In the first week of high-stakes interstate high school football matchups, it was unconverted extra points that ended up sending
Ensworth (Nashville, Tenn.) to a 27-26 victory over
Trinity (Louisville, Ky.) on Friday night.
Ensworth head coach Ricky Bowers ledhis team to a tight road victory.
Photo by Randy Sartin
The Shamrocks couldn't convert on point after tries on both of their second-half touchdowns, and Ensworth (
No. 10 in the MaxPreps Computer Rankings) converted its three tries. That was good enough to send the Tennessee squad back home with a 22-game winning streak and enough to saddle the Kentucky squad with its first home loss since September of 2010.
See the Qwixcore game log
D'Andre Ferby (6-foot-2, 220 pounds) tallied the game-winning touchdown with about a minute left in the contest, and collected 194 yards and three touchdowns. A 2-point conversion try was unsuccessful, giving Trinity one final shot. But the Ensworth defense held at the 48-yard line to gain possession and end the game.
"The thing about him was, he’s got a bad foot,"
Ensworth coach Ricky Bowers told the Tennessean about Ferby. "He was hurt, but he decided he was going to go anyway. He hasn’t had to do that before, but he’s a senior."
Ferby was the star on the field. But he was outstarred in the crowd, as
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill attended the game as well.
Donald Brooks was the touchdown machine for Trinity, scoring three touchdowns to go with 86 yards on the ground. A 59-yard scoring pass from Louisville recruit
Reggie Bonnafon to
Christopher Ott made it 26-14 early in the fourth but Ensworth battled back with a
PJ Settles scoring pass to
Kiambu Fentress that covered 32 yards and made it 26-21 with 7:10 left.
Ott caught eight passes for 166 yards and Bonnafon went 16-for-24 with 216 yards.
"You find out so much about your team when you play an opponent like this,”
Trinity coach Bob Beatty told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “We’re not young anymore. We grew up tonight. The mistakes that we made were all over the place, and most of those mistakes were from our older kids.”
