Three wins. That’s it.
That’s how far seven northern Kentucky teams are away from claiming a state championship. Three of them will have to go on the road this week, four of them will be hosting region championship games as they try to move the magic number from three to two.
Below is links you can find to stream or listen to each game and a brief outlook of each contest.
Class 6A
Central Hardin (4-8) at No. 5 Ryle (10-2), 7 p.m.
Watch/listen: T1sports
Outlook: How is a 4-8 team in a region championship game one might wonder? Well the Bruins started the season 0-6 and have gone 4-2 since, including two playoff wins over 1-10 Christian County and 6-6 McCracken County. There’s no doubt about it, Ryle enters this game as a heavy favorite and are looking to put up a running clock on a seventh straight opponent. Of their last six running clock games, five of them have come before halftime, the only one that didn’t came with 10 minutes and change in the third quarter against Great Crossing. The Raiders are rolling.
The 6A bracket has really opened up for the Raiders. If they win and everything else goes according to plan (last week tells us that’s far from a sure thing), they’d then host Great Crossing next week for a right to go to the state championship game at Kroger Field.
But the Raiders will have to hone in on the task at hand first, the Bruins a run heavy team that have run it 507 times this season compared to just 73 passing attempts and completing just 23 of them. With the challenge Ryle presents up front, Central Hardin’s way of offense could come with some tough sledding. Ryle’s starting defense has been downright nasty, they’ve allowed just two touchdowns during their six-game winning streak.
Class 5A
Southwestern (7-5) at No. 1 Cooper (12-0), 7:30 p.m.
Watch/listen: 859sportsradio.com
Outlook: A region championship rematch from a season ago where the Jaguars went on the road and upended the Warriors, 24-14. Southwestern started its season 0-3, but have gone 7-2 since. Cooper is trying keep its perfect season alive as they aim to go 15-0. The Jaguars have won 20 of their last 21 games, the lone loss in the state championship last year to Bowling Green.
Cooper continues to fire on all cylinders offensively, they’ve scored on all but three possessions so far in the postseason, gashing South Oldham first and then followed it up with a romp of Scott County. While Cam O’Hara and the prolific passing attack continues to spin the wheel, Keagan Maher and the rushing attack have taken things up a notch. Maher has 301 yards rushing in the two postseason games with five touchdowns.
Southwestern has pitched three shutouts in their last five games, but the competition will ramp up quite a bit come Friday night in Union.
Pulaski County (8-4) at No. 4 Highlands (10-2), 7:30 p.m.
Watch/listen: Youtube, Bluebirdsradio.com
Outlook: The Bluebirds continued with their offensive onslaught as last week’s 55-38 victory over Woodford County marked the sixth straight game where they’ve scored at least 42 points. They’re doing it with so much balance, last week alone six different guys ran the ball, three of them scoring touchdowns. They collected 613 yards of offense in the victory. It’s the same Woodford County team Pulaski lost to on Sept. 20, 31-22.
The Maroons will present a rather balanced offense when they come to Fort Thomas on Friday, they’ve racked up 2,350 rushing yards and 2,142 passing yards on the season.
These two haven’t met since 2015, when the Maroons won the Class 5A state semifinal matchup.
If Highlands, Cooper, Bowling Green and South Warren all win on Friday, it sets up a state semifinal rematch between the Bluebirds and Jaguars, this time on Cooper’s homefield next week.
Class 4A
No. 6 Covington Catholic (10-2) at No. 1 Boyle County (12-0), 7:30 p.m.
Watch/Listen: Hometownlive.net
Outlook: This was the Class 4A state championship last year and the two meet in the region championship round this year. The Rebels come into this one rolling, a 32-game winning streak as they continue their quest for a fifth straight state title. The winning streak is the ninth longest in state history.
The Colonels win streak is also in double-digits, rattling off 10 wins in a row after an 0-2 start to the season. Rushing defense is the stat to look at for Boyle County, where they’re strong in allowing 114.4 yards per game on the ground. The Colonels will need to improve their offensive output from a week ago where they struggled to get much going in a 14-13 victory over Johnson Central, collecting just 132 total yards.
Boyle’s offense comes with incredible efficiency at quarterback in Baylor Murphy, completing 76% of his passes while throwing for 1,978 yards and 29 touchdowns with just one interception. The Colonels will not only need to try and make things difficult for Murphy, but target Rebel standouts Demauriah Brown and Montavin Quisenberry. Brown leads the team in rushing with 1,344 yards and 16 touchdowns while Quisenberry, a University of Kentucky commit, has 1,332 yards rushing and receiving with 24 touchdowns.
Class 2A
Martin County (9-3) at No. 2 Beechwood (11-1), 7 p.m.
Watch/Listen: Beechwood Sports Radio Network
Outlook: Beechwood hasn’t had a game within 24 points in the fourth quarter since Sept. 20. Two months since a meaningful play call has been made in the second half with a game still in the balance.
This is a rematch of last year’s region championship, a 55-0 Tigers victory.
If Beechwood wins this one, they’ll then turn to scoreboard watching, checking in on the Lexington Christian Academy-Mayfield result. If things hold true in Class 2A and Owensboro Catholic wins, the Tigers play the Eagles-Cardinals winner. If LCA wins, Beechwood hosts LCA, if Mayfield wins, the Tigers make the long bus ride and play at Mayfield next week.
Martin County will bring a run-heavy attack with them, running it at about a 3:1 ratio compared to the pass. Devan Maynard provides a dual-threat at quarterback, rushing for 1,181 yards and 20 touchdowns while passing for 856 yards and 12 touchdowns. He’s also thrown 10 interceptions, a Beechwood secondary that’s picked off 14 passes this season chomping at the bit.
Class 1A
No. 6 Newport Central Catholic (9-3) at No. 4 Campbellsville (10-2), 7 p.m.
Watch/listen: NFHS, wtcoradio.com
Outlook: A rematch of last year’s region championship round where NewCath hopes to flip things over to their side this year after a 28-23 loss last season. With a strong senior class and a battle tested schedule, the Thoroughbreds are ripe for what would be considered a mild upset.
These two have a lot of similarities on paper. They both run it compared to pass at about a 2:1 ratio, do a good job of forcing turnovers and the yardage production offensively is rather similar. The ‘Breds will have to contain duel-threat quarterback Kace Eastridge, who’s tallied 1,761 yards passing and 15 touchdowns along with 1,104 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns. NewCath will rely heavily on bellcow Kaleb Cole, tallying 965 yards and 22 touchdowns in the running game while Eddie Bivens and Louie Collopy bring big play ability to the backfield with nearly 10 yards per carry and 13 touchdowns on 85 carries combined.
No. 7 Newport (9-2) at No. 2 Kentucky Country Day (9-2), 7:30 p.m.
Outlook: Defense travles in the postseason and Newport hopes its defense can continue playing at a lockdown level, allowing just seven points over their last four games. They get after it up front, racking up 98 tackles for loss and 32.5 sacks on the season so far.
KCD brings a rather balanced rushing attack as four different guys have 42 carries on the season, led by Parker Rudolph’s 989 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns. They don’t move it through the air much, averaging a little over 60 passing yards per game.
Ball security will be a big key in this one, KCD has 16 fumble recoveries, one of the top teams in 1A in doing so.
This is Newport’s first region championship appearance in a decade.