Watch: 3 Different HS Football Players Combine for Craziest Interception You'll See

By Ross Kelly September 12, 2018 at 11:48am

In football, interceptions are attributed to an individual. But if there was ever a team interception, it would be what occurred at a Kentucky high school game Friday night.

Lexington Catholic High School took on Lexington Christian Academy, and the game featured a play you need to see to believe.

The Lexington Christian quarterback dropped back for a pass but overthrew his intended receiver in the middle of the field.

The ball was tipped by Catholic’s Chandler Caudill, who was matched up with the intended receiver. After his leaping tip, Catholic safety Henry Holthaus somehow managed to keep the ball alive with a desperate save while he was sprawled out on his stomach.

That enabled Catholic’s John Martin Simms to catch the ball for an interception. Simms returned it 15 yards to Christian’s 30-yard line.

In case you lost track, it was an overthrow, then a jumping tip, then a diving tip, then a catch for the interception. As Richard Sherman and every other NFL defensive back will tell you, defenses feast on “tips and overthrows.”

Tough on ya…. Tips and overthrows ….gotta get those!

— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) January 21, 2013

The color commentator on the broadcast accurately described it as a volleyball play from all of the players who touched the ball.

Is that the craziest interception you've ever seen?

PrepSpin, which broadcast the game, submitted the video clip to ESPN, which named it as the No. 2 play during the “Top Plays” segment on Saturday’s “SportsCenter.”

John Simms, the father of the player who was credited with the interception, said his son’s “SportsCenter” recognition, along with Kentucky’s upset of Florida that ended a 31-game losing streak, made for a bizarre day.

I have had plenty of strange days in my life but waking up with my son on SportsCenter Top 10 and go to bed with UK beating UF has to be one of the strangest.

— John Simms (@Johnsimmsasklaw) September 9, 2018

Lexington Catholic would go on to defeat Lexington Christian 54-13 to improve its record to 4-0.

MaxPreps ranks the Knights as the 11th-best team in Kentucky after they advanced to the state quarterfinals last season.

Many will see this play and think of one of the most famous plays in NFL history, the “Immaculate Reception.”

With the Steelers trailing 7-6 in a 1972 playoff game, quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass toward Frenchy Fuqua and the ball bounced off the colliding Fuqua and Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raiders. It came down right in front of Steelers running back Franco Harris, who scooped it out of the air and rumbled into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.

The play is considered one of the greatest in NFL history, as well as one of the most controversial: The Raiders insist the ball ricocheted off Fuqua, not Tatum, which would have made Harris an ineligible receiver under the league’s rules at the time.

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