One goal decided three of the four semifinal games in the 9th and 10th Region boys soccer tournaments.
And now the stage is set for the regional title games on Saturday.
9th Region final
Covington Catholic (11-10-1) will try to defend its 9th Region title on Saturday at home at 1 p.m. against Ryle (16-4-2).
10th Region final
In Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County (14-9) will host Bishop Brossart (13-5-2) in the 10th Region final Saturday at 5 p.m.
Here’s how the teams got there:
9th Region Semifinals at Covington Catholic
Covington Catholic 2, Dixie Heights 1
The red Colonels (16-3-3) may have been the most consistent team in the region during the regular season. But the hosts found a way to earn the win at home.
Dixie Heights had the better record at 16-3-3 coming into this battle of Colonels, but host CovCath found a way to win, adding another victory to its hot streak in which it has been 6-1-1 over the course of the past eight games.
CovCath’s schedule included tough opponents this year like Louisville Trinity and Louisville St. Xavier as well as Cincinnati Moeller.
“We use those games to kind clear out our team as far as the mistakes that we make. During this game, we didn’t make that many mistakes,” said Jeremy Robertson, CovCath head coach, of Thursday’s win over Dixie. “When we did, we had back-ups for each other. You learn that throughout the season. That learning process has really helped us. We’ve really come together. This region is not an easy region. Everybody knew it was going to be a toss-up. Our coaching staff knew if we gave a little effort, we could do some magical things. We still believe that we can do some magical things.”
Senior Mac Tierney scored both goals for the blue Colonels. Tierney has 10 on the season.
“On the first one, we were fortunate to be in the right spot,” Tierney said. “My teammates set me up. We’ve practiced PKs all year. I was confident, stepped up and put it in the back of the net. On the second one, (sophomore teammate) Jack Fleck made a nice run. He didn’t touch it. But he made it tough for the keeper. It ended up going in. Soccer is a game of inches. We’ll take anything we can get.”
Both goalkeepers made nice saves giving their teams a chance in the end. CovCath senior Michael Finn and Dixie Heights senior Braden Blackburn had five saves each.
“We’ve seen top five programs in other states,” Finn said. “That’s helped us prepare for the post-season. We’ve only allowed one goal in our last five games.”
The physical game saw Dixie Heights draw 13 fouls to 10 for CovCath. The blue Colonels had four corner kicks to three for the red Colonels. Dixie Heights had one yellow and one red card.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. They fought to the very end. We had a couple unfortunate calls go against us,” said Trey Crone, Dixie Heights head coach. “This wasn’t our goal for the year. It’s a tough loss that’s we’re going to feel for a while. But hopefully with some young talent we have coming up, we can bounce back. The seniors that we have are going to be irreplaceable. We’re going to miss them.”
Dixie Heights scored first with 21:37 left in the first half. The red Colonels’ leading scorer Bennett Gerak scored his team-high 21st goal of the season from the right side.
“I feel like the first 20 minutes, we were dominating. We had the ball in their offensive end the majority of the time,” Robertson said. “Bennett Gerak is one of their best players. We told our player not to let him go left. That’s another story. We brough him in after that goal and told him, ‘Don’t make this a two shot to 15 shot and we lose this game.’ They had two shots and they capitalized on one of them to our 15 to 20 shots. That’s all that was.”
But CovCath did not allow Gerak and their other two leading scorers in seniors Reed Brixey and Ryder Kennedy a number of big shots after that point.
“The hardest thing is they’re unpredictable,” said Tyler Arkenau, CovCath senior defender. “Bennett is great at getting the ball, switching it and making you bite as a defender then he goes to his opposite foot. Ryder is obviously quick. Our outside backs have to keep up with him. They just play good balls over the top to him.”
Tierney’s first goal came on that penalty kick with 5:42 left in the first half to tie the game 1-1 at halftime. Then the game-winner game with 7:06 left in the game when the ball skipped past Blackburn into the goal.
