We’re now officially past the halfway point of the regular season as every team in the state has been scheduled for at least six games.
There’s still a lot of football left with four weeks of the regular season and for those that keep advancing…five weeks of the postseason. So for the teams with state title aspirations, we’re about halfway there.
Each week, throughout the season, make sure to come here on Monday’s 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.
First and 10 (10 takeaways from Friday)
— Props to Boone County, who honored the life and legacy of Dave Trosper and recognized the 40th anniversary of the 1986 state championship team in Friday’s game with Conner. Trosper played on the ’86 team and continued to make his mark on NKY football as a longtime coach of the Conner football program. No better time to do it as the Rebels faced Conner, two teams Trosper put his imprint on before tragically passing away in June of 2025 at 55 years old.
— Shout out St. Henry. The Crusaders have doubled their win total from their inaugural season in 2025 and with two more wins over Bracken County and Walton-Verona, they can earn themselves a home playoff game. Football programs aren’t easy to hit the ground running successfully right away, but the Crusaders are taking the challenge head on and are on a path to not only a winning season, but potentially hosting a playoff game as well. They’ve won four straight to get to 4-2 and will face quite the task on Friday at home against Beechwood.
— Highlands. Shew. They are rolling right now. Six straight wins by an average of 36.3 points per game. Friday’s game with CovCath wasn’t as close as the final score indicated either, holding a 38-7 lead headed into the fourth quarter. They face Elder (Ohio) this week, which will certainly test that streak. The bad thing, a game against one of Ohio’s top teams will actually hurt their RPI. The Bluebirds are currently 4th in RPI in 4A, meaning they could potentially be on the path for a road game in the state semifinals. A season finale at 5A Scott County will loom large for RPI for Highlands. Scott County is No. 3 in RPI in 5A.
— Thursday night is a big one in the Class 5A, 5th District. With some fall breaks taking place this week, a few NKY teams have moved their games up to Thursday and two big matchups present themselves in that district. Conner hosts Dixie Heights in what will basically be a battle for a home playoff game. Both sit at 1-1 in district play, both lost to Cooper and both have a win over either Boone County or Scott. The winner has the leg up on the No. 2 seed as long as they win their final district game. Dixie Heights finishes district play against Boone County, Conner against Scott. Speaking of Boone County and Scott, their matchup on Thursday in Taylor Mill should be treated like a playoff game. The winner will most likely be the No. 4 seed in the district and earn their way into the playoffs while the loser will be on the outside looking in on the playoff picture.
— Here’s some other big district matchups Friday: Ryle at Campbell County, Bishop Brossart vs Holy Cross, Newport at NewCath
— Beechwood’s Tyler Fryman and Emmett Queen continue their climb up the Tigers all-time record books. Fryman’s three touchdowns against Walton-Verona give him 64 for his career, putting him top five all-time in program history behind Cam Vocke (85), Brandon Berger (73), Chase Flaherty (72) and Logan Castleman (70). Second is certainly in reach with a long playoff run for the Tigers. If they make the state title game, it means he’d have nine games to score nine touchdowns and tie Berger for second. Queen’s two first half touchdown passes gave him 52 in his 19-game career at Beechwood.
— Catch or no catch? That was a big debate Friday night when Lloyd Memorial’s Marjae Peterson was ruled out of bounds at the back of the end zone as time expried in a 41-34 game. Even slowing the video down and taking a still photo, it’s hard to tell, but it does look like the toes are in bounds. It’s an extremely tough call to make in that moment and it’s a shame fans were allowed to be right there on top of the action to influence the call. In a game that most likely decides the regular season district champ, what a game it was. I’d imagine Lloyd was going for two and the win if the catch was ruled complete.
— Speaking of going for two, did you see Covington Catholic grad Willie Rodriguez catch the game-winning two point conversion in Kentucky’s 35-34 win at South Carolina on Saturday? Rodriguez finished with five catches for 57 yards.
— Staying on the CovCath tight ends theme, Michael Mayer had his second best game as a pro on Sunday in the Raiders 30-27 loss to the Chiefs. Mayer hauled in eight receptions for 82 yards on 10 targets. Last season, he had a nine reception, 89-yard performance against the Giants. Through four games this season, Mayer has 20 receptions for 169 yards and a touchdown.
— Congrats to Thomas More on picking up their first win of the season. In a scheduling oddity, it was the Saints first home game this season five games in, improving to 1-4. It was a 24-21 victory over No. 25 Walsh University as Highlands grad Davis Burleigh kicked the game winning field goal. Conner grad ben Fay had a receiving touchdown, as did Cooper grad Jaidan Combs.
