[Stardust]

Louisville DuPont Manual did exactly what it wanted to do for the first half of Friday night’s 6A second round playoff game at Simon Kenton.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll...311130105/

The Crimsons held Pioneer senior running back Miles Simpson to 15 yards of total offense, including dropping Simpson for 14 yards in losses on three of his eight carries.

• Photos: Pioneers 39, Crimsons 29


Simpson took over the game in the second half, scoring four touchdowns while gaining 122 yards on 17 carries after halftime as the Pioneers came from behind to beat Manual, 39-29, at Simon Kenton.

The Pioneers outscored the Crimsons 17-0 in the fourth quarter to overcome a seven-point deficit and set up a regional final matchup with the state’s top-ranked team, St. Xavier, next Friday in Louisville.

“I told them that we were going to have to play 48 minutes at some point,” said Simon Kenton coach Jeff Marksberry, whose team improved to 11-1 on the season. “I didn’t know when it was going to be but it’s one of those things where we’ve maintained our conditioning and even picked it up recently because we’ve been in so many games that were over by halftime. We knew we were going to have to be strong in the fourth quarter and Miles was just as strong in the fourth quarter as he was to start. He took over the ball game.”


Manual, a team with just 11 seniors, entered the game with a deceiving 5-6 record. Among its losses were games against hands of Highlands, Cincinnati Colerain, St. Xavier and Trinity. Manual beat Conner 50-39 last week in the first round and lost by just seven points, 28-21, against St. Xavier last month.


The Crimsons outgained Simon Kenton, 296-204, including rushing for 276 yards. The lead changed hands five times and the outcome secured for Simon Kenton until junior Chad Lawrence, also the starting quarterback, intercepted a pass inside the 5-yard line in the final half-minute of the game.