For No. 1 Male, third straight loss in championship game was a shocking end

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Athletic director John Kelsey slowly walked the silver runner-up trophy back to the locker room. Players lingered around Kroger Field, hugging for one final time in a Male High School football uniform. Cheerleaders and fans wiped away tears.

Male lost in the Class 6A state championship game for the third straight year Saturday night, but this one felt different. This Bulldogs squad – full of so much talent on both sides of the ball – seemed destined since July to take home the gold trophy.

St. Xavier 31, Male 21, final.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way – not for this team.

KHSAA Class 6A football final: St. X gets first state title since 2009

“We needed to be better with not turning the ball over,” said Bulldogs coach Chris Wolfe, whose team committed three turnovers. “We had been all year, and in this game we had some unfortunate errors in that area.”

Male – loser to Trinity in the past two Class 6A finals – entered the season ranked No. 1 in Class 6A and strengthened that hold throughout summer and fall. The Bulldogs were 13-0 entering the championship game, had outscored its opponents by a combined 548-100 and had recorded five shutouts.

There were stars on both sides of the ball. Offensively, quarterback Nic Schutte (Western Kentucky baseball commit) and wide receiver Vinny Anthony (Wisconsin football commit) gave the Bulldogs a pair of high-level athletes, joining emerging junior running back Daniel Swinney. Defensively, end Selah Brown (University of Louisville commit) and linebacker Elijah Manning (Air Force commit) anchored a stingy unit.

But after leading 13-10 at halftime Saturday, Male was outscored 24-8 in the second half.

Wolfe credited his defense for allowing just 64 rushing yards but admitted surprise by the throwing performance of Tigers quarterback Jack Sivori, who completed 22 of 36 passes for 306 yards and three touchdowns. Mekhi Smith had 10 catches for 128 yards and two scores.

Sivori also carried 26 times for 64 yards and a score.

“Their quarterback did a really good job of finding some matchups and hurting us with his arm,” Wolfe said. “I think that’s what it came down to. … Our plan was to stop Sivori from rushing, and I didn’t see any huge runs. Making him beat us with his arm, I think we had to do that.”

Schutte completed 11 of 19 passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns and was intercepted twice. Swinney carried 24 times for 121 yards.

St. X coach Kevin Wallace said his defense had gained confidence after a 28-21 loss to Male during the regular season. The Bulldogs didn’t score in the second half of that game.

KHSAA football finals: South Warren tops Frederick Douglass for Class 5A final

“We didn’t stop them; nobody’s going to stop them,” Wallace said after Saturday’s victory. “That’s the best offense in the state of Kentucky. But we made enough stops … and we turned them over a little bit, which nobody had really been able to do.”

The loss capped an emotional week for the Bulldogs on and off the field.

On Tuesday, Schutte’s father, Brian, died at the age of 49. Brian Schutte was a former high school football coach in the Louisville area and worked on Male’s film crew the past few seasons.

Wolfe was asked if the emotions of the week might have caught up to his team.

“It was tough,” Wolfe said. “Brian was part of our operations staff. I told the guys that this was the 54th game with these (seniors) and I had given Brian the iPad before the game 53 times, including last week.”

For Brown, Anthony, Schutte and the rest of Male’s seniors it was the end of a tremendous run that included four straight trips to the state final. The Bulldogs beat Scott County 37-20 in the 2018 championship game before dropping the last three.

“All and all, I’m super proud of my teammates and the rest of the guys in this 2022 class,” Brown said. “I knew the job wasn’t finished, and there’s really nothing to celebrate until you win this championship. We just fell short tonight. It’s a tough loss for us, our coaches and our community at Male.”

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs.

ST. XAVIER 0 7 10 14 - 31

MALE 6 7 0 8 -21

First quarter

M – Vinny Anthony 88 pass from Nic Schutte (kick failed)

Second quarter

X – Jack Sivori 2 run (Nolan Wolford kick)

M – Dominic Vrbancic 19 pass from Schutte (Lance Gossett kick)

Third quarter

X – Wolford 26 FG

X – Michael Duddy 26 pass from Sivori (Wolford kick)

Fourth quarter

X – Mekhi Smith 6 pass from Sivori (Wolford kick)

M – Anthony 41 pass from Schutte (Antojuan Weathers pass from Schutte)

X – Smith 45 pass from Sivori (Wolford kick)

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: For No. 1 Male, third straight loss in title game was a shocking end