Dan Weber writes a column for The River City News. Contact him at dweber3440@aol.com.
It’s Week 2 for Northern Kentucky High School football and we’re “Just Sayin” it’s good to make it to the second week of the season for anybody right now.
And especially good here in Northern Kentucky when we check the state scoreboard. Not the football scoreboard, although that didn’t turn out so bad last weekend. But in this time of surging Covid-19 as it strikes at the Commonwealth in unprecedented fashion, Northern Kentucky appears to be hanging in there like nowhere else.
Of the first weekend’s 120 prep football games in Kentucky, 17 had to be canceled because of Covid. And it happened in every other section of the state: the Louisville area, the Lexington area, eastern Kentucky, and western Kentucky. But none in Northern Kentucky.
The same so far for this weekend with 15 of the 118 scheduled games already called off because of Covid and in every other section of the state, but again, none involved Northern Kentucky teams.
It also appears that Beechwood may have been really fortunate in the timing of its game at Fairdale last weekend since the Bulldogs from Louisville have already had to forfeit their game Friday against South Oldham because of Covid. By the way, since it appears that might be something we need to know, in football, the final score for a forfeit is 1-0.
Let’s keep it up, Northern Kentucky, and keep our eyes on the scoreboard that really matters . . . Just Sayin’.
Colleges coming next week: As we move on to Week 3, it will be time to look at the college game and the Northern Kentucky players that fans here can follow and root for. So, we did some research and came up with these names and numbers.
And we found ourselves a bit surprised by what we discovered.
Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer tops the list, of course. The 6-foot-4 1/2-inches, 250-pound sophomore tight end may be the best at his position in the nation, and the most gifted athlete to play that position for any team in years, and by next season, a legitimate threat to be the first lineman Heisman Trophy candidate since Notre Dame’s own Leon Hart in 1949.
The other big-time local you’ll be able to watch on TV is Ryle alumnus Tanner Morgan, senior quarterback and team leader at Minnesota, who already owns 11 school passing and offensive records for the Golden Gophers and will be the focus of every opponent’s defense. Tanner moved from Hazard to Ryle after his second high school year and is a cousin of UK passer extraordinaire Tim Couch.
But that’s pretty much it for the Power Five programs. No Northern Kentucky players are on the rosters at either the University of Kentucky or Cincinnati.
Three Northern Kentuckians, all from Covington Catholic and led by redshirt sophomore quarterback A.J. Mayer, Michael’s older brother, are at Miami of Ohio. One local each is at Toledo and Ohio U. in the Mid-American Conference. But there are none at Western Kentucky or Murray. Morehead has six locals, Eastern two.
But thanks to Thomas More, where a total of 36 locals have a roster spot, led by five each from Lloyd and Simon Kenton, the numbers get a big bump. And Georgetown College, where 26 from here have a home, with an even dozen come from Dixie Heights, four more from Newport Central Catholic.
And while our list isn’t exhaustive and is as unofficial as it could possibly be, here’s where we found local guys playing at the next level who we’ll try to update for you as the season moves on. Let us know who we’re missing.
More schools with Northern Kentucky players: Centre (four); Dayton, Butler, Campbellsville, Wittenberg all with two; Capital, Muskingum, Mt. St. Joseph and University of the Cumberlands, one apiece.
Highlands at Simon Kenton Friday night: See you in Independence for this one. Are the Bluebirds back after knocking off defending state 5A champs Bowling Green at Western Kentucky University last Saturday? Or will the Pioneers get themselves back in business after not quite closing the deal against Oldham County in their opener?
Big one for both these teams. Just Sayin’.
Dan Weber
Image via Simon Kenton Football Twitter
