Tag: male football

What to know about Sunday’s Male-Trinity clash in the Kentucky Class 6A football final

Louisville Male and Trinity are set to face off in the Kentucky Class 6A football championship. Here’s what you need to know.

Only two high school football teams from Louisville qualified for this weekend’s state championships, but they will meet in what could be the best game of the weekend.

Male (14-0) and Trinity (12-2) will clash at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the Class 6A championship game at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field in Lexington.

Here’s what to know about the game:

What to expect from the matchup

Male has won three straight meetings in the series, including a 20-17 double-overtime victory on Sept. 20.

This is the first time the teams will meet in a state final since 2010, when the Shamrocks routed the Bulldogs 38-0 in the 6A championship game. That came in Chris Wolfe’s first season as Male’s coach.

Since 2013, Wolfe and his Bulldogs have controlled the series against Trinity, going 8-3. Wolfe is one of just two coaches to win three straight meetings against Trinity coach Bob Beatty, doing so twice from 2013-14 and 2018-19. Cincinnati Moeller’s John Rodenberg accomplished the feat from 2012-14. Beatty never has lost four straight meetings to a school during his 20-year tenure at Trinity.

More coverage: Schedule for this weekend’s state football finals 

Sunday’s final will match the past five state champions in Class 6A, with the Shamrocks winning titles in 2014, 2016 and 2017 and the Bulldogs winning in 2015 and 2018.

Read the rest of the story at the Courier Journal.

Male rolls over St. Xavier in third round Kentucky playoff game

“We are going to enjoy it, and we did play well,” Bulldogs coach Chris Wolfe said about his team’s win.

The Male High School football team can dominate opponents in so many ways, and the Bulldogs were at their complete best in a 33-7 victory over visiting St. Xavier on Friday night.

There was a rushing attack led by senior Jaylin Bross, who carried 31 times for 247 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior Elijah Parish led the passing attack with two touchdown passes and 85 yards.

The defense was stout with interceptions from Ray Hall, Romel Sheffield and Judah Ford.

Even special teams got involved, as Briceson Rodgers returned an onside kick 53 yards for a touchdown.

It all added up to another convincing victory for a Male squad that improved to 13-0 and ran its state-best winning streak to 19. The Bulldogs will host Tates Creek in a Class 6A state semifinal next week.

“We are going to enjoy it, and we did play well,” Bulldogs coach Chris Wolfe said. “The penalties were very frustrating for me. Other than that, the guys did everything I asked them to do as far as preparation this week.”

Already up 7-0, Male took control after blocking a 40-yard field-goal try by St. X’s Jeffrey Sexton with 1:01 left in the first half. The Bulldogs quickly marched down the field and got a 20-yard touchdown pass from Elijah Parish to Vinny Anthony with 2 seconds left in the half, making it 13-0.

Read the Louisville Courier for more.

Vinny Anthony, still just a sophomore, emerges as essential piece for Male in win over Fern Creek

Male has two senior wideouts with Division I offers, but it was sophomore WR Vinny Anthony who stepped up for the team in its win over Male.

Everybody knows Male’s big-name and big-bodied receivers. There’s 6-foot-3 Kentucky commit Izayah Cummings, the highest-ranked senior recruit in the Louisville area, and 6-foot-4 Briceson Rodgers, who has multiple Division-I offers.

However, it was 6-foot sophomore Vinny Anthony who stole the show on Friday night, leading the No. 1 Bulldogs to a 27-8 playoff win over Fern Creek to advance to the 6A quarterfinals.

Male senior Quantrell Wright couldn’t pick just one descriptor for Anthony, so he heaped them all together in what became a collage of compliments.

“He’s MVP, all-star. Everybody always sleeps on Vinny, but they don’t know. He’s the truth. And he showed it tonight. He’s the truth!” Wright said. “He’s a beast.”

Anthony made a house call on the opening kickoff, weaving through the Fern Creek defense for what looked like an 80-yard return, but a penalty brought it back. He notched his first reception on the game’s first play from scrimmage, and Male’s first third down conversion came on a 25-yard pass to Anthony.

He got even busier in the second quarter. First it was a 19-yard grab, then a 28-yard catch on 4th-and-5 to set up a touchdown. By the game’s final horn, he had eight catches for 163 yards.

“He had what three touchdowns? Two touchdowns?” Wright asked.

Two. But it felt like more. On each drive, Anthony was integral to the offense. He accounted for almost half of the team’s 331 yards from scrimmage.

“Vinny had a big game. He’s a guy that’s been a little bit under the radar, but we needed him tonight,” Male coach Chris Wolfe said. “Things kind of went his way. Izayah draws a lot of coverage, a lot of traffic, and Izayah does such a great job for us blocking, and it helps our run game, so if we get somebody else out there that can win some one-on-ones, it really helps our offense.”

Read the Louisville Courier for more.