Another week of high school football – the last of the regular season – is in the books in Northern Kentucky. Our Dan Weber was at the Ryle-Covington Catholic game and he has a full report below. Our photographer Brian Frey produced a slideshow from the Holmes-Bellevue game, and those photos are below. The full scoreboard is also below.
Dan Weber writes a sports column for The River City News. You can contact him at dweber3440@aol.com.
This is exactly the way the 2021 regular season in high school football should have ended. In a Northern Kentucky where it’s rained 20 days already in the month of October, you didn’t think there’d be clear skies Friday night in Park Hills, did you?
Uh-uhh. Not a chance. Cold and damp, it rained steadily all day right until it was time for visiting Ryle and homestanding Covington Catholic, Northern Kentucky’s next best teams after unbeaten Beechwood, to do the postgame hand-shake.
Then it stopped, just in time for Senior Night photos with family and friends after the game. And a chance to appreciate how hard these top divisional teams — Class 6A Ryle and 5A CovCath — had gone after each other in a battle where CovCath prevailed 10-3. It’s the second time this month the Colonels had beaten a tough opponent with just one touchdown. They’d also beaten Highlands 8-7 thanks to a blocked field goal.
Well, no blocks in this one as each team cashed in on their field goal chances in the rain. CovCath’s Eli Nally was the first on the board, hitting from 36 yards out with 5:23 left in the first half to break the 0-0 tie in a back-and-forth, slug-it-out defensive struggle that would have felt right at home in the old days in the mud. No mud in this one thanks to the artificial turf. But there should have been.
Down 10-0, Ryle matched that in the fourth quarter when Summer Denigan came on to blast one through from 34 yards out that would have been good from 10 more at least.
“She’s the best kicker in Kentucky,” Ryle quarterback Logan Verax said of his soccer star teammate.
“She can kick it,” CovCath Coach Ed Eviston said. “They do so many things on the kickoff with her, too.”
But thanks to a hang-tough CovCath defense, Ryle had just two kickoffs in this one as the Colonels, now 7-3 with five straight wins, stuck to their game-plan of pounding the ball mostly with quarterback Preston Agee, dominating the clock and not letting Ryle have as much success in the air as they usually do.
“This is kind of a benchmark for us,” Eviston said of finishing up the regular season with a non-district game against the top 6A team Ryle, now 7-3. So are they ready for next week’s playoff opener as the top team in 5A here? “We’d better be ready,” Eviston said.
One Colonel who clearly was — ready, that is: Quarterback Agee. “Our utility guy,” Eviston said of the multi-position but run-first senior with 4.57 speed who scored the game’s only touchdown from three yards out with 1:48 left in the third.
All Agee did was run the ball 31 times for 97 yards and pass it seven times (with four completions for 34 yards). That’s a total of 38 times Agee was the man in CovCath’s 52 offensive plays.
But that’s not all of Agee’s running. He jogs a ton of yards every game as he runs to the sideline to get the play call from his coach. “It is a lot,” says the 6-foot-2, 175-pound Agee. “I knew it was a big part of the game plan — we were going to run the ball a whole lot.”
But CovCath ran more than the ball. They ran the clock and didn’t allow Ryle’s high-powered offense time to do a great deal of damage. Despite being outgained 249 yards to 173, CovCath won the first down battle 12-9 and had an almost incomprehensible time-of-possession edge of 35:48 to Ryle’s 12:12.
“CovCath’s a great team,” said the sophomore Verax, who came into the game as Northern Kentucky’s hottest quarterback after a 422-yard, five-TD performance last weekend against Simon Kenton. “That was a great game,” he said after a 10-of-26, 134-yard passing night. “I wish CovCath the best.”
Verax wouldn’t use the rain and wet footballs as an excuse. “You have to get used to it,” he said of the tough conditions that kept much of the famed CovCath “Crazies” cheering section sidelined. In this season, and in Northern Kentucky, you certainly do have to get used to bad weather.
But a CovCath game with no “Crazies,” a rooting section so powerful that the KHSAA came up with a silly rule to try to limit them — and of course, failed miserably.
But back to Friday night football where in a game like this, it didn’t hurt that CovCath punter Adam Holtz averaged 43.8 yards on his five punts.
Nor did it hurt that somehow CovCath was ready to play after a 25-minute pre-game ceremony honoring 26 seniors and their parents that had Eviston wondering if his team needed to warm up again.
They didn’t need to. This slugfest non-shootout was right down the Colonels’ alley.
But Ryle wasn’t complaining. “It was a fun game to play in,” Verax said. And won’t hurt them heading into Friday’s home playoff opener against a struggling Campbell County team.
As for CovCath, Eviston wasn’t sure of how the seeds and matchups according to the RPI ratings will turn out. If they reflect the ratings as they stood late Friday, it could mean another CovCath-Highlands matchup with the top-ranked Colonels vs. the fourth-ranked Bluebirds. No. 2 Cooper and No. 3 Conner would play in the other game as the RPI stands now.
“I never really look at that RPI stuff,” Eviston said. But he has no option now. Might be a heck of a playoff start for everybody here.
–Dan Weber  Â
NKY SCOREBOARD
Newport 3
Pendleton Co. 0 (Final in overtime)
It took overtime for the first points to be put on the board, but the Wildcats managed to end their two-game losing streak and finish the regular season with a win. Newport is now 4-7.
Holmes 50
Bellevue 10
See photos from this game in the slideshow below!
The Bulldogs are rolling, winners of four consecutive games, the latest of which spoiled Bellevue’s home finale. Holmes finishes the regular season at 8-2 and awaits its Class 4A playoff slot. Bellevue falls to 1-9 and will visit Newport Central Catholic next week in the opening round of the Class 1A playoffs.
Holy Cross 30
Ludlow 24
Both teams finish the regular season at 3-7 following this close one in Ludlow. Holy Cross competes in Class 2A. In Class 1A, Ludlow opens the playoffs next week at home against Dayton.
Scott 7
Dixie Heights 41
After being hot through most of the season, Scott has dropped its last two games by a combined score of 81-7. The Eagles (6-4) will look to turn it around in the Class 4A playoffs. Dixie, meanwhile, is 6-4 and opens the Class 6A playoffs next week at home against Simon Kenton.
Newport Central Catholic 7
Beechwood 70
Both teams met in Ft. Mitchell riding long win-streaks, but New Cath’s streak of six was snapped with a smackdown at the hands of the undefeated Tigers. New Cath (7-3) will host Bellevue in the opening round of the Class 1A playoffs next week. Beechwood, a perfect 10-0, will open the Class 2A playoffs at home against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
Dayton 18
Eminence 27
The Greendevils finish the regular season with three-straight losses to finish at 4-6 before next week’s trip to Ludlow for the opening round of the Class 1A playoffs.
Boone Co. 23
Lexington Tates Creek 20 (Final in overtime)
The Rebels handed Tates Creek its second-straight overtime loss and also snapped their own four-game losing streak. Boone Co. (4-6) awaits the Class 5A playoffs.
Corbin 40
Campbell Co. 10
The Camels fall to 1-9 amid a nine-game losing streak and will open the Class 6A playoffs next week at Ryle.
George Rogers Clark 16
Conner 34
The Cougars improve to 6-4 at the conclusion of the regular season and will compete in the Class 5A playoffs.
Simon Kenton 13
Woodford Co. 50
The Pioneers wrap up the regular season at 2-8 and will play at Dixie Heights in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs.
Cooper 21
Louisville Butler 0
The Jaguars are 7-3 and await the Class 5A playoffs.
Scoreboard and notes compiled by Michael Monks, editor & publisher