It was hot out there, but luckily for NKY, they avoided the lightning and the delays that came with it for the majority of the rest of the state.
The only team impacted by the lightning was Simon Kenton, who had their game with Woodford County canceled and won’t be made up.
As for the action on the field, it was a rare early season matchup for Covington Catholic and Highlands, the Colonels keeping a firm grip on the series with their 10th win in the last 11 meetings. The train keeps on rolling at Beechwood while Cooper and Lloyd Memorial look awfully impressive early on.
Shout outs to Dayton, Holy Cross, Dixie Heights, Newport and Newport Central Catholic for picking up their first wins of the season.
I lowered the 300-yard passing club to 200-yard club this week due to no one clearing the 300-yard mark. Surprisingly there was no 100-yard receiver too.
Here goes…
- Covington Catholic (2-0, Previous Week: 2) — The tides have definitely turned in their rivalry series with Highlands. After being 17-49 in the first 66 meetings, the Colonels have won 10 of the last 11 in the series. CovCath was timely on third downs on Friday and made enough plays defensively to get the win. Evan Pitzer showed a lot of poise in the pocket and continued to spread it around. They continue their NKY tour this week with a trip to Independence to take on Simon Kenton.
2. Cooper (2-0, Previous Week: 3) — Henry Clay converted a 65-yard pass play on their opening drive. They tallied just 90 yards the rest of the game. Another dominant performance from the Jaguars as they move to 2-0 with rival Ryle lurking this week. The defense tallied 4.5 sacks, 5.5 tackles for loss, an interception and fumble recovery as they led 42-0 by halftime. Cam O’Hara was nearly perfect, completing 11-of-12 passes for 181 yards and three scores. Keagan Maher had over 14 yards per carry on just seven rush attempts while Isaiah Johnson and Austin Alexander continued to show their big play ability in the passing game. If the Jaguars get by Ryle this week, there’s a strong possibility they are 5-0 headed into their district opener with Highlands on Sept. 22.
3. Highlands (1-1, Previous Week: 1) — Imagine the Bluebirds will look back on film and wonder how they found themselves tied at halftime with CovCath. They dominated the first half, but penalties kept a few Colonels drives alive and a 80-yard drive in a little over two minutes tied the score up at the break. A fumble, a pick-six, another interception and a failed fourth down conversion were too much to overcome in the second half. The big positive is they averaged nearly 10 yards per carry in the running game. Campbell County comes to Fort Thomas this week.
4. Beechwood (2-0, Previous Week: 4) — The Tigers are now owners of the third longest winning streak in the state with 12 consecutive victories dating back to last season. I usually don’t pull the small school, big school card when it comes to Beechwood because they are a program built on success, but if you running clock a 6A school before halftime, that’s pretty darn impressive from the 2A folks in Fort Mitchell. Clay Hayden is dialed in, completing over 80 percent of his passes and would have had a 300-yard game last week if the game wasn’t so lopsided. The defense has been dominant too. The Tigers get Dixie Heights on the road next week, their third straight road game to start the season. Should be a fun matchup.
5. Lloyd Memorial (2-0, Previous Week: 5) — After a bit of a slow start, Lloyd outscored Boone County 40-7 in the final three quarters for a blowout victory over the Rebels. Yurii Collins Comer with the monster rushing game: 23 carries, 313 yards and three touchdowns. Isaiah Sebastian adds 133 yards on the ground on just seven carries. The defense has racked up 15 sacks in their first two games. The Juggs very well could be 7-0 when they head to Lexington Catholic in October. A struggling Holmes team comes to Erlanger Friday.
6. Simon Kenton (1-0, Previous Week: 6) — An unexpected bye for the Pioneers last week as they had their game with Woodford County canceled due to the lightning in the area. They were already paired with a late kickoff at 9:30 due to it being the second game of the night at the field and the excessive heat. Unfortunate because Woodford County would have provided a tough early season test. Only question now is do they try and get a makeup game for their original scheduled bye week on Sept. 29? CovCath comes to town this week.
7. Ryle (1-1, Previous Week: 7) — A grinder with Conner for three quarters, the Raiders pulled away with two scores in the fourth for the 28-7 victory over the Cougars, their fifth straight over their county rivals and ninth in the last 10 years. A modest game from Logan Verax passing with 165 yards and two touchdowns, but really hurt the Cougars with his legs, rushing for 73 yards and a touchdown. Jacob Savage was a monster defensively with 18 tackles. Another county rival comes to town with Cooper this week. These next four games are really going to test the Raiders headed into district play: Cooper, Highlands, Christian Academy-Louisville and St. Xavier out of Louisville.
8. Dixie Heights (1-1, Previous Week: 10) — Dixie Heights went with the ole’ ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ routine when they ran the ball 42 times for 303 yards against Hughes (OH) on Friday. David Anderson was the biggest beneficiary with 13 carries for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Armanu Gregg only threw it nine times, but his six completions totaled 152 yards and two touchdowns. The defense racked up nine tackles for loss and five sacks and two interceptions. Beechwood comes calling in the home opener this week.
9. Conner (1-1, Previous Week: 8) — The Cougars were unable to finish drives in their 28-7 loss to Ryle. They were able to tally nearly 250 yards of offense, but were 5-of-13 on third downs and 2-of-4 on fourth downs. They’ll take on their second Lexington foe of the season Friday when they play at Lafayette.
