Dawgs defeat Magoffin Co. for first District win of the year

Louisa, Ky — Bulldog QB Baden Gillispie accounted for six touchdowns in a 42-28 Class 3A District 8 victory for Lawrence Co. ( 3-3 ) over Magoffin Co. ( 2-4 ) Thursday night at Luke Varney Jr. Memorial Stadium.

Gillespie threw his first two touchdown passes of the year, ran for three more and intercepted a pass for a touchdown as well.

Danny Hall caught a 40 yard touchdown from Gillespie to put the Dawgs on the board, Trevor Young ran in the two point conversion to make it 8-0 with 7:15 left in the first quarter.

Magoffin Co. answered when Hornet QB Lucas Litteral hit Brad Standifer for a 42 yard strike and then found Caleb Wilson for the two point conversion to tie it up with 4:16 to go in the first quarter.

Gillespie hit pay dirt from 19 yards out and SJ Lycans booted the extra point to make it 15-8 with 7:04 left in the first half.

Hall hauled in his second long touchdown from Gillespie this time a 41 yarder and Lycans tacked on the extra point to make it 22-8 with 5:13 left before half.In the second half the Hornets came out strong with back to back touchdowns from Litteral from 7 yards out and a 62 yard jaunt from Jaylon McDuffus to make it 22-20 with 5:10 left in the third period.

Gillispie gave the Dawgs some breathing room when he raced in from 9 yards out and Lycans added the PAT for a 29-20 lead with 2:12 left in the third period.Under a minute later Gillespie picked off a Hornet pass and zig zagged his way in to the end zone and Lycans bottled the PAT to make it 36-20 late in the third quarter.

Magoffin Co. cut into the Dawgs lead with a Litteral to Wilson 9 yard touchdown pass and McDuffus scored the two point conversion to make it 36-28 with 7:56 left in the ball game.

Gillespie put the final touches on the victory with a 1 yard touchdown run to set the final score of 42-28 with 1:57 left in the ballgame.

Lawrence Co. finished with 374 yards of total offense, 300 of that on the ground.

Gillespie carried it 28 times for 147 yards and completed 3 passes for 74 yards, Trevor Young 14 for 93 yards, Brandon Davis 6 for 38 yards, Blue Fletcher 5 for 20 yards, Brandon Fitch 4 for 7 yards, Bradley Osborne 1 for 2 yards, Dylan Ferguson 1 for 0 yards, Tyler Bowens 1 for -7 yards.

Danny Hall caught 3 passes for 74 yards.

Lawrence Co. will hit the road next Friday with another District game at Pike Co. Central who is 4-1 overall and 1-0 in District play.

Magoffin Co. will host Floyd Central ( 2-4 ) in a District matchup.

Lawrence Co. Head Coach Alan Short

COACH’S COMMENTS

“… These guys understand it is a process and we have been building and building. I think we’ve been progressing each week and we made a giant leap tonight.”

“… Once they cut it to 22-20 in the the third I don’t think our guys panicked at all. We all knew this wasn’t the same ole Magoffin Co. team from years past. Coach Gamble does a great job, this is their best team since 2013. They have some nice pieces.”

“… Great play by Baden on the INT, Big Time Players, Make Big Time Plays in Big Games. He is special.”

“… Our younger guys are stepping up. We are a young football team when you look at the parking lot for practice it looks empty because none of these guys are driving yet.”

“… Taking our first trip to Naugatuck Friday night to watch Pike Co. Central who we play next week. Haven’t seen them much other than a little film against Prestonsburg so don’t know much about them. We have developed a nice rivalry with them over the years with a lot of close games in the series.”