“Well done,” Covington Catholic coach Eddie Eviston said Friday.
And it was.
The Colonels gained 514 total yards, junior Dylan Gaiser scored three touchdowns, and the defense intercepted four Simon Kenton passes in a 42-3 running clock win at Dennis Griffin Stadium.
“It was really all the line,” Gaiser said. “If I had an open hole, it was because of the line. I really didn’t do anything.”
Indeed, if anyone earned at least a steak dinner or a five-course meal, it was CovCath’s offensive line – center Mason Dietz, guards Tucker Evans and Mitchell Woolf and tackles Johnny Lind and Andrew Huber. The Colonels gained 406 rushing yards – including Gaiser’s 210 and three touchdowns on runs of 38, 76 and 40 and Cash Harney’s 126.
For the night, the Colonels averaged 10.4 yards on 49 plays.
CovCath’s (1-2) defense earned a four-course meal, too – it held Simon Kenton (2-1) to only 51 yards on the ground and intercepted four Brady Lee passes.
“Not much went right,” Simon Kenton coach Roy Lucas said. “We’ve got some adjustments we need to make.”
Lee and Grayson Harris were the Pioneers’ major contributors. Lee was 21-of-32 for 208 yards, and Harris had 10 catches for 159.
“We moved the ball and had some success,” Lucas said. “We didn’t convert when we needed to.”
Gaiser amassed his yards on just 14 carries for an average of 15 yards per attempt. It didn’t matter if he ran around right end (the 38-yard score on the Colonels’ opening drive) or untouched up the middle on the 76- and 40-yarders.
“It was a combination of Dylan hitting the hole really hard and fast … but up front, man, they really locked in to what they were supposed to do,” Eviston said. “We concentrated on each guy on the line doing their job and not trying to fix anything else. Sometimes, when they think too much, they play slow. Our guys didn’t play slow (Friday).”
Harney’s eight-yard pass to Owen Pitzer with 27 seconds to go in the first quarter featured Harney on the ground (two carries for 36 yards) and through the air (a 23-yarder to Zach Brooks).
Simon Kenton’s best drive began late in the first quarter. Harris caught three passes for 41 yards and Jackson Miller had one for 18. Tyler Eveland’s 30-yard field goal was the Pioneers’ only points.
For the rest of the night, CovCath interceptions ended Pioneer drives. Brady Guard, Henry Atkins, Tate Kruer and Zach Brooks each had one.
Andrew Bessler’s two rushing touchdowns, a 6-yarder with 2:53 to go in the third quarter and a 9-yarder with 5:59 left in the fourth, ended the scoring.
And so CovCath started to atone for losses to Ryle and Highlands.
“We just really cleaned everything up and put everything together as a team,” Gaiser said.
COLONELS 42, PIONEERS 3
SIMON KENTON — 0-3-0-0 — 3
COV. CATHOLIC — 13-15-7-7 — 42
Scoring Plays
First quarter
CC-Dylan Geiser 38 run (Ryan Urti kick), 7:21
CC-Owen Pitzer 8 pass from Cash Harney (kick blocked), :27.1
Second quarter
SK-Tyler Eveland 30 field goal, 8:56
CC-Gaiser 76 run (Henry Atkins run), 7:54
CC-Gaiser 40 run (Urti kick), 2:45
Third quarter
CC-Andrew Bessler 6 run (Urti kick), 2:53
Fourth quarter
Bessler 9 run (Urti kick), 5:59
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Simon Kenton (Lee 21-32-208-0 TD-4 INT); CovCath 108 (Harney 9-16-108-1 YD-0 INT).
Rushing Yards: Simon Kenton 51 (Lee 5-6, Weaver 2-(minus-4), Brown 2-17, Turner 4-27, Gilbert 5-6); CovCath 406 (Harney 10-126, Gaiser 14-210, Sanning 1-12, Lampe 1-3, Cogswell 1-17)
Receiving: Simon Kenton 208 (Lee 1-(minus-8), Weaver 4-(minus-2), Harris 10-159, Turner 4-34, Miller 1-14, Gilbert 1-11, Back 0-0); CovCath 108 (Brooks, 3-40, Kruer 2-15, Gaiser 1-31, Weis 1-3, Krallman 0-0, Pitzer 1-8, Sanning 1-11, Bradshaw 0-0).
First downs: Simon Kenton 15, CovCath 23.
Turnovers: Simon Kenton 4, CovCath 0.
Penalties: Simon Kenton 5-35, CovCath 5-43.
Records: Simon Kenton 2-1, Covington Catholic 1-2.