Each week, throughout the season, make sure to come here on Monday’s (outside of Labor Day) to check out the weekly standouts and 10 takeaways from Friday night.
We’ll highlight the 200-yard passers, 100-yard rushers, 100-yard receivers, defensive standouts and kicking standouts.
The criteria has changed for the defensive standout list. The minimum is at least 10 tackles or multiple tackles for loss. As always, if a turnover is recorded, then you make the list, to me that’s the ultimate goal of a defense. Kicking standouts will include at least four successful extra-points and or any field goals made.
First and 10 (10 takeaways from Friday night)
— Beechwood hit everyone with the “WOW” factor Friday night. While everyone certainly knew what talent they had returning, they dominated an Indian Hill team that was a state semifinalist a season ago that returned a Division I athlete at quarterback. It was never a game. The Tigers returned the opening kickoff and dominated in all phases. They get Dixie Heights and then Simon Kenton the next two weeks, followed by the showdown in the neighborhood rivalry with Covington Catholic. If they can get through those unscathed, they most likely won’t have to worry about a road playoff game this year. LCA and Owensboro Catholic have already taken losses in the early part of the year, which bodes well for the Tigers when it comes down to the RPI.
— Since 2022, Lloyd Memorial has built itself into a legitimate program. With a 2-0 start to the season, it means they are 44-10 over their last 54 games with two state semifinal appearances. Enjoy it, Erlanger. What Kyle Niederman and his staff are doing is great. They share the love on offense with defenders flying all over the place. While Christian Academy-Louisville is the unquestioned top team in 3A, could this be the year the Juggernauts breakthrough and get to Kroger Field?
— The unquestioned top three teams in Northern Kentucky right now are Beechwood, Covington Catholic and Highlands. There’s a big gap from there I believe. However, the next group of teams looks to be competitive and should create some tight district races. Especially keeping an eye on the Class 6A, District 6 (Ryle, Simon Kenton, Campbell County), Class 5A, District 5 (Cooper, Conner, Dixie Heights, Boone County) Class 1A, District 3 (Newport Central Catholic, Newport, Dayton) and Class 1A, District 4 (Holy Cross, Ludlow, Bishop Brossart) races.
— Dayton hasn’t started 3-0 since 2020 and have the chance to do so Friday when they host Owen County. The Greendevils returned a lot and look to be a potential threat to both Newport Central Catholic and Newport in the Class 1A, District 3 race. They’ve outscored the opponent 83-7 in the first two games and if they can get past the Rebels, the Sept. 11 matchup with Ludlow can be an intriuging one if the Panthers can beat Walton-Verona this week and set up a matchup of two 3-0 teams.
— Not many bright spots for Bishop Brossart in its 42-0 loss to Sayre, but Brady Boruske has shown early on what he can do. He’s recorded back-to-back 100-yard receiving games to open up the season and has two interceptions on the year.
— Holy Cross has now won 12 straight regular season games after dismantling Bracken County on Friday. They’ve outscored the opponent 74-13 in their 2-0 start and we really might not see them tested until Oct. 9 when they play Bishop Brossart. Their next four games are against Clermont Northeastern (Ohio), Holmes, Eminence and Harlan County.
— A disturbing trend…blowouts. The margin of victory in NKY in Week 1 was 26.5 points spread out over 12 games. The margin of victory in Week 2 was 25.9 points over 16 games. Just seven of 28 games have been decided by single-digits.
— The battle of Union takes place this week at Cooper. It will be the 20th all-time matchup between Ryle and Cooper. Ryle is 14-5 all-time head to head and won nine in a row before the Jaguars have won the last two meetings.
— While we got a tease with some college football games over the weekend, things really get going this upcoming weekend. Looking at the slate, there’s eight FBS games on Friday night. Can we stop scheduling those on Friday and move them to Thursday or Saturday? Let’s leave Friday nights to the high school kids.
— The first statewide media poll will be released on Wednesday. How many NKY teams will show up in their respective top 10’s?
