UNION – The Ryle football team hung its hats on defense all season, allowing less than 12 points per game heading into its KHSAA Class 6A regional quarterfinal.
The defense held its own against an explosive Trinity offense, but a nightmare game by the offense doomed the Raiders to a 38-18 defeat Friday night at Ryle.
Ryle finished 9-4 in advancing to at least the third round of the playoffs for the fourth time in team history (2006, 2010, 2016). Three of the four playoff eliminations in those years came at the hands of Trinity.
The Ryle offense committed five turnovers, failed on fourth down four times, and suffered six sacks. Most of those plays came as Trinity built a 31-3 lead in the third quarter.
“We started off slow,” said Ryle head coach Mike Engler. “Trinity’s a good football team. They’re two-time defending state champs for a reason. We made some mistakes early and we were already down before we had a chance to get into it.”
