Mason County’s Wyatt Fuller (72) throws his hands up in the air after the Royals were awarded the region championship trophy. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Mason County is now 13-0 with their first region championship since 2003. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
When referencing the 2001 and 2003 Mason County Royals region championship teams, anyone around knows the Dustin Grutza’s and Chris Lofton’s of their time.
They’ve now got some company.
The Royals won their third region championship in program history on Friday night with a 27-14 victory over Greenup County.
These Royals can also claim something no one else in the program ever has…doing it with a 13-0 record.
“Artificially we’re the best team to ever play here. Believe me, I know the Dustin Grutza’s and all that stuff, but when you add it up no one has ever won 13 games here. There’s been some really good teams here and seeing the banners and All-State kids and all that stuff,” Royals coach Joe Wynn said with his soaked apparel from an ice bath after the game.
“But we didn’t really dwell on any of that, we just wanted to go win a regional championship. People want to talk about all the basketball regional championships, football is pretty doggone good here too.”
When Mason County found themselves down 14-7 at half thanks to a penalty-aiding drive that got Greenup a first down on a fourth and four in their own territory, the Royals didn’t flinch.
They came out and forced a three-and-out in the first possession of the second half and then put up 20 points in a 267-second span.
Just like that it was 27-14.
Then Terrell Henry made his mark, using words on a Eastern Kentucky Athletics show during the week that stated the Royals “T-shirt” season was coming to an end Friday night in a prediction.
“I took that personally,” Henry said. “Saying we had a t-shirt season. Now we can put them on our t-shirts twice.”
Henry picked off two passes, the first one leading to a Caden Clark-Roberts touchdown run to make it 27-14 Mason County in the closing moments of the third.
But that wasn’t all. While the interceptions were vital, the second one virtually sealing the game, it was a hit by Henry in the fourth that kept the Royals undefeated season and state championship hopes intact.
Facing a fourth and one at the Royals 10, Greenup had mounted a 14-play, 71-yard drive spanning over seven minutes. Down 13 and needing two scores, it was now or never for the Musketeers.
But Henry hit the edge and as ball carrier Braxton Noble stumbled and caught his feet, Pow!, there was Henry laying the wood and sending Noble backwards and to the ground, short of the first down marker.
“I’ll take that over any interception this season. That’s my play of the year so far,” Henry said.
After a Royals three and out and a punt out of their own end zone to their own 20, it was Henry again making a play, this time an interception in the end zone to seal the deal, his fourth interception in two games against Greenup.
Mason County is off to their first state semifinal since 2003.
“These guys play hard. Brady (Sanders) toughed it out all game. O-line got after it. KG, Isaac and it’s nice to see all that accumulate there in the second half. We told the guys we average 34 points a game and most of the time we do that in a half. There was no reason for us not to come out there and just go,” Wynn said.
After 24 minutes of play, it didn’t look to be the case however.
The Musketeers took advantage of some timely penalties and some missed tackles to build a 14-7 edge at the break, Tyson Sammons touchdown runs of 33 and nine yards giving the Musketeers the edge.
KG Walton hauled in a 14-yard touchdown grab from Keshaun Thomas to knot things at seven, Sammons second score coming with just 31 seconds left before halftime.
Thomas knew their play in the first half left a lot to be desired.
“We weren’t playing our ball and it showed. It was 14-7 at half when realistically I thought we should have been up two scores,” Thomas said. “So we went in there, talked as a team and I think it was mutual, everybody knew what we had to go do, it was just a matter of going out and executing it.”
Message received.
The Royals outscoring Greenup 20-0 in the third and riding their defense the rest of the way. The Royals outgained the Musketeers 187-75 in the second half, 142-23 in the third.
“We had the field flipped a little bit, and we weren’t able to get them in down-and-distances to get some of the pressure that we did (earlier). They got the ball out of their hands a little bit quicker, put the ball up in the air, and we busted a coverage over in the far end zone, but other than that, we were in position to make plays on the ball; we just failed to do so,” Musketeers coach Zack Moore said, who’s season comes to a close at 8-5 after failing to secure a win in gameplay last season.
After a 1-for-6 start with just two yards, Thomas erupted in the third, hitting on five straight passing attempts for 130 yards and two scores, the first a 24-yard strike to Isaac Marshall to tie things up at 14 with 5:30 left in the third, the other a 47-yard pass to KG Walton to make it 21-14 with 2:21 to play in the third.
Caden Clark-Roberts run gave the Royals the two possession lead with 1:08 remaining in the third on a 26-yard rumble.
Brady Sanders finished with 110 yards rushing on 12 carries, the Royals tallying 205 yards on the ground.
They’ll now head to Bardstown to take on the Tigers in the state semifinals. In a year where they are the first 13-0 team in program history, the Royals can make more history next week with a win and a first-ever state championship appearance at Kroger Field in Lexington the following week.
ROYALS 27, MUSKETEERS 14
GREENUP COUNTY — 0-14-0-0 — 14
MASON COUNTY — 0-7-20-0 — 27
Scoring Plays
2nd Quarter
(GC) Sammons 33-yard run (9:04) Wireman kick
(MC) Thomas 14-yard pass to Walton (3:24) Moreland kick
(GC) Sammons 9-yard run (:31) Wireman kick
3rd Quarter
(MC) Thomas 24-yard pass to Marshall (5:35) Moreland kick
(MC) Thomas 47-yard pass to Walton (2:21) Moreland kick
(MC) Caden Clark-Roberts 26-yard run (1:08) Kick blocked
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Greenup 95 (Sammons 11/16), Mason 134 (Thomas 6/12)
Rushing Yards: Greenup 138 (Wireman 18-108, Henderson 11-29, Noble 2-1), Mason 205 (Sanders 12-110, Chad Clark-Roberts 7-54, Caden Clark-Roberts 3-27, Thomas 12-10, Walton 3-4)
Receiving: Greenup (Wireman 5-53, Howard 3-20, Hunt 2-20, Henderson 1-2), Mason (Walton 3-77, Marshall 3-57)
Turnovers: Greenup 2, Mason 0
Penalties: Greenup 5-60, Mason 6-40
Records: Greenup County 8-5, Mason County 13-0
