‘These guys stepped up.’ Pikeville started season slow but finished fast to win Class A.

A week of build-up for a battle between Eastern Kentucky mainstays was muted just 22 seconds after kickoff Friday afternoon.

On Pikeville’s first play from scrimmage, senior Blake Birchfield scurried 85 yards for a touchdown. It turned out to be a tone-setter for a 41-9 Panthers victory in the KHSAA Class A UK HealthCare Sports Medicine State Football Finals at Kroger Field.

“We just threw a wildcat look at ’em to get that one extra blocker out there and see how they lined up to it,” Birchfield said. “We ended up getting a sliver and I took it all the way.”

Birchfield finished with 231 yards and three touchdowns to walk away with MVP honors for the second straight season. Pikeville won its third state title in the last four years and its seventh overall. It was the fourth overseen by head coach Chris McNamee.

Pikeville missed the PAT following Birchfield’s first scoring run and Raceland shaved its rival’s lead in half with a field-goal response. After blocking a Pikeville punt and starting from the Panthers’ 31, the Rams opted for a fourth-down attempt instead of another field-goal try. Seconds later, they faced a double-digit deficit after Deonte Stevens returned a fumble 74 yards for Pikeville.

Another failed fourth-down bid by Raceland gave Pikeville the ball back with 5:20 left in the first half. A 14-play, 79-yard drive was capped by a 33-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Duty to Wade Hensley as time expired to give the Panthers a 21-3 lead going into the locker room.

“The offensive line gave (Isaac) a little time, he threw it up there and Wade went up and made a great catch,” McNamee said.

Raceland’s only touchdown, a quick answer to another Pikeville score, came in the third quarter. The Rams (13-2) managed 270 yards of offense against a defense that had surrendered just 463 in its four other playoff games, but their gains couldn’t outpace errors and the Panthers’ size advantage in the trenches.

It was Raceland’s second appearance in a state finals; the Rams fell, 41-0, to Beechwood in 2017.

“We had more fight about us today,” said Raceland Coach Michael Salmons, who guided the Rams to their only other championship game. “Our guys really believed in who we are and what we do. I think the last time, we were a little more awestruck. …

“I thought we responded well from the opening kickoff. We just made some marginal mistakes throughout that are magnified in a game of this level.”

Pikeville lost its first two games of the season by single digits — to Class 3A finalist Corbin, 24-19, and Covington Catholic, a Class 5A stalwart, 27-19. The Panthers ended their season on a 12-game win streak against a schedule that also included games against Class 2A semifinalist Lexington Christian Academy (60-21) and Class 6A contender Madison Central (50-14).

“Being a Class A team, I was a little worried about our schedule this year, to be honest,” McNamee said. “We have to worry about numbers to play some of the teams we played. But these guys stepped up after that second game and did a great job.

“A lot of people say if we went back (and played again), that’d be different. I don’t want it to be any different. We learned so much from those first two weeks. That’s what carried us throughout the season.”

Notes

▪ Pikeville is now tied with Bowling Green for ninth-most titles in state history, regardless of class. The Purples play Frederick Douglass in the Class 5A finals on Saturday night. The Panthers’ seven titles are the second most by any Eastern Kentucky school; Belfry, also located in Pike County, has eight all-time.

▪ Raceland junior Parker Fannin suffered an arm injury at the end of the first half while trying to prevent the Pikeville touchdown reception. Fannin lay on the field for a few minutes and a stretcher was prepared to remove him, but he was able to get up and walk off under his own power.

“He went up for the ball and it looked like his left hand kind of got caught behind and his elbow became dislocated right there in front of me,” Salmons said. “There was a doctor there doing a couple things and the elbow went right back in.”

Salmons said Fannin was taken to a local hospital to receive X-rays but that his prognosis was good.

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