The Wildcats finished at 8-5 last year and reached the Class A quarterfinals for the second consecutive season.
Look for senior edge rusher Sean Hurry to anchor a defense that allowed a smidgen over 17 points a game.
The Wildcats open their season Aug. 21 at home against Ludlow.
Here are five things to know about the Wildcats headed into the 2026 season:
No stats talk
Head coach Paul Wiggins would rather you – or his players – not talk about individual numbers.
“I’m the worst guy in the world for stats,” Wiggins says. “In the end, I don’t care who gets the stats as long as we end up on the right end of scoreboard. I just don’t, I don’t, I do not care about stats.”
The Wildcats scored 288 points last year – a little more than 22 a game – which included scoring over 35 points five times. Senior Jaden Conley threw for 819 yards and 10 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
“I’ve been working on my form a lot and learning the coverages to know what type of passes to throw before I call ‘hike’ and stuff like that,” Conley said.
A ‘mini-Gronkowski’
Wiggins doesn’t want to call Hurry a “generic” version of former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, mostly because what he does on the field isn’t ordinary. At first, he liked “All-Wiggins” in honor of the late Oakland Raiders coach and broadcaster John Madden’s annual “All-Madden” teams.
“I mess with him all the time,” Wiggins said.
Wiggins eventually chose “mini-Gronkowski.”
“That’s a lot more complimentary,” he said.
Hurry ran for 59 yards and three touchdowns and caught eight passes for another 89 and two scores. His strength is his defense as an edge rusher – his team-high 86 tackles included 23 for loss and six sacks.
So, does Hurry prefer defense?
“Yeah, for sure,” he said. ”I just get to be everywhere on the field. I’m a captain on defense big time. I know what I’m doing. I know what other people can do so I can help them out.”
Hurry was a lineman his freshman and part of his sophomore season. He said being a running back wasn’t a tough transition.
“I played running back all my little league career and in middle school a little bit,” Hurry said. “So I just played lineman because we needed me there at that time, so running back was no different.”
A maturing O-line
Newport ran for 1,840 yards last season. The challenge: leading rusher Kendall Buck-Barber, who ran for 1,241 yards (a little more than two-thirds of the total) and nine touchdowns, graduated.
Wiggins is grateful most of the offensive line is back.
“We hope some of those improvements come with maturation,” Wiggins said. “You know, we’re a little more mature than we have been, and quite frankly … a lot of that maturation is also juniors who dabbled in the deep end of the pool as sophomores.”
Junior center Ryder Brewer said recent coaching changes have helped.
“I feel like the line’s been getting like a lot more team technique and really understanding what they do, just the fundamentals of it,” Brewer said.
Senior Demarco Jackson was Conley’s favorite target last year – 23 catches for 468 yards and six touchdowns.
Eli’s coming
Newport gave up 225 points with a shutout last year. Problem was, in their five losses, the Wildcats surrendered 165.
Junior Eli Brandt – who was second to Hurry with 64 tackles and nine for loss, returns, and Brewer added 46 tackles (nine for loss) and 4.5 sacks.
Jackson and juniors Dontae Holder and Dallas Harrington added 36, 35 and 27 tackles, respectively, and Jackson and Harrington each had an interception.
Basketball and books
When they’re away from football, you can find a lot of the team on the basketball court next to the school; they also teach the middle school players football-related things.
Brewer hasn’t tutored anyone about football or academics, but he’s interested in trying it out.
“There’s a program in school they got for that; I could probably ask and see if I can help with them sometimes,” Brewer said. “It’s a good idea. … I probably could.”
We’re previewing all 22 NKY football teams from July 27-August 17. Check out five things to know about each team below:
