty.
Deon Davidson is a rising star. He was a freshman in ’24 (’28) and led the team with 3-picks and 109-IRNYs. Davidson also had 50-tackle and three (3) TFLs to go along with his back-third success. Brohm Garlove also had three (3) picks and he housed the only “pick six” of the season.
These guys are freaking loaded. Before the smoke clears, the private school from Louisville will have a say in who gets the 1A hardware. You can believe that!
Sayre, ’24 record15-0, 1A champions in ’24
When it comes to Sayre, these guys have an elite coaching staff and the type program which attracts talent. This program hasn’t been around too long but it doesn’t appear it is going anywhere.
The independent, private, co-educational school in Lexington, Kentucky, which has approximately 610 students from age two through twelfth grades enrolled and 68 full-time, faculty members, has punched its ticket into the elite class of 1A football programs in the KHSAA. It looks to be a mainstay at this level of play.
With the “Spartans,” it appears to be an analysis of what talent graduated versus what talent returns. You have to begin the analysis with the departing skill guys and the production which just walked across the graduation stage.
Fans like to act like graduation doesn’t happen. It does. It can really shake up a roster.
How do you replace a quarterback (Luke Pennington) who, over his junior and senior years, completed 382 of 533 passing attempts, for a 72% completion rate, with 103-TD passes thrown against four (4) picks? I don’t know that one can. Remember too, with Luke Pennington at the controls, over the past two years, the Spartans logged an overall 27-1 record with a title (’24).
Pretty dad-burn impressive. A program can’t lose production like that and not feel it, particularly at the 1A level.
In addition to Pennington, Charlie Slabaugh and his 113-carries for 850-yards and 13-TDs a year ago has graduated. Slabaugh was a defender too; registering, in ’24, 110-tackles, seven (7) TFLs, a sack, a pick, and a pair of FFs. Try saying all that really fast, five times.
Sayre also graduated Brock Coffman and his 101-receptions, 1530-yards and 27-TDs; not to mention Coffman’s 12.5 points a game, five (5) INTs and a “pick six.” The receiving corp will also miss Chase Parker’s 28-receptions, for 420-receiving yards, and eight (8) TDs as well as Kemonte Braxton’s 35-receptions for 395-yards and seven (7) receiving touchdowns not to mention Braxton’s five (5) picks on defense.
Like we said, the Spartans had a ton of talented seniors in ’24. Most championship rosters are so constructed if we are being honest.
The cupboard isn’t completely barren. Coach Pennington will have some useful roster pieces back for ’25.
Gannon Rice (’26) attempted a single field goal in ’24. That is the bad news. Rice did make it. That is the good news.
Carson Graves (’26) returns to kick the PATs. Graves made 47 of those a year ago. Graves is reliable.
There are several young guns on defense returning. Harrison Phillips (’27) tallied 96-tackles, five (5) TFLs, five (5) QB sacks, a pick, a FF, and a pair of FRs in ’24. John Luke Minner (’26) registered 40-tackles, three (3) TFLs, 12-sacks, and two (2) FFs. Minner is a dynamic, explosive defensive playmaker.
The same may be said about Jackson Stuart (’26). Stuart, in ’24, registered 51-tackles, five (5) TFLs, a sack, a FF, and three (3) FRs including a 51-yard scoop and score. Rumble, big man, rumble…
Beau Perry picked a pair of passes as did Caden Jones. Perry and Jones are both rising seniors and return to patrol the defensive back third.
Look out for William Moore, from Sayre High. Moore is far from an unknown name in Kentucky High School Athletics. Moore is a standout on the Sayre’s Lacrosse team and plays with an outfit known as The Commonwealth Kings as a midfielder.
The Commonwealth Kings program is central Kentucky’s premier travel lacrosse team. Its players have gone on to dot college lacrosse rosters across the country.
Not just anyone can represent The Commonwealth Kings. Not just anyone can play football for one of Kentucky’s premier 1A programs, Sayre High School.
You don’t think LaCrosse teaches football relatable skills. Ever heard of Jim Brown?
Sayre’s last scrimmage was against Breathitt High on the Riverbank in Jackson. That is a hard place to play.
While Breathitt was fairly dominant, we don’t know what, if anything, to glean from a scrimmage performance. A lot of coaches purposefully don’t show much in a scrimmage.
Friday Night Fletch’s pick: We like KCD on the road over the Spartans
As for Friday Night Fletch’s other picks:
We like Prestonsburg over Betsy Lane at home
Christian Academy-Louisville over Pikeville in Louisville
Franklin County over Great Crossings in Georgetown
Scott County over the visiting GRC
Fern Creek over cross town Seneca
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball and KPI Newspaper Group, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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