Dan Weber writes a sports column for The River City News. Contact him at dweber3440@aol.com.
Just wanted to share this with you. The letter explains itself after the recent tornado that ravaged Western Kentucky — especially the town of Mayfield.
“Mr. Weber: I, like many in Mayfield, have been touched by the support of our neighbors. I was especially touched by the compassionate response of the Beechwood community,” writes Jeff Thompson in a note of thanks specifically to the Beechwood football program and school that he wanted us to share with all of Northern Kentucky. And so we will.
Coach (Noel) Rash. I have been to several of the historic battles between Mayfield and Beechwood. And when I watched the live video feed from Beechwood last November, I pretty much knew that Mayfield’s hegemony over Beechwood would come to a sober ending. For the first possessions of both teams, it looked like the classic brawl from old. But that small sample size proved to be an outlier. Beechwood 2021 ended that losing streak with a statement.Â
Not only did you all end the Mayfield curse, but you went Krogering a week later and repeated as state champions. I meant to message you before now and congratulate you all, your team, and your fans. I wanted to let you know how much I respected how you all as a team and program conduct yourselves. The teamwork, the dedication, the mutual care of one another.Â
Then, the unthinkable. A monster tornado ravaged my hometown of Mayfield on December 10. Fifty-six years of memories violated on a muggy December eve. I made the trek from Clarksville, Tennessee to my hometown to do anything I could to lend a hand. One of my first stops was to check on arguably the best football player to ever wear a Mayfield uniform. His heart, as mine, broke as we observed historic buildings and homes leveled.
It has been a difficult journey over the past two-and-a-half weeks. Yet, the silver lining in such dark skies has been the compassionate support of our neighbors near and far. Mayfield has been lavished with warm support like a blanket over a shivering soul left bare and beaten down.Â
A week into the melee, I saw the Tiger paw emblem next to a media caption. I recognized it immediately as Beechwood. It was a story that reminded me that the old adage of “football being like life” sometimes leaps off the pages of life itself. Beachwood’s collection of goods and supplies, via several truckloads, made me smile. However, I wasn’t surprised. Any well-coached team and community remembers that compassion and service in times of crisis always take center stage, as rivalry and gridiron warfare exit stage left.Â
Coach, on behalf of a small town torn and tattered, please convey our collective thanks and gratitude to your school, your team, and to your community. Again, you all let your actions do the talking off the field, even more than on the field. Mayfield will be back; I mean the town. We have another historic comeback in us. We will also be back on the gridiron. We have no intention of letting Beechwood even up this fine series. Until we meet again on the field, if ever we can lend a hand to you all, if ever you should need us, I hope we WIN, the way the Beechwood community won, the days following December 10.
Sincerely,Â
Jeff Thompson
*** SCORING BY THE BUSHEL-BASKET-FULS: We knew they were finding the hoop here in Northern Kentucky high school basketball this season but former Bellevue coach Mike Swauger documents that for us after last week’s holiday tourney named for Mike at Bellevue. A “bonanza of scoring records,” Mike calls it. Holy Cross junior guard Jacob Meyer opened with a tournament record 58 points in a 111-74 victory over Robertson County, “the most points ever scored in the history of the Ben Flora Gymnasium which opened in 1972,” Mike says of a game where Robertson County’s Justin Becker scored 48. Then sophomore Blake Reed of Bracken County scored 51 in a 100-66 win over Williamstown. Becker scored 45 against Bellevue and 43 against Williamstown for a three-game total of 136. Meyer, with 54 against Bracken County, finished his three games with 134 points. Both broke the tournament record of 125 set by now-UK player Dontaie Allen of Pendleton County who scored 125 points in 2016 with Meyer’s 58 breaking Allen’s single game mark of 50.
*** A DIFFERENT KIND OF SHARP-SHOOTING: It’s a sanctioned KHSAA sport now but one that doesn’t get as much attention as its numbers would seem to call for. Maybe that’s just the difference between a spectator sport and a participant one. But Wednesday out Covington Catholic way, Coach Robb Schneeman says they’ll have 320 archers from all over Northern Kentucky and some from Indiana shooting it out in an event lasting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., in elementary, middle and high school divisions.Â
*** TMU’S NATIONALLY-RANKED SAINTS ON HOLIDAY BREAK: Just back from a two-game sweep at the Hoop ‘N Surf Classic in Hawai’i after an 84-67 win over No. 22 Concordia (Neb.), the No. 3-ranked Saints women’s team will be back in action Thursday night as they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a second straight Concordia game, this time against the Michigan Concordia. At 12-1 with an 11-game win streak, the Saints trail only Campbellsville and Westmont (Cal.) in the NAIA national coaches poll. The Saints will get a shot at top-ranked Campbellsville at 6 p.m. Jan. 6 in the first game of a women’s-men’s doubleheader at the Connor Convocation Center.
*** THE 11-2 MEN’S TEAM has a few more days off after beating Miami-Hamilton 99-64 a week ago but the 13th-ranked Saints will be back at it in earnest Monday when they host defending national champion Shawnee State (Ohio) at the Connor Convocation Center at 8 p.m. In their last game, two Saints, both 6-foot-5 Campbell County alums — grad student Garren Bertsch and third-year Reid Jolly — reached the 1,000-point scoring mark for their college careers.
*** COLONELS WANTED A CHALLENGE: In the Covid-depleted Battle of the Villages in Florida, Covington Catholic found it all it could handle in a towering Orlando Christian team with a front line of 6-8, 6-10, 6-6 and 6-5 with a 6-4 guard. OC, declared tourney winner as the only unbeaten team in the shortened tourney, prevailed 61-58 in a game that saw CovCath jump out to a 17-11 first-quarter lead behind junior point guard Evan Ipsaro who continued his sensational play with 24 points and nine assists. He had help from Kascyl McGillis’ 15 points and 6-8 Mitchell Rylee’s 10. The Colonels, now 11-2, were outrebounded 25-18 and outscored from the line 10-3 as Orlando Christian shot 15 free throws to CovCath’s four. CovCath had opened the Florida tourney with a 75-56 win over Roswell (Ga.) behind Ipsaro’s 38 points.
–Dan Weber
Photo via Beechwood Independent Schools