Aaron Pfaadt leads DeSales football to win over St. Xavier in season opener

Jason Frakes | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption DeSales Head Coach Harold Davis talks about his team’s victory over St. X DeSales Head Coach Harold Davis talks about his team’s victory over St. X in the season opener.

Aaron Pfaadt’s 1-yard touchdown run with 4:00 remaining lifted the DeSales High School football team to a 19-16 victory over visiting St. Xavier on Friday in the season opener for both teams.

Pfaadt finished with a pair of 1-yard TD runs as the Colts won the first meeting between the schools since 1998. St. X had won the teams' previous 14 meetings dating back to DeSales’ last victory: 10-7 in 1986.

“St. X is a tough team, so I think we’re looking pretty good going forward,” Pfaadt said.

It was the St. X coaching debut for Kevin Wallace, who was trying to become the 11th coach in Kentucky history to reach 300 career victories.

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Play of the game

Pfaadt’s 34 touchdown pass to Antione Johnson on the final play of the first half, giving the Colts a 13-3 lead.

Pfaadt’s 1-yard touchdown run gave the Colts a 7-3 lead with 22 seconds left in the first half, and DeSales’ Darren Hollenkamp intercepted St. X’s Douglas Bodhaine with 10 seconds left.

On the final play of the half, Pfaadt scrambled to his left, stopped and threw across the field to his right, where Johnson made the catch and got just across the goal line for the score.

“The safety rolled with me, and I saw Antione get open,” Pfaadt said. “I threw it up there and let him go get it.”

Questionable play call

St. X coach Kevin Wallace lamented the play call that resulted in the Bodhaine interception just before halftime.

“I’ll have a hard time getting over the call I made at the end of the first half,” Wallace said. “I should not have thrown the ball there. I should not have asked him to do something there, given the time frame of the half. I’ll carry that one with me for a while.”

Colts defensive line shines

St. Xavier has made its money over the years with an offensive line that has its way with opposing defenses, but that was not the case Friday night.

Colts coach Harold Davis praised the play of a defensive line led by junior end Demetri Scott (6 feet 3, 260 pounds). St. X managed just 74 rushing yards on 22 attempts.

“We’re pretty strong and pretty big up front,” Davis said. “And our two inside linebackers are very good and hit the weight room hard this off-season. Yes, their size, I was very concerned with it. But I have a lot of confidence in our line and our linebackers.”

Memorable drive

After St. X took a 16-13 lead on Bodhaine’s 74-yard touchdown pass to Andre Coleman with 10:04 remaining, DeSales put together a drive that will be remembered for a long time.

The Colts marched 86 yards on 13 plays, capped by Pfaadt’s game-winning score. Eleven of the plays were runs, with James Johnson’s 12-yard carry the longest.

“The defense had been saving our butts the first half, so we knew we had have our defense’s backs in the second half,” Pfaadt said.

Quotable

DeSales athletic director Don Bowers estimated the crowd at a stadium-record 5,200 and had a tough time explaining what the victory meant to his school’s community.

“To have the community out here and these boys fighting for that community was amazing,” Bowers said. “We’re a school of 340 kids going up against a school of (1,341). It warms my heart. I was standing on the sideline as the clock was counting down, and I wanted to cry because I was so excited for these boys.”

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jasonf.