Dixie Heights hoped to drive deep after losing 2-0 to CovCath in the region championship game last year. They’d beaten CovCath, 2-1 on Sept. 20 on the same field. The red Colonels graduate 10 seniors.
“Everyone looks at their record. But they play a really tough schedule. We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Crone said. “It just flip-flopped. It came down to the very end the first time. This is a crazy atmosphere.”
Ryle 2, Highlands 1
Neither team scored in the first half as all three goals came in the game’s final 20 minutes.
“Every team is different,” said Stephen Collins, Ryle head coach. “This team has matured as the season has gone along. Early in the season, we probably wouldn’t have won a game like this.”
Highlands senior forward Colin Pieper scored off a double header on a corner kick for his 21st goal of the year. But that turned out to be one of the two shots on goal Highlands had in the game forcing Ryle junior goalkeeper Landon Barth to make just one save.
Ryle outshot Highlands 14-7 and had five shots on goal. Highlands junior goalkeeper Jack Wilson deflected two shots over the crossbar on his three saves.
“It was about lots of communication and helping cover each other,” said Chris Maraduaga, Ryle sophomore defender/midfielder. “(Barth) talked a lot behind us and it involved lot of movement. Everyone supports each other.”
The Raiders also had the advantage in fouls and corner kicks with only Highlands receiving a yellow card and neither team receiving a red card. Ryle had eight corner kicks and three fouls to nine fouls and two corner kicks for Highlands.
The Bluebirds came into the game as the region’s hottest team at 10-0-1 over their last 11 games. The teams tied 3-3 in Union on Aug. 25. But the Raiders have won 11 of their last 12 games.
“The boys played with great effort and left everything out there from start to finish,” said Brandon Ponchak, Highlands head coach. “That’s how it’s been all season. It’s just unfortunate a couple bounces didn’t go our way. In the end, fair play to Ryle.”
Ryle tied the game with 11:27 remaining. Junior midfielder Diego Hoenderkamp took the ball from the right side, dribbled left and scored his team-high 22nd goal of the season.
“In practice, you work on finishing just for moments like that to keep your composure,” Hoenderkamp said. “After that goal, we just had so much more belief in ourselves that we could go and score against (Highlands). That’s what I think the difference was.”
The game-winner came with 6:39 left in the game. Freshman striker Brice Denigan put in a rebound for his 14th of the year good for second overall for the Raiders.
Ryle is back in the region title game for the first time since winning it in 2020. Highlands last made it to the title game in 2019 beating CovCath, 3-2 in a shoot-out.
“It means nothing more, especially it being my senior year,” said Cole Marsh, Ryle senior midfielder. “We want to keep going, keep fighting. I’m just proud of this team.”
10th Region Semifinals at Montgomery County
Bishop Brossart 2, George Rogers Clark 1 (Shoot-out)
The Mustangs are back in the region championship for the first time since 2017 beating the Cardinals, 4-3 on kicks from the mark.
Bishop Brossart scored two minutes into the game off a corner kick. Sophomore Alex Runge played the ball to the Mustangs’ leading scorer in Tyler Smith for his team-high 17th goal this year. The Cardinals (11-6-6) tied it with around 21 minutes to go in the first half.
Smith scored the final kick from the mark to give Brossart the win. Senior Lucas Steffen had five saves for Bishop Brossart.
“We started very strong obviously and then we had a period where we weren’t quite as strong. That’s when they scored,” said Ron Dunlevy, Bishop Brossart Head Coach. “Then we basically clawed our way back into the game. We finished the second period of overtime strong. We just couldn’t get it in the net.”
Bishop Brossart last won the 10th Region in 2013. That team lost 4-2 to eventual state champion Lexington Dunbar in the first round of the state tournament.
Montgomery County 4, Campbell County 0
The Camels (10-10-2) had the favored Indians in a scoreless tie at halftime. Montgomery County outshot Campbell County, 14-5 with junior goalkeeper Brycen Faulkner recording 10 saves.