200-yard passers
Zach Kostopolous, Cooper — 22/33, 231 yds, 3 TD
Xander Guy, Campbell County — 16/28, 216 yds, 3 TD
Miller Reed, Ludlow — 13/20, 206 yds, 4 TD
Emmett Queen, Beechwood — 8/13, 200 yds, 2 TD
100-yard rushers
Lucas Pate, St. Henry — 20 rushes, 223 yds, 4 TD
Colten Barger, Lloyd Memorial — 19 rushes, 141 yds, 2 TD
Levi Gilliland, Dixie Heights — 31 rushes, 134 yds, 2 TD
Kiyan Miller, Covington Catholic — 16 rushes, 113 yds, 2 TD
Corey Freihofer, Cooper — 24 rushes, 112 yds, TD
Jayden Watson, Ludlow — 12 rushes, 100 yds
100-yard receivers
Tyler Fryman, Beechwood — 4 receptions, 101 yds
Defensive standouts
Brad Roaden, Dixie Heights — 14 tackles, forced fumble
Steven Hardin, Ludlow — 13 tackles, tackle for loss
William Stevie, Newport Central Catholic — 12 tackles, forced fumble
Dustin Wilson, Holy Cross — 12 tackles
Kevin Buanga, Cooper — 11 tackles
Evan Link, Covington Catholic — 11 tackles
Austin Grant Ashcraft, Ludlow — 10 tackles, 3 tackles for loss
Jake Atmore, Beechwood — 10 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Landry Queen, Beechwood — 10 tackles, tackle for loss
Charles Oglesby, Holy Cross — 10 tackles, tackle for loss
Jamison Murphy, Newport Central Catholic — 10 tackles
Demareon Peterson, Lloyd Memorial — 9 tackles, 3 tackles for loss
Christian Inanbit, Cooper — 9 tackles
Levi Gilliland, Dixie Heights — 9 tackles
Phenix Hundemer, Newport Central Catholic — 9 tackles
Max Meyer, Newport Central Catholic — 8 tackles, forced fumble
Carson Clark, Cooper — 8 tackles
Kamare McClendon, Holy Cross — 8 tackles
Jason Rieselman, Holy Cross — 8 tackles
Lincoln Tomlinson, Lloyd Memorial — 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Ben Griffiths, Ludlow — 6 tackles, .5 sack, tackle for loss, forced fumble
Grady Lucas, Campbell County — 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Marjae Peterson, Lloyd Memorial — 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
William Salveson, Ludlow — 5 tackles, fumble recovery
Alex Riedinger, Campbell County — 4 tackles, tackle for loss, interception, defensive TD
Kingston Brockett, Beechwood — 4 tackles, 3 tackles for loss
Aiden Dolan, Lloyd Memorial — 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Brandon Carter, Lloyd Memorial — 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Griffin Eaton, Campbell County — 3 tackles, sack, 3 tackles for loss
Vander Hundemer, Newport Central Catholic — 3 tackles, fumble recovery
Jude Lambert-Morith, St. Henry — 3 tackles, .5 sack, tackle for loss, fumble recovery
Kingston Gripshover, St. Henry — 3 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Jaylen Stone, Ludlow — 2 tackles, interception, fumble recovery
Charlie Swendiman, Dixie Heights — 2 tackles, fumble recovery
Noah Honaker, Campbell County — 2 tackles for loss
Evan West, Lloyd Memorial — 2 tackles for loss
Owen Pate, St. Henry — 2 tackles for loss, sack
Colten Barger, Lloyd Memorial — interception, fumble recovery
Tyler Fryman, Beechwood — interception return for TD
Caleb Arrasmith, Beechwood — interception
Abe Greber, Beechwood — interception
Gabe Williams, Highlands — interception
Tyler Fennell, Newport Central Catholic — fumble recovery
Kicking standouts
Jack Mercer, Beechwood — 9/9 PAT
Finn McMillan, Ludlow — 6/7 PAT, 1/1 FG
Kai Anderson, Highlands — 5/5 PAT, 1/1 FG
Blake Minor, Campbell County — 4/4 PAT
Charles Oglesby, Holy Cross — 3/3 PAT
Bye week: Bellevue, Bishop Brossart, Newport, Ryle, Scott, Simon Kenton
Missing stats: Conner, Dayton, Holmes
