It was Game 1, all right. In Northern Kentucky and the state of Kentucky. For new Newport head coach Ryan Hahn and many, if not most, of his players.
And it showed. Mason County pounded the Wildcats, 48-6, Thursday in front of a large crowd at Thomas More where it was Mason County’s home game since their new stadium is three weeks from completion and Newport’s is condemned. Had it not been for a running clock required after a 36-point third-quarter lead, it could have been worse.
In fact, that running clock, from the 8:07 mark of the third quarter, was probably the best thing that happened to Newport all night. Under the best of conditions, football is a tough game. But when it looks like you can’t block or tackle, or don’t seem to want to, and can’t kick it or run it, football becomes your worst nightmare.
But you have to give it to Hahn, a relentlessly upbeat four-time state champ as a high schooler himself at Highlands, who told his kids he “loved each and every one of you” and that he “wasn’t going to walk out that door.” And that “it will get better.”
And even though last year’s Newport team lost by just 16-7 to the Royals, Hahn said that what happened here, “was better than last year.”
“No guys were taking off their shoulder pads and walking off the field,” Hahn said of a 4-8 season where the Wildcats gave up 159 total points in three of their final four games, “and no one was going after one another.”
But no one was going after Mason County, either, as too often it looked like the arm-tackling Wildcats wouldn’t have needed shoulder pads.
Better be able to do the basics. “Newport, we gotta’ block,” one fan pleaded as Mason County jumped out to a 6-0 lead after one quarter. Gotta’ snap it to the quarterback, not on the ground or over his head, something both teams had trouble with.
The kicking game was not just non-existent both ways, it was dangerous with short punts bouncing backward and no one downing them. Or blocked extra points that barely got off the tee. Or flags everywhere from false starts to unsportsmanlike conduct. There were fumbles and turnovers and interceptions with Quincy Barber’s 70-yard Pick-Six in the third quarter the lone Wildcat score to pull Newport to within 34-6 with 10:23 left in the third quarter.
And then the Wildcats had one chance, taking the ball down deep in Mason County territory the next series on a 26-yard pass from Kyle Lee to Landon Stacks that was negated by penalty that pushed the ball back deep into Newport territory instead, before a flubbed lateral gave Mason County the ball on the 3 and a quick score. That’s a 14-point, 70-yard turnaround in two plays. Game over. Mason County 42, Newport 6 instead of 34-14.
Maybe the third week of August is just a bit too early to get everything going that football needs in order to be done right. But lots went wrong, lots of mistakes were made, Hahn said, as his players said “Yes, sir.”
They’re “going to watch the film,” Hahn said, “and know what to fix,” something everybody will be a part of – “me, too,” he said. The players weren’t the only ones making mistakes, Hahn said.
The Newport fans said more. “Block, Newport, block,” one cried out. “You gotta’ come up and tackle somebody,” another called. “Newport, y’all gotta’ block,” or a version of that was heard time and again. But on one kickoff return after another, Wildcat return men ran east-west without a single block thrown.
No wonder as Newport exited the field, down 34-0 at halftime, this cry came from a frustrated Wildcat fan: “Now they gonna’ take y’alls’ girlfriends.”
“It’s gonna’ have to be the older guys stepping in,” Hahn said of how they keep from losing this team, “it’s going to have to be a full team effort.”
It’s going to take blocking and tackling. Mason County could. Newport couldn’t. Tally up the top 10 hits in this game and they were all by the Royals.
And it’s also going to take a reality check. “Are they more physical than we are?” Hahn asked his team, down 34 points at halftime. “No,” they responded as one.
Wrong answer. They were way more physical.
But Hahn, who said he wished they could run the ball, had the correct answer here.
“We need to come out with a whole different identity,” he told his team. And they did that a bit in the shortened second half marked by backups each way, losing just 14-6 after intermission with more gang-tackling and swarming as the Wildcats clearly wanted to mix things up a bit.
Not to cut this short, Hahn said of his postgame back and forth. But he had to excuse himself to make sure his kids “all get on the bus.” Can’t afford to lose anybody in the wilds of Crestview Hills.
Newport 0 0 6 0 — 6
Mason County 6 28 14 0 — 48
MC – Chad Clark-Roberts 24 pass from Thomas (kick blocked)
MC – Sanders 2 run (Caden Clark-Roberts run)
MC – Caden Clark-Roberts 4 run (Pugh run)
MC – Marshall 55 pass from Thomas (kick blocked)
MC – Sanders 3 run (run failed)
N – Barber 70 interception return (run failed)
MC – Chad Clark-Roberts 3 run (Chad Clark-Roberts run)
MC – Routt 10 run (run failed)
