FAIRDALE, Ky. – It would be easy, logical, and sensible to look at Beechwood’s two-time defending Kentucky champs with the state’s longest win streak to defend and then factor in the departure of Mr. Football, Cam Hergott, the leader the last two years and ask: Doesn’t this Tiger team have to take a step back?
Especially when you consider the impact of heir-apparent Clay Hayden, the strong-armed sophomore who had a big scrimmage throwing the ball against Ohio’s No. 1 team, Lakota West, having to sit out much of the regular season with a crack in his femur suffered in last week’s scrimmage against Cooper.
And finally, you had Antonio Robinson Jr., the heralded Florida transfer, the No. 2 college prospect in all of Kentucky heading to Wake Forest after the first semester, a multi-position defensive specialist with outstanding speed and skill who could jump in at quarterback among other offensive positions, missing the opener at the King of the Bluegrass/UPS Bowl at Louisville Fairdale High School Saturday night with a lingering hamstring issue.
And stepping in on the road as the Tigers’ third choice at quarterback, was a 14-year-old freshman, Cash Harney, going against host Louisville Fairdale, a 5A team that finished 7-6 a year ago.
So yes, it would be easy, logical, and sensible to say, “Uh oh,” about Beechwood’s chances to win its 24th straight game, or at least to do so in impressive fashion, outdoing last year’s win here.
It would also be wrong.
For the second straight season, Beechwood shut out Fairdale’s Bulldogs. Can’t lose when you don’t let the other team score.
And with Harney looking every bit the 14-year-old freshman but not playing like one, showing why he was the on-floor leader for the Beechwood varsity basketball team a year ago as an eighth-grader, this year’s Beechwood team even outscored last year’s Tigers here with 36 points.
So there you are, no returning quarterback leader and the first two talented guys who were supposed to step in stepped out. And it didn’t matter.
Beechwood 36, Fairdale 0.
Having a bunch of sure-tackling defenders helped even though it’s not easy to be in midseason form for Game 1 these days with the practice limitations. And yet if Fairdale had a first down, which we’re sure they must have, we don’t remember it. But it didn’t matter. The Beechwood defense wouldn’t let the Fairdale offense do anything.
Unlike Harney, who ran it and passed it but more than anything, handed it off to 200-pound senior Mitch Berger, who “did everything but sell popcorn,” Beechwood Coach Noel Rash said with a laugh.
Although we’re not sure about the popcorn sales. Berger did take a few plays off from his job as workhorse running back whose No. 30 seemed a predictor for how many carries he would get although unofficially that number was 24 (for an unofficial 212 yards, three touchdowns with 11 of the carries producing first downs.
He also caught it, stole it, kicked it, punted it, you name it. The future baseball player for Eastern Kentucky and certain candidate for Mr. Football eased freshman Harney into his first high school start.
“I love him, he’s got heart,” Berger said of Harney, whose ability “to get out of the pocket when the pocket collapsed” was the big surprise.
Although the freshman’s leadership was not a surprise. “He was an eighth-grader starting varsity,” Berger said of Harney. “He did a real good job stepping up. All I told him was ‘Trust yourself’.”
What Cash did, he said, was trust Mitch. “Having him in there gives you confidence,” said Harney whose faith in himself jumped by leaps and bounds as the game went on. “He was just getting more reps,” Rash said, “he’s only been first-team quarterback since Monday.”
But Berger, it seems like he’s been in Ft. Mitchell forever. All the big hitter on defense did was hit a 60-yard rugby style punt, then run another fake punt for 10 yards and a first down, then run through, around and past multiple defenders for his three touchdowns from eight, three, and four yards out while setting up one of those with a perfect wheel route ending with a two-toe-tap circus catch inches inside the out-of-bounds line.
Asked his favorite play, Berger, a man of few words, said simply: “I like the running.” And despite playing high-level baseball all summer and not quite having himself in football shape yet, “I knew the workload was going to go up,” he said.
Our favorite might have been the moment he ripped the ball out of a Bulldog back’s arms, flipped it into the air and cradled it into his arms before it hit the ground.
Although the more this game went on, considering how stout the Beechwood defense was proving to be and how comfortable Harney was running the team, Berger was able to get a breather or two.
And Harney was able to air it out more and more. He finished unofficially with nine of 13 for 94 yards and a TD with another 20 yards net on six scrambles, all but two of them called plays.
He finished the night with a 15-yard TD toss to Liam McCormick and earlier, handed it to Alex Courtney for a burst into the end zone from the 14.
“He’s a talented young man,” Rash said of his freshman quarterback, “he handles himself real well around older kids.” Although there is this: “There’s a big difference between 18-year-olds and 14-year-olds,” Rash said. And yet, Cash bridged that difference.
And next week against Paintsville at home, when Robinson is scheduled to return, he’ll have even more help. “Hamstrings are unique injuries,” Rash says of the cautious schedule for Antonio’s debut. “People will be surprised at how well he throws the ball when he’s in there.”
Of Berger, Rash raved: “He’s incredible, an awesome kid.”
As for Hayden, “He’ll be back before the playoffs,” Rash said. “Bone injuries heal at different speeds.”
But that’s for then. For now, there’s 14-year-old Cash Harney in charge. “A lot of kids would have been eaten up by the moment,” Rash said. “But he wasn’t. That’s what’s so impressive about all our kids. We just needed more reps.”
And now they – and Harney – have them. If there was one surprise for him, Harney said, “it was how the game slowed up for me. I was nervous at first.”
He’s not now. Maybe Beechwood’s opponents should be.
