21 teams in 21 days: Newport football preview

The Newport football program has been thrown a lot of curveballs lately.

Whether it be with coaching turnover or inability to practice in their own stadium or host games on their home field, the Wildcats have had to find a way to rise above it.

“The kids are doing really well with new things being thrown at them,” Wildcats coach Ryan Hahn said. “Sometimes when there’s change, kids don’t always accept that change very well. They’ve done a good job handling adversity and pushing through those teachable moments.”

Hahn enters his second season with the program after the Wildcats had three head coaches in three years from 2020-22 that started with Joseph Wynn before he departed to Mason County after three seasons with the team and a one-year stint with Brian Weinrich, who left for the Campbell County job.

Hahn inherited a rather young team with just six seniors on the roster last season. Now with a year under his belt and getting a grasp of his program and players, there’s some optimism centered around the Wildcats program and what they have coming back.

At times, the Wildcats had five or six freshman or sophomores on the field in 2022.

“A lot of programs that’s unheard of. We had to make do with what we had, now that they are sophomores and juniors, they’re the real deal and very athletic,” Hahn said. “Last year was getting everything organized as a head coach, putting the pieces together and see what we could do week-to-week.”

The Wildcats graduated just six seniors and Hahn estimates about 30-35 kids on the roster for the upcoming year. With the new KHSAA realignment, Newport drops down from Class 2A to 1A in a district with Newport Central Catholic, Bellevue and Dayton. It gets them away from Beechwood and Lloyd Memorial, two semifinalists in Class 2A in 2022.

“Facing Beechwood, Lloyd and Holy Cross was quite the challenge,” Hahn said. “But now we face a new challenge. The coaches in this district are really good. It will be nice to face some schools with the same roster sizes as ours.”

Kyle Lee returns at quarterback after a season in which he threw for 1,728 yards and 15 touchdowns. He completed nearly 60% of his passes and an area he’ll look to improve is the 14 interceptions thrown. Despite losing his top two targets in Quincy Barber and Mykell Martin to graduation, Lee will have plenty of options to throw to, Hahn saying the most exciting thing about this team is the speed.

Landon Stacks is the leading returning receiver after a 2022 campaign of 30 catches for 325 yards and three touchdowns. Keegan Farrell, Kayveion Sharp, Kendall Barber, Carvonta Roper and Amonte Lowe will also be some weapons to watch this season. Spreading the field out and getting players in space is the objective offensively.

As far as running back to replace Martin, who had 87 rushes for 613 yards and 11 touchdowns, Hahn expects a rotation of backs to help offset Martin’s dynamic skillset. Those candidates are Jayleion Sharp, Chris Pompilio-Greene, Ayden Stachel and Cedric Jackson. Those four provide a variety of either power running or speed.

Paving the way will be Khalil Buck-Barber and Carson Sanders, who will be two-way players along the lines and will be key in helping stop the run, an area Hahn said they’ll have to improve this season. On the back end of the defense is where Hahn feels most confident, mainly due to the speed they’ll possess in the secondary.

“Speed is our number one ally,” Hahn said. “Along the lines we have four seniors, two juniors and a sophomore. The lineman returning know what job is ahead of them. We have speed everywhere else and some size in the middle.”

Even with some stability now with Hahn at the helm, the challenges the program has faced with their current state of the football stadium still exists. With construction and installment of the bleachers being delayed until at least late October, Newport won’t have a regular season home game for the second straight season. There’s a possibility of a home playoff game in November…if the bleachers are done. In the meantime, they’ve been relegated to practicing on the baseball field, but recently were allowed to return to the football field while the construction phase is being delayed.

They open their season Aug. 19 against Henry County at Carroll County. They regionalized their schedule a bit more this year with Holmes, Boone County, Ludlow, Lloyd Memorial and Holy Cross on the docket for out of district play.

“In terms of getting more kids and different kids to come out and play…we’re playing Ludlow, Boone County, Lloyd Memorial, should make for more interesting and fun games. We’re excited to play the Dayton’s, Bellevue’s, hoping for a great turnout from fans and everyone to watch some of these old rivalries renewed,” Hahn said.

NewCath, Bellevue and Dayton come on consecutive weeks from October 6-20.

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