Spartans’ road to championship paved with traditional values
By John Herndon
LEXINGTON – It didn’t take long to find out something was refreshingly different about Sayre football.
I had written about the Spartans for some other writing gigs I accept each year, but since those had been summer previews, I’d gotten information through email or through springtime interviews. But it was not until Sayre hosted Paris last Friday in the second round of the Class A playoffs that I had been privileged to see why the small private school in Lexington has been turning heads for the last few seasons.
Sayre dominated the final 17 minutes turning a tie game into a 41-20 win and advancing to the state quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
But it was less than a minute into the contest that I knew something was just extra-special about Sayre football.
The huddle.
Yes, I had heard a lot about Sayre’s ability to put lots of points on the scoreboard. I knew the Spartans had been averaging better than 47 points a game coming in. And I knew about receiver Brock Coffman, one of Kentucky’s top talents. And anyone who follows high school football had to know about quarterback Luke Pennington’s incredible passing stats – over 4,500 yards and 92 touchdowns over the last two years. But the real eye-popper was ZERO interceptions in that time.
Pennington would show he is human, surrendering two picks to Paris, but more on that later.
I’d also known about that stifling defense that had been giving up 3.5 points a game and knew about linebacker Charlie Slabaugh, who would demonstrate why he’s one of those vastly underrated players who has little flash but tons of fight that fits right into that old school huddle.
Two lines of five players each. And just like Len Dawson and the Kansas City Chiefs more than 50 years ago, Pennington stood in front of them calling the play.
It was fitting. Sayre is a new kid among the best in Kentucky’s Class A, but the approach is nothing new. Even though the Spartans are known for that explosive air attack, the Spartan foundation of success is built on fundamental football, hard work and a winning attitude.
Founded in 1854, Sayre School has always been known for stringent academics. Over time, Sayre also has had some athletic success in soccer and tennis. The boys’ basketball program has had some outstanding teams over the years but has never advanced past the tournament semifinals in the rugged 11th Region.
Football was another story. The school fielded some teams over the years, but dropped the sport in 1977. The school decided to revive the program in 2018, but had no stadium, no lights, no scoreboard. It didn’t even have goalposts.
Enter Chad Pennington. After an 11-year NFL career in which he threw for 102 touchdowns and almost 18,000 yards for the Jets and Dolphins, the Marshall University alum had settled in the Lexington area.
He accepted the challenge of building the Sayre program from scratch. “I am in a unique position. Not only am I a coach, I am also a parent,” Pennington said this summer, explaining that his family chose Sayre for its stringent academic programs.
That first playoff win came last season as the Spartans made it to the state quarterfinals, losing to Raceland, the eventual Class A state runner-up. Sayre finished at 12-1.
The program with no stadium began with 24 players. After two seasons of junior varsity football, Sayre began playing a championship schedule in 2020, going 8-1 but bowing out in the playoff opener.
This year with more than 50 players on the roster – a large number for a Class A school with just 270 students, Sayre had hardly been tested. The Spartans had recorded six shutouts and only one team, Bracken County which Sayre defeated 26-14 in the second week of the season, had scored more than once against the Spartans.
That didn’t matter to Paris, a tradition-rich program with three state championships in its history. The Greyhounds had every intention of sending Sayre home early. Paris trailed 20-6 at the half but had not been able to score after intercepting Pennington on a tipped pass late in the first half.
After Paris’ Elijah Webb hauled in a 35-yard scoring pass to make it 20-12 with 9:38 to to in the third quarter, what could have been a disastrous turn of events began to unfold just over a minute later. Webb swiped another pass and then on a daring fourth-down call, Paris quarterback Julius Gregory lateraled to Shayne Bowling, who found a wide-open Fred Carson for a 40-yard score.
The Greyhounds tied things at 20 on Alex Koeder’s conversion run with 5:31 left in the third.
“I put (Luke) in a bad situation at the end of the half,” Coach Pennington said. “He made a bad decision in the third quarter. Things like that happen.”
What didn’t happen was Sayre buckling when being threatened for the first time all year.
The Spartans left no doubt of their excellence over the final 17 minutes as they scored on their next three possessions. Luke Pennington, who completed 18-of-22 passes for 245 yards, found Coffman twice and Slabaugh once for scores. Pennington had thrown two touchdown passes – one to Coffman and one to Jackson Stuart – in the first half while running for another score.
Coffman finished with 11 catches for 176 yards while Slabaugh powered his way to 83 yards rushing. He was also credited with a team-high13 tackles.
Those stats, impressive as they are, reflect the bedrock of the Sayre program. “The way we approach the game first of all is to develop the young man,” Coach Pennington said this summer. “What are those things that make the student-athlete successful post high school? those are our core values – the work ethic. the character, the accountability.”
It was a preview of Pennington’s post-game talk with his team. He told his team he was proud of how they answered the challenge and did not fold.
“Tonight, we had to display our core values,” Coach Pennington said. “We had to have great character and make better decisions. We had to have resilience and their resilience was on the line tonight.”
Pennington also noted to his team that the task gets tougher each week in the playoffs. While Sayre is ranked No. 2, behind Kentucky Country Day, in the Class A RPI, the Spartans face a monumental task this week as they host three-time defending state champion Pikeville. Another traditional power, Pikeville has earned eight state championship trophies over a span of nearly 40 years.
For Sayre, it will be the classic test of the new guy trying to knock off the old champ.
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