Both teams had huge motivating factors aside from the bragging rights.
The Campbell County Camels wanted to start the new era with Brian Weinrich as head coach on a great note and Newport Central Catholic wanted to earn some huge ratings percentage index points for later rounds of the playoffs. Campbell County did not have players going both directions and it paid off in the 28-18 win, especially on the offensive line.
“I’m having a blast,” Weinrich said. “The guys are showing up excited to be there. They want to get coached. They want to work hard. They want to get better. From our first practice to our first scrimmage to now, it’s so much fun to see so much improvement.”
NewCath played this home game at Thomas More. The Thoroughbreds will play four more home games at Covington Catholic. Newport Stadium is not available this year because of the condemned stands.
The Camels led 13-0 in the second quarter but NewCath fought back and had the chance to tie the game on one point-after touchdown and take the lead on another. The Thoroughbreds did not score on any of their three two-point conversion attempts while Campbell County Junior kicker Kaden Rose made 2-of-3 PAT kicks and the Camels scored on their lone two-point try.
“We just played every play. We could have got our heads down at 13-0,” said Stephen Lickert, NewCath head coach. “We didn’t. We have a lot of good football players. We played against a team that has 82 (varsity) football players. Campbell County’s school has grown so much. Our kids fought to the end and we’re proud of them.”
Campbell County wound up running 72 plays behind that offensive line led through the likes of senior Seth Webb, Dylan Schulkers and Caden Moldt putting up 444 yards of total offense for an average of just more than six yards per play eating up the clock. On the other side, NewCath ran 46 plays for 229 yards for an average of just less than five yards per play. Lickert did note however that Campbell County is the lone team the Thoroughbreds will play that can two-platoon players.
“We run the plays non-stop all day in practice,” Webb said. “We all have a great mentality going. We all motivate each other to keep doing better. I think this win really made us all see what we’re capable of.”
The Camels ran the ball 43 times for 292 yards for an average of between six and seven yards compared to 63 yards on 23 carries for between two and three yards for the Thoroughbreds. Campbell County had 29 first downs to 15 for NewCath.
NewCath especially had no answer for the dynamic running tandem of junior quarterback Nathan Smith and junior running back Joseph Amato. The Camels ran a lot of read plays and even faked some jet sweeps to keep NewCath honest out of the spread offense. Smith rushed for 191 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns for an average of about eight yards per carry and Amato had 80 yards rushing for an average of five per carry.
“The (offensive) line has been working hard all week in practice,” Smith said. “I just run right behind them. They’re making me look good. This offense has a ton of weapons and that wasn’t even the start of it. We got plenty more to show.”
But the Thoroughbreds could not load up the box to defend the run. Smith completed 15 of 27 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. Senior wide receiver Dez Davie had six catches for 53 yards and a touchdown with sophomore Jaiden Combs catching four passes for 63 yards and junior wide receiver Dawson Craddock had four for 26 yards.
Junior quarterback Kolton Smith completed 13 of 23 passes for 166 yards for the Thoroughbreds. Senior Matt Landrum had five catches for 71 yards and senior Luke Runyon had three for 56 yards. Junior Demetrick Welch rushed for 34 yards and a touchdown and caught four passes for 24 yards.
Runyon, Smith and senior linebacker Brady Reckers led the Thoroughbreds defensively. Runyon had 13 tackles with Smith and Reckers making 7.5 each.
Campbell County took its opening possession after a NewCath punt and marched right down the field. Nathan Smith ran a sweep to the right and scored with 7:05 to give the Camels the lead for good at 6-0.
NewCath tried to answer converting a huge fourth down. The Thoroughbreds drove to the Campbell County 18 before senior defensive back Jakob Fahlbush intercepted a Kolton Smith pass in Camel territory to end the drive.
“Our defense still has a lot of things to work on as our whole team does,” Fahlbush said. “If we can keep making plays consistently like we did, we’ll be alright. We have to get better in coverage and we have to make sure we’re filling all the gaps on our (defensive) line. Linebackers have to get in their drops and corners like myself have to make sure no one gets those deep balls.”
The Camels marched right down the field and scored just 36 seconds into second quarter. Campbell County sophomore Garyn Jackson rolled out and found Davie in the end zone for the score putting the Camels up 13-0.
But the Thoroughbreds responded with their own drive. Kolton Smith pushed behind his offensive line for the 2-yard touchdown with about seven minutes left in the first half cutting the lead to 13-6.
Campbell County had a 3rd-and-1 from its own 29 on the next drive. But after a bad snap that saw senior defensive lineman Nic Shafer drop Amato for a 1-yard loss, Campbell County called timeout and decided to go for it with the success the offensive line had been having so far on 4th-and-2.
But another bad snap led to Reckers dropping Nathan Smith for two yards and the Thoroughbreds took over at the Campbell County 26. Minutes later, Welch cut outside and scored from 13 yards out to cut the Camel lead to 13-12.
After four punts, Campbell County drove to the NewCath 11 and had one second to add to the lead. Nathan Smith hit Combs in the right corner of the end zone. But an ineligible player downfield penalty negated the score. The Camels did not score on the final play leaving the score 13-12 at halftime.
“We all made mistakes. But we all made plays at different times to pick the team up,” Weinrich said. “That’s what you have to do. All these guys know each other. The coaches know each other. It’s a fun game. NC’s going to be just fine. They’re going to play one heck of a non-district schedule. We’ll be rooting for them when they make a run in the playoffs.”
The Camels drove to the NewCath 4 to start the third quarter. But Landrum picked off a Nathan Smith pass on the right side and returned it to the NewCath 23.
However, Campbell County scored on its next drive when Smith scored on an 11-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 20-12 with 1:45 left in the third quarter. But NewCath responded with its own drive that finished when Kolton Smith scored from two yards out to trim the lead to 20-18.
“It makes a big difference,” Lickert said of the two-point conversions. “(Senior wide receiver) Nick Rouse is our long snapper. He got hurt (early) in the game so we had some issues snapping the ball so we had to go for two there. If we get that, it’s 20-20 and it changes things. But they scored again and we’d have to scramble to score. It would be tough. But credit Campbell County for playing well. I’m very happy for those kids as well.”
The Camels then took more than five minutes off the clock. Nathan Smith finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown run and senior Keegan Hill found Amato for the two-point pass to make the final score.
NewCath did drive to the Campbell County 22 on its next drive. But a bad snap put them in a 2nd-and-28 at the Camel 40. The Thoroughbreds threw three straight incompletions giving the ball back to the Camels, who ran out the clock.
Both teams resume non-district action this Friday. Campbell County travels to Woodford County (1-0) at 7:30 p.m. and NewCath plays host to Holmes (1-0) at 7 p.m.
Box Score:
Campbell County 6 7 7 8 – 28
Newport Central Catholic 0 12 0 6 – 18
First Quarter:
7:05 CAMPBELL COUNTY – Nathan Smith 1-yard run (kick failed)
Second Quarter:
11:24 CAMPBELL COUNTY – Garyn Jackson 8-yard pass to Dez Davie (Lockland Carmichael kick)
6:50 NEWCATH – Kolton Smith 2-yard run (Pass failed).
2:25 NEWCATH – Demetrick Welch 13-yard run (Run failed).
Third Quarter:
1:45 CAMPBELL COUNTY – Nathan Smith 12-yard run (Carmichael kick)
Fourth Quarter:
9:15 NEWCATH – Kolton Smith 2-yard run (Pass failed).
3:57 CAMPBELL COUNTY – Nathan Smith 3-yard run (Joseph Amato pass from Keegan Hill).
