A year after Holy Innocents’ advanced to the quarterfinals of the Class A Private state football playoffs, the Golden Bears repeated that feat in a higher classification as they made it to the elite eight in Class AAAA.
Holy Innocents’ saw its state championships hopes end with a 38-28 loss to Troup in the AAAA quarterfinals Nov. 25. The Golden Bears fell behind 31-7 at halftime, but were able to close the gap at the end.
It was the fifth trip to the state quarterfinals for Holy Innocents’ (9-4), which also advanced to the elite eight in 2019 — the year that it made it to the Class A Private semifinals — ’09 and ’13 as well as ’21.
The Golden Bears were able to achieve this again in a higher classification as they moved up three classes from A to AAAA this season, winning the Region 6AAAA and achieving a No. 1 seed in the state playoffs in the process.
“Us and Trinity Christian were the only schools to have moved up three classifications,” Holy Innocents’ coach Todd Winter said. “To be honest, our goal going into the season was just to make the playoffs and I thought that would be a great accomplishment, moving up (to AAAA). We knew who we were playing, but we didn’t understand what the challenges may or may not be. But, once we got into it, we felt pretty good about — we felt like we were prepared, let’s put it that way.”
It was also the fifth year in a row that Holy Innocents’ qualified for the postseason and the 13th time in the program’s 17-year varsity football history.
“I think our kids did a great job this past offseason in the strength room,” Winter said. “It was really the unknown, the unchartered waters of AAAA football and the teams are really good. Everybody had really good tailbacks, they had a lot more size. But we were very pleased. We put ourselves in a position to win the region title and we accomplished it. We have three goals every season — one is to make the playoffs, two is to win a region championship and three is to compete for the state championship and once you make the playoffs, we feel like every game is a state championship game. It was just a great season and I feel good about where we’re at.”
The Golden Bears advanced to the quarterfinals with a 41-8 victory over Hampton in the first round Nov. 11 and a 24-14 win over Central of Carrollton in the second round Nov. 18.
Senior quarterback William Wright, junior wide receiver/cornerback Zach Jackson, junior defensive end Jacobi Murray, senior running back Drew Bomar and junior linebacker/running back Nick Morgan were among the key players who led Holy Innocents’ to the state quarterfinals.
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