Former NFL QB Chad Pennington leads Kentucky high school football team to a State Championship after a major turnaround
Before becoming a football coach, former NFL quarterback Chad Pennington played quarterback at Marshall, leading the team to a 1AA championship.
He also played for the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, throwing for 17.823 yards and 102 touchdowns to 64 interceptions. Now he can add a State Championship coach to his resume, as Chad Pennington coached Sayre High School in Kentucky to a State Championship.
Sayre High School won the Kentucky High School Athletic Association 1A State Championship against Raceland High School in a close, hard-fought game on Dec. 6, winning 27-22.
Sayre enjoyed an undefeated 15-0 season. It was ranked as the 27th-best team in Kentucky and first in its region. The Spartans scored over 20 points every game this season and 40-plus points in many games.
Chad Pennington's first few seasons as coach
The team did well this season, winning games in dominating fashion, but their success wasn't as expected as it is now. Sayre High School didn't play competitive football for more than 40 years. But when Chad Pennington took over the program in 2018, it was ready to get back in the swing of things on the gridiron.
In Pennington's first year as coach for Sayre in 2018, the team didn't have enough players to complete an entire football season. In 2019, it went 1-6, scoring less than 12 points in three of their losses but won a week 2 game 34-0 against Rock Creek Academy. It was improvement, but the program wasn't still quite there yet.
Things started to change for the Spartans in 2020 when they finished 8-2 and first in their district. The football program was getting better and better. In 2021, it went 8-3 and continued to win in football.
However, in 2022, the Spartans went 5-7 and had a down year, but the program had a good foundation. In the 2023 season, Sayre went 12-1, ranked 64th in Kentucky, and lost 42-27 against Raceland in the playoffs but showed its competitiveness.
The 2024 season was the best of them all, as Chad Pennington's team went 15-0 and avenged their previous playoff loss to Raceland to be crowned the State Champions. Pennington helped turn the program around in only six years.