Beechwood overpowers Owensboro Catholic for 18th state football championship

A critical fourth-down stop in the third quarter and four touchdown runs by Chase Flaherty helped Beechwood pull away to a 50-34 victory over Owensboro Catholic on Friday to claim the school’s 18th state championship in the Class 2A UK Healthcare Sports Medicine State Football Finals at Kroger Field.

“We’re fired up. We’re excited. We just won a state championship,” Beechwood coach Jay Volker said after the Tigers grabbed the first state title under his two-year stewardship of the program. “We pride ourselves a little bit in playing football and … we’ve got a lot of guys that are dedicated and they went out and showed it tonight.”

Flaherty punched in three short-yardage touchdowns in the first half to help the Tigers take a 21-7 lead at the break and added another short TD run midway through the fourth quarter to help Beechwood go up 42-21. He did all that despite not running or practicing all week due to an ankle sprain suffered against Lexington Christian last week.

“The first time I was running was out here in warm-ups,” said Flaherty, who rushed for 74 yards and earned most valuable player honors. “I was just going out there giving it my all. This is my last game ever, so I might as well give it my best and go win a state championship.”

Down two scores in the third quarter after Nathan Pabst broke a 33-yard TD run for the Tigers, Owensboro Catholic gambled in their own territory and failed to convert a fourth-and-4. Two plays later Tyler Fryman shook loose for a 36-yard TD run to put Beechwood up 35-14 with 2:16 to play in the third quarter.

The teams exchanged touchdowns on the rest of their possessions, but Owensboro Catholic (14-1) could not close the gap. It was the Aces’ second straight runner-up finish at Kroger Field.

Beechwood linebacker Jack Meier’s 50-yard TD return of an onside kick with 2:33 to play in the game put the Tigers up 50-28 and snuffed Owensboro Catholic’s faint comeback hopes.

“I didn’t expect to come untouched after grabbing it,” Meier said. “I thought I was gonna get clobbered.”

Beechwood (14-1) dominated the time of possession by nearly 11 minutes over the Aces and converted 10 of 14 third downs and its only fourth down.

Aces senior quarterback Brady Atwell threw for 366 yards and two touchdowns and added 36 yards rushing with two more scores, including one at the final horn. Dereon Crowe had a short touchdown run and one of the TD catches from Atwell. Waryn Elbehar had the other.

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