It’s a Northern Kentucky three-peat in the weekly LaRosa’s MVP listing as local winners are coming fast after an early dry spell. Area baseball and softball players are quickly making a name for themselves after appearing on preseason watch lists. A surprise resignation at Conner. Big wins at Covington Catholic and Ryle. It’s all here in the fastest 1,000 words in sports.
JABARI COVINGTON GETS HIS DUE
For the third week in a row, a Northern Kentucky high school student-athlete is the LaRosa’s MVP of the week. Jabari Covington, a 6-foot -1 senior guard on the Newport boys basketball team, is this week’s featured athlete.
Covington was the second-leading scorer (12.6 ppg) on the best team in the 9th Region. He played in all 36 games and was third in total rebounds. His last game for the back-to-back 9th Region champion Wildcats was Thursday’s Sweet 16 state tournament first-round loss to Campbell County. He finished the game with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Covington has some college offers, receiving his first in December from East Mississippi Community College. Here are some abbreviated highlights from his LaRosa’s MVP bio:
“Jabari Covington is a key player on the Wildcats’ team that was ranked #1 in Northern Kentucky. The Wildcats helped to support that ranking by knocking off Evangel Christian to win the first state championship in program history at the All “A” Classic tournament. Newport ranked third in Kentucky in the final media poll at the end of the regular season. Jabari is a member of the elite 1,000-point club.
“In last year’s regional championship game, Jabari had a memorable moment. With 2.5 seconds remaining in a tied game, he hit a jumper to win it over Cooper and win the regional championship. The Wildcats went on to their first state tournament appearance since 1955. He also played a key role in Newport’s 9th Region semifinal win this season vs. Lloyd when he led the Wildcats with 14 points and eight rebounds. Jabari has earned many honors, including MVP of the All “A” regional tournament.”
Said Newport coach Rod Snapp: “Jabari is a great role model in the school. He is always positive and easy to coach. Jabari as a basketball player takes a great deal of pride in making his teammates better and winning.”
Covington’s selection gives Northern Kentucky four of the last six LaRosa’s MVP honorees, five of the last nine and eight of the last 17. Here’s the updated list of area LaRosa’s MVP winners this prep sports season: Jabari Covington (Newport), Quinn Eubank (Ryle), Travis Krohman (Simon Kenton), Julia Hunt (Holy Cross), Liz Freihofer (Cooper), Logan Verax (Ryle), Willie Rodriguez (Covington Catholic), Alivia Skidmore (St. Henry).
OTTE STEPS DOWN AT CONNER
Conner High School boys basketball coach Matt Otte resigned Tuesday after eight seasons. His last game was Feb. 28, a home loss to Cooper in the 33rd District tournament semifinals. The Cougars finished 11-17, just the second losing season under Otte. They averaged 20 wins the previous four seasons.
Otte put together a career record of 131-95 at Conner. He won three district championships and helped guide the Cougars to the 9th Region tournament final in 2021, one of five regional appearances under Otte.
KRUMPELBECK EARNS WIN NO. 1,100
Covington Catholic coach Bill Krumpelbeck earned career win No. 1,100 Thursday with a 7-3 baseball victory at Highlands. The Colonels won their first four games of the season by a combined score of 30-5. Krumpelbeck, in his 47th year as CovCath head coach, won his 1,000th game in the 2018 9th Region tournament semifinals, becoming the fourth Kentucky prep baseball coach to reach the milestone.
Krumpelbeck, a Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame member, ranks third all-time in state history and eighth nationally among active baseball coaches in career wins. He needs 45 wins to pass Bill Miller (1,144) for second all-time in Kentucky history. The career leader is current Harrison County coach Mac Whitaker who entered the season with 1,221 wins.
ODOM GETS FIRST RAIDERS VICTORY
The Ryle High School softball team won its season opener Thursday, beating host Dixie Heights, 10-7. That gave Raiders head coach Mary Beth Odom her first win at Ryle. It’s the 30th win in her career. Odom, who coach at Beechwood the past two seasons, played high school softball at Dixie Heights.
“It feels great. We had a lot of energy and our bats were hot by striking early,” Odom said. “Dixie didn’t give up and started to string hits together. With a good competitor like Dixie, our team needs to remember to not get comfortable and to keep the foot on the gas throughout the game.”
The Raiders took a 6-0 lead in the second inning on senior pitcher Maddie Goddard’s solo home run belted over the left-center field fence and into the adjoining tennis courts. The Transylvania commit added a double and went 3-for-4 with a team-best three RBI. Goddard pitched a seven-hit complete game and struck out seven. She allowed three earned runs. Laci DeLauder and Kiley Patterson collected four hits each for Ryle. Taylor Dawalt led the Colonels (1-2) with two hits and two RBI.
RYLE BASEBALL IS NO. 1
The Ryle High School baseball team was voted No. 1 in the Northern Kentucky Baseball Coaches Association preseason poll. The top 10: 1. Ryle, 2. Beechwood, 3. Covington Catholic, 4. Campbell County, 5. Highlands, 6. Simon Kenton, 7. Dixie Heights, 8. Conner, 9. St. Henry, 10. Cooper. Ryle garnered 213 voting points. Beechwood (158) narrowly edged out CovCath (157) for second.
BLUEBIRDS’ MERZ ON THE MOVE
Highlands football player Max Merz, a 6-foot-4, 305-pound sophomore and one of Kentucky’s top-rated linemen in his 2026 class, received an offer from Louisville on Thursday following a visit to the school. He also has offers from Toledo, Eastern Kentucky and Marshall. Merz, who is visiting Kentucky on Saturday, also has upcoming visits lined up with Western Kentucky, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Georgia and Clemson. He has college camp visits scheduled in June at Kentucky, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Notre Dame and Ohio State.
SPEED READS: Former Ryle standout and 2020 Miss Kentucky Basketball winner Maddie Scherr is in the NCAA transfer portal after University of Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy was let go March 11. Scherr played two seasons with the Wildcats after transferring from Oregon. Scherr, who averaged 12.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game this past season, has one year of college eligibility remaining.
Conner junior Dylan Stewart, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound lineman, has four Division I college football offers. The three-year starter has offers from Army, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan and Troy. He’s visited Kentucky, Louisville, Cincinnati and Notre Dame.
The 8th Region softball coaches voted Simon Kenton No. 5 in a preseason poll and placed Pioneers senior standout Emilie Young fourth on the list of top 10 players.
Three area 10th Region softball teams earned enough votes to crack the coaches’ preseason top 10: No. 5 Campbell County, No. 7 Scott and No. 10 Bishop Brossart. Camels sophomore Hope Hamilton was voted the region’s ninth-best player.
The Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association released its 2024 Preseason All-State Watch List. On the list from the 9th Region: Dylan McIntyre (Ryle), Tate Cordrey (Ryle), Sam Eppley (Ryle), Maverick Rabe (Ryle), Caleb Mann (Ryle), Josh Caudill (Ryle), Micheal Detzel (Beechwood), Chase Flaherty (Beechwood), Tyler Fryman (Beechwood), Charlie Dieruf (CovCath), Drew Barth (Highlands), Zach DeSylva (Highlands), Luke Schneider (Highlands).
From the 8th Region: Logan Cones (Simon Kenton), Daniel Uhl (Simon Kenton), Bailey Rump (Simon Kenton), Cayden Smithers (Walton-Verona), Mason Howard (Walton-Verona). . . From the 10th Region: Tyler Schumacher (Campbell County), Zach Franzen (Campbell County), Parker Schweitzer (Campbell County), Dylan Giffen (Scott), Brady Smith (Scott).