ERLANGER, Ky. – During the postgame huddle, Lloyd Memorial senior running back Kaiden Zulager gave a speech to his teammates and presented a game ball to his head coach, Kyle Niederman.
Niederman and Zulager are two of the chief architects for a Lloyd program that achieved something none of the players had seen in their lifetimes.
Lloyd defeated Breathitt County 41-32 Friday night at Lloyd’s Cecil Dees Field. The Juggernauts, now 10-3, advanced to the Class 2A state semifinals for the first time since 2003. They will play at Beechwood next week. Breathitt County finished 9-3.
“This feels amazing,” Zulager said. “Something we haven’t done in 19 years. This is a crazy feeling.”
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Zulager went on to echo what he said in the postgame huddle in giving the ball to his coach.
“Coming into my freshman year, we had a whole new coaching staff,” Zulager said. “He just believed in me every day. He just comes out there and works every day for us, and I appreciate everything he does for us.”
Zulager scored five of Lloyd’s six touchdowns. He rushed for 113 yards, and scored on a TD pass and a kickoff return by making acrobatic plays in both instances.
“Great player,” Niederman said. “He gets it done. He practices hard every day. Great team player. Not selfish. Blocks when he needs to. I can’t say enough about him, or all of them.”
Said Zulager: “It’s not me doing this. It’s the o-line. They come out every day and put the work in. They block every single second, they use their whole strength. They allow me to score touchdowns and do what I do.”
Zulager’s final touchdown of the game and Lloyd’s biggest one in 19 years was on a play not called for him.
With four minutes to go in the game, Lloyd led by two points (34-32) and had fourth-and-long from the Breathitt County 28.
Elijah Collins got the ball on a reverse and launched a pass to the goal line for Zulager. He caught it and held on as he fell in the endzone. Elijah Westwood made the extra point to give Lloyd a two-score lead at 41-32.
“The crazy thing is that play was not designed for me,” Zulager said. “It was designed for our quarterback. I just happened to get open and my guys trusted me to make a play for them.”
Said Niederman: “We’ve been working on that play for weeks. We do it every Thursday and pulled it out of the hat tonight. Collins made a great pass and Zu made a great catch.”
Lloyd didn’t run an offensive play until there were less than two minutes left in the first quarter.
Breathitt took the opening kickoff and scored on a four-minute drive, but missed the extra point.
Zulager took the ensuing kickoff. He appeared to be brought down at midfield but instead appeared to roll over the back of his tackler without his knee touching the ground. Zulager popped up right away and sprinted the rest of the way for a score as several Breathitt players stopped, assuming he was down.
Quarterback Isaiah Sebastian ran in for two points, giving Lloyd an 8-6 lead. Those two points would prove to be crucial the rest of the way.
Breathitt scored on its next drive and led 12-8 late in the first quarter. The Bobcats went for two and the Juggernauts defended the pass, leaving Breathitt up four at 12-8.
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Lloyd got the ball at the Breathitt 36 after pinning the Bobcats deep in their own territory and forcing a short punt. Zulager’s second TD of the game and Elijah Westwood’s extra point put Lloyd up 15-12 with 3:57 left till halftime.
Lloyd got the ball back at the Breathitt 33 a moment later after recovering a fumble. Sebastian ran for 18 yards and after a penalty, Zulager scored from 15 yards out. Westwood’s PAT gave Lloyd a 10-point lead at 22-12.
Kory Combs scored for Breathitt with 28 seconds left, one of his four touchdowns on the night. The running back had 140 yards on the night, 87 in the first half as Breathitt outgained 177-66 in the first half.
The Bobcats hurt themselves with seven penalties in the half and two turnovers.
“Zu’s a great running back,” said Lloyd senior lineman Joe Cooley. “We all believe in each other. That’s what it comes down to, believing in each other. We knew we had to dig deep. It’s playoff football. It was a battle. Give credit to Breathitt. They’re a great team, but we did what we were supposed to do.”
With seven minutes left in the third quarter, Breathitt had a fourth-and-5 from midfield. The Bobcats tried a fake punt, snapping the ball to an upback, but Lloyd stopped him a yard short of the first down at the Lloyd 46.
The Juggernauts took advantage, with Zulager scoring his fourth touchdown of the night, and it was 28-19.
A minute into the fourth quarter, Combs scored his third TD of the game. Breathitt went for two and the Juggernauts stuffed Combs well short of the goal line, and Lloyd led by three at 28-25.
Lloyd regained a two-score advantage two minutes later, when on third-and-one, Sebastian faked a handoff to Zulager, who plunged up the middle as Sebastian sprinted around the right side, cut back left, and outran everyone to the endzone.
Breathitt sored three minutes later on Combs’ third TD, made the PAT and trailed 34-32 with six minutes to play.
Breathitt then tried a surprise onside kick, which the Juggernauts did well to scramble and recover.
Zulager rushed for 34 yards to the Breathitt 9, but after a penalty and a sack against them, the Juggernauts were forced into the decisive fourth-down TD by Collins.
“We just stayed together,” Niederman said. “We really didn’t change a whole lot. Offensively we played pretty well and we did enough on defense to stop them when we needed to. It was a team effort. We knew they were good. They got a great football team. We got some stops when we needed to and our offense was on a roll tonight.”
Sebastian rushed for over 100 yards in the game, and the Juggernauts were able to answer the Bobcats offense, who gained 377 yards overall.
“It means a lot,” Niederman said. “I got a lot of the old guys here. I wish everybody had got to experience this. It’s great. I’m so happy for them that they get to experience such a good ride,
It was all about history.
“It means everything,” Cooley said. “The community has had our backs the whole way. It’s an amazing feeling. We’ve come a long way.
Lloyd 41, Breathitt County 32
Breathitt County 12 7 0 13-32
Lloyd Memorial 8 14 6 13-41
B – Combs 20 run (kick failed)
L – Zulager 67 kickoff return (Sebastian run)
B – Gibson 4 run (pass failed)
L – Zulager 4 run (Westwood kick)
L – Zulager 15 run (Westwood kick)
B – Combs 20 run (kick good)
L – Zulager 4 run (kick failed)
B – Combs 9 run (run failed)
L – Sebastian 65 run (kick failed)
B – Combs 2 run (kick good)
L – Zulager 28 pass from Collins (Westwood kick)
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