To be the winning team, fan votes play a heavy role, along with consideration from our sports team here at LINK.
Nominations are reader-submitted or recommended by our sports team. Our Team of the Week program honors all local sports at all levels, whether it’s youth or adult-oriented recreation, high school or college, professional or amateur.
This week’s nominated teams are listed below with some information provided by the submitter or LINK nky staff. The poll where you can vote follows at the end of the article.
Voting is open until Sunday night.
COOPER FOOTBALL
The road warriors were at it once again.
Cooper won its third straight postseason game away from Union, this one a little bit closer to home than the prior two with a 17-15 victory over Highlands on Nov. 24. The victory gets them to the Class 5A state championship game on Dec. 2 at Kroger Field in Lexington.
Much like they’ve done throughout the postseason, the Jags defense answered the bell, facing a high-powered Bluebirds offense that led Class 5A in scoring. Cooper held Highlands to 263 yards and two touchdowns, the Bluebirds coming in averaging 495 yards of offense and 46.4 points per game. The Jags defense also intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble and had a sack and tackle for loss. Mason Stanton’s interception in the closing seconds sealed the deal for Cooper, while Ryker Campbell recovered a key fumble late in the fourth quarter. Austin Alexander had the tackle for loss while Lucas Hughes recorded the sack.
Offensively, Cam O’Hara connected with Austin Alexander for the two touchdowns offensively, O’Hara completing 11-of-20 passes for 120 yards. Alexander had three catches for 50 yards while Keagan Maher had 90 total yards, 63 of them in the rushing attack.
Jack Lonaker was the leading tackler with 18 tackles, Campbell with nine, Hughes with seven, Mike Mulvihill and Alexander with six.
The unsung hero was Carson Taylor, his 33-yard field goal giving the Jaguars the go-ahead score with a little more than four minutes remaining. He also nailed two extra points. Taylor has hit on all five field goal attempts this season.
Cooper is now in its second state championship in school history, also making the 2012 championship game. The opponent? Bowling Green, who also happens to be Saturday’s opponent. Bowling Green won that 2012 matchup, 34-20.
COVINGTON CATHOLIC FOOTBALL
Facing a high-powered passing attack, Covington Catholic rose to the occasion to reach their 10th state championship in program history with a 22-14 victory over Paducah Tilghman.
The Blue Tornado made the five-hour plus drive north to Park Hills with their passing attack that averaged 305 yards per game and threw for 59 touchdowns. They left with just 188 yards passing, two interceptions and just one touchdown.
The Colonels forced four turnovers, two Cash Harney interceptions, Tate Kruer and Isaac Mason with fumble recoveries. Josh Flood led with eight tackles, Ben Reeves with seven and a sack. Kruer also had seven tackles.
CovCath’s run game helped them get to Friday’s 4A state championship with 246 rushing yards. Evan Pitzer finished with 123 yards and two touchdowns, Owen Leen with 67 yards and Braylon Miller with 56 yards and a touchdown. Pitzer didn’t have to throw it a lot due to the success on the ground, completing 8-of-13 passes for 48 yards, Miller his top target with five receptions for 23 yards.
The Colonels will go for a ninth state title in program history against Boyle County on Friday night at 8 p.m. at Kroger Field in Lexington. The two storied programs with a combined 18 state titles have never met.
FORT THOMAS RED DOGS FOOTBALL
The Fort Thomas Junior Football League Red Dogs completed a regular season undefeated to go on to win the league championship for the 5th/6th grade division. On Sunday, they were selected to play in the mascot game at Paycor Stadium at halftime of the Cincinnati Bengals vs Pittsburgh Steelers game.
Throughout the season, the team displayed a ton of cohesion and were great teammates, coach Dan Schill said. The Red Dogs went 10-0 and were led by standouts in quarterback Jax Moeves, tight end Gus Bouldin, slot receiver Hunter Ryan, Grady Schill, who played multiple positions, kicker/punter TJ McSorley, running back Calvin Niemann and a strong offensive line.
The Red Dogs had 19 players on the roster with their season finale being at Paycor for the halftime game against mascots from universities and pro sports teams from around the area.
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