‘It’s just a sense of relief.’ CAL’s return to the state finals ends with its biggest win.

Until the floodgates opened late, Christian Academy of Louisville was able to lean on a dominant defense on its way to the most decisive victory in its championship history.

CAL defeated Bardstown, 38-0, to earn a win in the Class 3A UK HealthCare Sports Medicine State Football Finals at Kroger Field in Lexington on Saturday.

The second-best scoring defense in the state pitched its sixth shutout of the season, but first since October. Only Frederick Douglass, which met Bowling Green in the Class 5A finals later Saturday, allowed fewer points in 2022 than the Centurions, who finished with 109 given up in 15 games — an average of 7.2 points per game.

CAL’s shutout was the first in the Class 3A finals since 2015, when Belfry defeated Lexington Catholic, 43-0, in Bowling Green. The goose egg appeared to be in jeopardy early in the third quarter as Bardstown, trailing 14-0 at the break, found room to run after receiving the second-half kickoff. The Tigers had as many rushing yards on that drive as they did in the first half (39), but it ended with a fumble recovered by CAL at its own 26. On the ensuing Centurions play, running back Gavin Copenhaver rushed 74 yards.

If that wasn’t the knockout blow, Copenhaver’s 73-yard scoring trot immediately after a fourth-down stop later in the quarter was.

“They put together two nice drives and our defense held fast,” said CAL head coach Hunter Cantwell. “That’s a product of an upperclassman group, a senior-laden team, to not get flustered and to not get frustrated when the opponent puts together drives like that.

“We were able to get those stops, and the offense had just been waiting and waiting through those first two quarters to explode.”

The Centurions (15-0) built their halftime lead through the air. Quarterback Cole Hodge, a junior who’s been offered by Central Michigan and Eastern Kentucky, dealt touchdown passes to Trey Cotton (23 yards) and Malachi Embers (13 yards) in the first and second quarters, respectively. He threw a third, covering 32 yards, to his brother Connor just six seconds into the final period.

A 34-yard field goal by Jack Barrickman put a running clock into effect with 3:40 remaining.

CAL improved to 3-0 in the state finals and finished unbeaten for the second time. The Centurions’ first two titles were earned in 2016 and 2018 as Class 2A members. They were considered a favorite to win the Class 3A title last season but were upset in the third round by a Paducah Tilghman team that, coming into that contest, was 6-6.

Cantwell took over the program in 2019 after former head coach Stefan LeFors left for a job in Louisiana. CAL finished 7-5 that season and 7-3 after a loss to state runner-up Elizabethtown in 2020. He admitted to having uncertainty about the program’s ability to again reach its still-recent heights.

His first class of seniors kept the faith. In addition to a championship ring, one of them — Copenhaver — left with an MVP trophy to show for that commitment. He finished with 225 yards on 15 carries and also led the Centurions with 11 tackles.

“We’ve been working for this since January, and us seniors, we’ve been working for it for four years,” Copenhaver said. “ … It’s just a sense of relief.”

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‘Our will won out.’ Beechwood scores third straight down-to-the-wire title in Class 2A.

‘We’ll be back.’ Resilient Mayfield dreamed of better but it has been through worse.

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