10. Newport Central Catholic (1-1, Previous Week: N/R) — The Thoroughbreds bounced back in a big way with a throttling of Walton-Verona in a game I thought would be much tighter. The issues they faced up front against Lloyd were quickly remedied as they tallied 364 yards of offense and put a running clock up on the Bearcats. Big plays in the passing game in which they completed passes of 55, 52 and 22 yards helping Kolton Smith’s six completions go for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Mitchell Doeker and Charlie Ford with the long TD grabs. Kaleb Cole, Demetrick Welch and Smith combined for 194 of the team’s 205 rushing yards. Back to facing the big schools the next three weeks with Scott, Conner and Campbell County on the docket.
Next up: Campbell County (1-1)
Big School Top 5 (4A-6A)
- Covington Catholic
2. Cooper
3. Highlands
4. Simon Kenton
5. Ryle
Small School Top 5 (1A-3A)
- Beechwood
2. Lloyd Memorial
3. Newport Central Catholic
4. Walton-Verona
5. Ludlow
200-Yard Passing Club
Clay Hayden, Beechwood vs Campbell County (20-of-25, 285 yards, 4 TD)
Trey Cook, Scott vs North Bullitt (13-of-29, 221 yards, 221 yards, 2 TD)
Evan Pitzer, CovCath vs Highlands (19-of-28, 205 yards, 3 TD)
100-Yard Rushing Club
Yurii Collins Comer, Lloyd Memorial vs Boone County (23 rushes, 313 yards, 3 TD)
Brody Benke, Highlands vs CovCath (14 rushes, 153 yards, TD)
Isaiah Sebastian, Lloyd Memorial vs Boone County (7 rushes, 133 yards, 2 TD)
Kaymon Coleman, Scott vs North Bullitt (9 rushes, 132 yards, TD)
Ulysses Porter, Holy Cross vs Dohn Community (OH) (17 rushes, 127 yards, 4 TD)
Cameron Giesler, Highlands vs CovCath (11 rushes, 125 yards, 2 TD)
Rodzion Thompson, Newport vs Holmes (11 rushes, 103 yards, 2 TD)
Defensive Standouts
Henry Goerig, Bishop Brossart vs Bethel-Tate (OH) (7 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 1 tackle for loss)
Alex Amin, Bishop Brossart vs Bethel-Tate (OH) (6 tackles, interception)
William Webster, Bishop Brossart vs Bethel-Tate (OH) (3 tackles, sack, forced fumble)
Austin Alexander, Cooper vs Henry Clay (4 tackles, 2 sacks)
Landen Buttlewerth, Cooper vs Henry Clay (1.5 tackles for loss, forced fumble)
Cash Harney, CovCath vs Highlands (interception return for TD)
Josh Flood, CovCath vs Highlands (7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss)
Andrew Bessler, CovCath vs Highlands (6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss)
Willie Rodriguez, CovCath vs Highlands (5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss)
Braylon Miller, CovCath vs Highlands (3 tackles, interception)
Blake Dodds, Dixie Heights vs Hughes (OH) (10 tackles, 1.5 sacks)
Brach Rice, Dixie Heights vs Hughes (OH) (9 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, sack)
Kabanza Mwamba, Dixie Heights vs Hughes (OH) (3 tackles, interception)
Tyson Beach, Dixie Heights vs Hughes (OH) (2 tackles, interception)
Zashawn Comer, Dixie Heights vs Hughes (OH) (4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, .5 sack)
Ryshawn Clifford, Holmes vs Newport (3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, fumble recovery)
Max Hunt, Holy Cross vs Dohn Community (OH) (11 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, forced fumble)
Felipa Tremble, Holy Cross vs Dohn Community (OH) (9 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, forced fumble)
Zach Chalfin, Holy Cross vs Dohn Community (OH) (3 tackles, tackle for loss, sack, fumble recovery)
Ulysses Porter, Holy Cross vs Dohn Community (OH) (6 tackles, fumble recovery for TD)
Seth Moran, Lloyd Memorial vs Boone County (10 tackles)
Avander Abrams, Lloyd Memorial vs Boone County (2 tackles, 2.5 sacks)
TJ Jackson, Lloyd Memorial vs Boone County (2 sacks)
Ryan Miller, Lloyd Memorial vs Boone County (fumble recovery for TD)
Jake Porter, Newport vs Holmes (9 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, sack)
Javon Burke, Newport vs Holmes (8 tackles, 3 tackles for loss)
Sean Hurry, Newport vs Holmes (7 tackles, tackle for loss, fumble recovery)
Kendall Buck-Barber, Newport vs Holmes (4 tackles, tackle for loss, interception)
Khalil Buck-Barber, Newport vs Holmes (5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss)
Amonte Lowe, Newport vs Holmes (4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss)
Jacob Savage, Ryle vs Conner (18 tackles)
Kai Workman, Ryle vs Conner (11 tackles, .5 tackle for loss, .5 sack)
Dillon Smith, Ryle vs Conner (8 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks)
Justin Hardy, Scott vs North Bullitt (2 sacks)
