By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Six of the top 10 boys’ basketball teams in Northern Kentucky will be playing in the Bluegrass-Buckeye Charity Classic on Friday, Jan. 16, at the NKU Bank of Kentucky Center.
The pairings for the 14th annual classic are Scott vs. Campbell County, 5:30 p.m.; Holmes vs. Cooper, 7 p.m.; Covington Catholic vs. Newport Central Catholic, 8:30 p.m.
In the Northern Kentucky pre-season coaches poll, NewCath was ranked No. 1, followed by CovCath, Holmes and Campbell County. Cooper was ranked No. 6 and Scott was ranked No. 8.
Two of the games will be rematches between teams that faced each other during last year’s post-season playoffs:
* Campbell County edged Scott, 65-62, in a district playoff game and the Camels went on to win the 10th Region championship.
* CovCath upset NewCath, 51-43, in the 9th Region semifinals and the Colonels ended up winning regional and Kentucky state championships.
Advance tickets for the Bluegrass-Buckeye Charity Classic are $7 for adults and $5 for students at each of the participating high schools. All tickets at the door will be $10.
Proceeds from the three-game event will be donated to the Ruth Lyons Children’s Fund, Neediest Kids of all and Chicks & Chucks, a breast cancer support group.
Highlands senior quarterback Beau Hoge, who led the Bluebirds to the Class 4A state football championship last season, is one of five nominees for the annual Brian Williams “That’s My Boy” Award sponsored by the Northern Kentucky High School Football Coaches Association.
The other nominees are Beechwood running back Joe Studer, Covington Catholic offensive lineman Sam Murrer, Dixie Heights defensive lineman Branden Johnson and Ryle linebacker Ryan Woolf.
The winner will be announced at the Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the National Football Foundation banquet in February.
Each year, the award is given to the top scholar-athlete in Northern Kentucky high school football based on a system that awards points in three areas — football achievement, academic achievement and extracurricular or community activities.
The award is named in honor of CovCath graduate Brian Williams, a former winner who died in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.
The Touchstone Energy Kentucky All “A” Classic small-school basketball playoffs begin this week with 16 girls’ regional tournaments being played across the state.
Boys’ regional tournaments will take place next week.
Teams that win regional titles will advance to the state tournament that runs Jan. 28 to Feb. 1 at the Frankfort Civic Center.
Brackets for boys’ and girls’ regional and state tournaments are available on the allaclassic.org website.
Covington Catholic sophomore guard Cole Von Handorf has already surpassed the 1,000-point mark in his boys’ varsity basketball career.
Von Handorf played on the Villa Madonna Academy varsity team as an eight-grader and scored 398 points. Last season, he was a freshman starter on the CovCath state championship team and netted 380 points.
In his first 13 games for CovCath this season, Von Handorf scored 233 points to raise his career total to 1,011.
Terry Boehmker, NKyTribune sports writer, is former sportswriter and editor for The Kentucky Post. He is an award-winning writer with extensive background in both print and digital. Reach him at terryboe@yahoo.com.