To be the winning team, fan votes play a heavy role, along with consideration from our sports team here at LINK.
Nominations are reader-submitted or recommended by our sports team. Our Team of the Week program honors all local sports at all levels, whether it’s youth or adult-oriented recreation, high school or college, professional or amateur.
The new school year has added to the awards program. OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine and LINK nky are excited to expand in addition to the weekly winners, the program will be including three winners for Team of the Season and one overall winner for Team of the Year for the 2024-25 sports seasons.
New this year for the program is the addition of the Team of the Season (TOTS) and Team of the Year (TOTY) awards. Sports seasons are considered fall, winter and spring for the purpose of this awards program. At the conclusion of each sports season, an overall TOTS winner will be chosen from all previous TOTW winners for that season. Their school will also receive a $500 scholarship to be presented to the athlete of their choice at the end of the school year.
Finally, the program culminates by selecting one TOTY from the three TOTS award winners. Online and print articles will again be published, a large commemorative plaque will be presented and the school will receive an additional $500 scholarship to be presented to the athlete of their choice at the end of the school year.
The call for nominations, voting and winning announcement for each will follow the same format as the TOTW.
This week’s nominated teams are listed below with some information provided by the submitter or LINK nky staff. The poll where you can vote follows at the end of the article.
Voting is open until Friday at 11:59 a.m.
ST. HENRY BOYS SOCCER TEAM
The Crusaders have already made quite the turnaround from the 2023 season. After winning just three games in 2023, St. Henry has already passed that win total just six games into the 2024 season, sporting a 4-1-1 record.
They also have a 9th Region All “A” title to go with it, defeating Newport Central Catholic 2-2 (3-2 on penalty kicks) in the championship on Saturday.
Last week, St. Henry defeated Beechwood 2-1, Villa Madonna 6-1 and Newport Central Catholic on kicks from the mark in the championship.
Landon Thoss and Andrew Stewart collected the goals in the victory over Beechwood, Jackson Popil and Kayden Durrett with the assists. Popil had two goals and an assist in the win over Villa Madonna, Durrett with a goal and two assists while Stewart, Thoss and Max Popil also found the back of the net.
In the nail-biting championship, Cooper Gastright scored his first career goal while Durrett had the other in regulation. Thoss, Jackson Popil and Cody Crowder netted the penalty kicks. Brady Aubuchon was the game-winning keeper, making a critical diving save in PKs.
BEECHWOOD GIRLS SOCCER TEAM
The Tigers are off to a hot start to the season and have some hardware to show for it, winning the 9th Region All “A” Classic over the weekend with a 1-0 victory over Holy Cross.
It was the first All “A” regional title for the program in the program’s history.
Beechwood defeated Bellevue 8-0, St. Henry 4-1 and Holy Cross 1-0 in the championship. Macy Yelton led with four of the eight goals against Bellevue and Rylie Kidman added two, Ruby Fries collecting three assists. In the victory over St. Henry, Grace Cottengim had a goal and two assists, Riley Atmore also scoring a goal with an assist. Yelton had the lone goal in the championship victory, assisted by Fries.
Emma Swayne had a clean sheet in the Bellevue game while Juliana Gutierrez collected 12 saves in the two wins over St. Henry and Holy Cross.
CONNER VOLLEYBALL TEAM
After graduating 10 seniors, Conner is off to a promising 2-0 start with wins over Bishop Brossart and Boone County, both by 3-1 marks.
Shylyn Koerber (12), Annika Berwanger (9) and Charlotte Patton (8) led in kills in the win over Brossart. Patton had four blocks, Berwanger with three. Mackenzie Sandeen had 24 assists and three aces, Koerber added 10 assists with 14 digs. Bailey Morris led with 16 digs, Rhiannon Sandeen adding 13.
In the win over Boone County, Annika led with 13 kills, Koerber with 11 and Patton adding 10. Berwanger had four blocks, Patton with three. Mackenzie Sandeen set her teammates up with 22 assists, Koerber with 15. Bailey Morris led with 12 digs, Rhiannon Sandeen leading the way in the service department with four aces.
RYLE FOOTBALL TEAM
The Raiders get the Team of the Week nomination for doing something they hadn’t since 2016…beat Covington Catholic.
The Raiders had lost five straight to the Colonels and broke through on Friday with an opportunistic fourth quarter where they recorded a defensive touchdown and safety.
Some standouts from Friday’s contest include Jacob Savage, who rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown and recorded 10 tackles on defense. Nathan Verax managed the game at quarterback with 94 yards passing and 25 yards rushing, Landon Lorms his top target as he hauled in five passes for 61 yards and a one-handed grab for a touchdown. Bo Gay had two sacks, Beau Faul with one as the Raiders defense rose to the occasion.
Ryle gets back at it on Friday at Conner.
Click on the team below on who you feel deserves the LINK nky Team of the Week!
