LEXINGTON — Luke Pennington and Brock Coffman hooked up 12 times — three of which led to touchdown scores — to help the Sayre Spartans slip past the Raceland Rams for a 27-22 win on Saturday afternoon to claim the Kentucky Class A state championship at Kroger Field on the campus of the University of Kentucky.
Pennington — the son of former Marshall quarterback and Sayre head coach Chad — played much like his father, completing 21 of his 27 passes for 219 yards and 3 scores through the air. Coffman led all receivers with a game-high 143 yards.
The superlative efforts of the offensive duo helped the Spartans (15-0) build up a 27-15 lead. And when running back Charlie Slabaugh knifed his way in on a direct-snap for the final score for Sayre, it seemed as if the Spartans had control of the game.
But Raceland (10-5) wouldn't go away just yet.
The Rams marched down the field quickly on their ensuing possession, as Shannon Marushi carried the ball four times and quarterback Jacob Waller completed a 10-yard pass to Bryson Rowsey to help drive the Rams deep into Sayre territory.
Raceland closed out the drive when Waller nosed his way across the goal line on a 1-yard sneak with 3:40 left, leaving the Spartans clinging to a 27-22 lead with 7:22 remaining in the game.
The Spartans went three-and-out on their ensuing possession. The punt was shanked, going just 12 yards and giving the Rams the ball at the Sayre 48 to start their drive.
The Rams would drive to the Sayre 27 following a third down conversion run by Marushi. But John Minner would register the games' only sack on Waller, driving the Rams offense back to the 38 and a penalty would negate a gain to set up a 4th-and-managable play for the Rams.
Raceland would fail to convert a 4th-and-9 pass, turning the ball over and the Spartans would run the final 90 seconds off the clock to preserve the win.
Marushi was the bell cow for the Rams offense, finishing with a game-high 95 yards on the ground on 23 carries and found the end zone late in the third quarter on a 1-yard touchdown plunge to make it 20-15.
Pennington and Coffman would bookend the scoring in the opening half, as Coffman caught a slant to cap off the Spartans first drive of the game and then caught a fade in the back corner of the end zone on their final drive of the half to give Sayre a 14-9 lead at the break.
Raceland got a score through the air as well, but in a less conventional way. Running back Jonah Arnett found Jaxon Rister all alone in the the end zone on a reverse pass to tie the game up at 7-all in the first quarter.
Arnett followed up on the defensive side of the ball, by picking off a Pennington pass to give the Rams the ball at the Raceland 46. The interception would be just the fourth time this season Pennington had been picked off.
Arnett would also go on to finish with a team-high 7.5 tackles. Senior defensive end Linden Sammons would finish with 4 solo tackles and a pass break up.
Despite the Rams offense bogging down inside the red zone, they still came away with a 28-yard field goal from Jacob Waller to take heir first lead of the game at 9-7 with 5:22 remaining before halftime.
Raceland 0 9 6 7 = 22
Sayre 7 7 6 7 = 27
First Quarter
Say — Brock Coffman 1 pass from Luke Pennington (Gannon Rice kick), 6:34.
Second Quarter
Rac — Jaxon Rister 2 pass from Jonah Arnett (kick no good), 9:43.
Rac — Jacob Waller 28 field goal, 5:22.
Say — Brock Coffman 2 pass from Luke Pennington (Gannon Rice kick), 0:25.
Third Quarter
Say — Brock Coffman 36 pass from Luke Pennington (kick no good), 7:52.
Rac — Shannon Marushi 1 run (pass failed), 2:22.
Fourth Quarter
Say — Charlie Slabaugh 4 run (Gannon Rice kick), 11:08.
Rac — Jacob Waller 1 run (Jacob Waller kick), 7:22.
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Rac Say
First Downs 18 16
Rushes-yards 56-197 14-35
Passing yards 91 219
Total yards 288 254
Cmp-Att-Int 13-16-0 21-28-1
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 8-64 6-33
Punts-Avg. 2-31.0 2-26.5
Time of Poss. 31:13 16:47
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Individual Leaders
RUSHING — Raceland: Shannon Marushi 23-95 TD, Landen Stiltner 9-64, Ayden Cooper 5-19, Jonah Arnett 11-15, Jacob Waller 5-11 TD, Landon Bloss 1-1, Team 2-minus 8; Sayre: Charlie Slabaugh 10-21 TD, Kemonte Braxton 1-14, Luke Pennington 1-1, Team 1-minus 1.
PASSING — Raceland: Jacob Waller 10-12-0 81, Jonah Arnett 3-4-0 10 TD; Sayre: Luke Pennington 21-27-1 219 2TD, Team 0-1-0 0.
RECEIVING — Raceland: Bryson Rowsey 4-8, Shannon Marushi 0-4, Parker Ison 1-32, Jonah Arnett 2-7, Jaxon Rister 4-25 TD, Ayden Cooper 2-15; Sayre: Charlie Slabaugh 4-41, Brock Coffman 12-143 2TD, Kemonte Braxton 1-6, Chase Parker 1-4, Connor Evans 1-4.
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