But Campbell County has no seniors so everyone could return next year. The Camels last won the 10th Region in 2017.
Girls Soccer
8th Region Championship at Carroll County
South Oldham 4, Simon Kenton 0
The solid season for the Pioneers (14-5-4) started with a 5-0 loss at the Dragons (19-2) and ended with a loss to that same team. Simon Kenton had nine shots on goal and senior goalkeeper Olivia York had nine saves.
Simon Kenton graduates 10 seniors but will return junior Cam Ruble and others to build around.
Volleyball
Notre Dame 3, Assumption 2
The Pandas (25-5 overall) had a best-of-three win over the Rockets (28-7) a few weeks ago in Chicago.
But Notre Dame knew it would be tougher to earn a best-of-five win over Assumption at home on Senior Night. But the Pandas accomplished the feat winning 20-25, 25-17, 25-16, 22-25, 15-6. They finished the regular season with one loss to a Kentucky opponent in Sacred Heart to open the season.
The Pandas has a .273 hitting percentage with 56 kills minus 14 errors on 154 attempts. Senior outside hitter Sydney Nolan led the way with 19 kills with sophomore Ava Tilden recording 10.
“We’re really confident going into postseason now, especially securing that win,” Nolan said. “I think that just gave us a lot more energy to go far into the post-season. We’re still pushing ourselves hard in practice no matter the opponent. It’s a really good atmosphere.”
Senior Peyton Mast and sophomore Ella Goetz had nine kills each. Goetz put down the final point of the fifth game on a tip after the Rockets blocked two attempts in a row. Nolan had five blocks with Mast recording three. Tilden and Goetz had two each.
“We’re just a really scrappy team,” Mast said. “We know how to get balls up. We know before we hit the ball when the ball is going to get blocked so I think our defense does a really good job at getting to that ball. We’re really good with our shots and where to put them. I think our senior leadership is really helpful to keeping our morale high. We don’t really get down very often.”
Notre Dame also had eight aces, 49 assists, 90 digs and 12 blocks. Senior Kayla Hostetler had four aces with senior libero Kamden Schrand tallying 30 digs and two aces. Sophomore Julia Grace had 23 digs and Hostetler had 13.
Assumption had 50 kills, nine blocks, 50 assists, 67 digs and just two aces. Sophomore Kristen Simon had 24 digs and senior setter Whitney Woodrow had 48 assists with sophomore outside hitter Emma Barnett and senior outside/opposite hitter Alexis Strong recording 14 and 12 kills each.
“We came into practice (Wednesday) and we had a good talk about what happened on Tuesday (a 3-1 home loss to Cincinnati (Ohio) Ursuline) and how we needed to take that night and turn it around to make (Thursday) better,” said Jenna Leistner, Notre Dame Associate Head Coach. “It was a team effort. Every girl did her part to make it happen. The mental toughness is very tough in the sport of volleyball. They showed that they are mentally tough and strong even when Assumption when on its runs. We were still able to come through and pull out the W.”
Notre Dame plays in the 35th District Tournament at host Holmes (6-21) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Other Volleyball Scores
Lloyd Memorial 2 (25-18, 12-25, 25-23), Grant County 1
Conner 2 (25-8, 25-13), Newport 0
Ryle 3 (25-19, 25-10, 25-15), Henry Clay 0
Newport Central Catholic 3 (25-14, 25-13, 25-15), Boone County 0
Beechwood 3 (25-20, 25-27, 25-15, 25-23), Bishop Brossart 1
Scott 3 (25-19, 25-20, 25-13), Calvary Christian 0
Dixie Heights 3 (25-19, 25-20, 25-16), Simon Kenton 0
Villa Madonna 2 (25-8, 25-9), Holmes 0
Cincinnati (Ohio) McNicholas 3 (14-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 15-10), Holy Cross 2
Ludlow 2 (25-13, 21-25, 25-18), Augusta 1