200-yard passers
Dylan Courtney, Covington Catholic — 12/26, 313 yds, 2 TD
Xander Guy, Campbell County — 10/18, 269 yds, 4 TD
Nash Overholser, Scott — 10/28 225 yds, 4 TD
Emmett Queen, Beechwood — 11/12, 200 yds, 2 TD
100-yard rushers
Malik Johnson, Boone County — 18 rushes, 163 yds, 2 TD
Dustin Wilson, Holy Cross — 7 rushes, 114 yds, TD
Deaken Reed, Ludlow — 16 rushes, 110 yds
Bryce Armstrong, Highlands — 11 rushes, 102 yds
Vander Hundemer, Newport Central Catholic — 28 rushes, 101 yds
100-yard receivers
Jason Fedor, Covington Catholic — 3 rec, 146 yds, TD
Ayden Earls, Campbell County — 3 rec, 142 yds, TD
Tyler Fryman, Beechwood — 6 rec, 111 yds, TD
Brady Boruske, Bishop Brossart — 6 rec, 103 yds
Defensive standouts
Samuel Ishmael, Scott — 17 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Max Meyer, Newport Central Catholic — 15 tackles, fumble recovery
Mateo Granados, Boone County — 13 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, forced fumble
Quinten Tischner, Bishop Brossart — 13 tackles, tackle for loss
Deaken Reed, Ludlow — 12 tackles, 4 tackles for loss
Austin Grant Ashcraft — 11 tackles, tackle for loss, fumble recovery
Dustin Wilson, Holy Cross — 10 tackles, punt block for TD
Colton Turner, Scott — 10 tackles
Jesse Nunn, Ryle — 9 tackles, .5 sack
Aidyn Fortner, Bellevue — 8 tackles, sack, forced fumble
Ben Griffiths, Ludlow — 8 tackles, 3 tackles for loss
George Mintch, Boone County — 8 tackles, sack, tackle for loss
Andre Englemon Jr., Ludlow — 8 tackles, forced fumble
Hayden Wright, Ryle — 8 tackles, sack
Charles Oglesby, Holy Cross — 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Nick Hackler, Ludlow — 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Jason Rieselman, Holy Cross — 7 tackles, interception
Corey Freihofer, Cooper — 7 tackles, interception
Malik Johnson, Boone County — 6 tackles, fumble recovery
Hunter Rose, Boone County — 6 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, sack
Maddox Arnold, Ludlow — 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Joe Oswald, Newport Central Catholic — 6 tackles, forced fumble
Andrew Smith, Ryle — 6 tackles, interception
Malachi Snapp, Scott — 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, sack
Jacob Rieselman, Holy Cross — 5 tackles, fumble recovery
Jacob Cook, Ludlow — 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Charlie Park, Ryle — 5 tackles, interception, fumble recovery
Kaydenn Marshall, Scott — 5 tackles, interception
David Clark, Bellevue — 4 tackles, fumble recovery
Dallas Harrington, Newport — 4 tackles, fumble recovery
Brady Boruske, Bishop Brossart — 4 tackles, tackle for loss, interception
Grady Lucas, Campbell County — 4 tackles, interception
Max Hunt, Holy Cross — 3 tackles, forced fumble
Avery Conrad, Lloyd Memorial — 3 tackles, interception
Marjae Peterson, Lloyd Memorial — 3 tackles, interception
Hudson Ruth, Bishop Brossart — 2 tackles, forced fumble
Jackson Arvin, Ryle — 2 tackles, fumble recovery
Joseph Appel, Campbell County — 2 sacks
Tayden Lorenzen, Highlands — 2 tackles for loss, interception return for TD
Javier Diaz, Boone County — kickoff return for TD
Nathan Pabst, Beechwood — kickoff return for TD
Aiden Seibert, Campbell County — interception, punt return for TD
Cahlil Johnson, Holy Cross — interception
Kamare McClendon, Holy Cross — interception
Dom Listerman, Highlands — forced fumble
Cota Sharp, Highlands — fumble recovery
Sean Hurry, Newport — fumble recovery
Kicking standouts
Nuno Gomes, Lloyd Memorial — 5/5 PAT
Parker Shaw, Highlands — 1/1 FG, 1/1 PAT
Jack Basinger, Ryle — 1/1 FG, 3/4 PAT
Missing stats from: Conner, Dayton, Holmes, Simon Kenton, St. Henry
