The NKyTribune is offering focused coverage of NKY high school football throughout the season, thanks to support from St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine. See all our pre-season features on each of NKY’s 21 high school football teams and follow our coverage, including roundups each week at Northern Kentucky High School Football.
By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
There are no excuses for the Covington Catholic football team’s 0-4 start this season, according to senior linebacker Ethan Sammons.
He doesn’t want to hear about the Colonels adjusting to a new coaching staff or how several starting players have missed games due to injuries. The fact that three of CovCath’s first four opponents are from schools with much larger enrollments doesn’t mean much to him either.
“There’s no real excuses for anything that’s gone down so far,” Sammons said. “We all expected to perform better. The learning curve, I don’t think it really exists. With what we have installed, we should be able to do more than what we’ve been doing.”
The last time CovCath opened the season with four consecutive losses was 1991. That team went on to win nine consecutive games and claim a district title before losing in the semifinals of the Class 3A state playoffs.
Sammons believes this year’s team is capable of making a similar turn-around. And he would like to get it started this Friday when CovCath visits down-the-road rival Beechwood in a game set for 7:30 p.m.
CovCath has a 9-3 record against Beechwood since the schools renewed the annual game in 2003. But the Tigers won last year’s game, 28-13, and they’re entering Friday’s game with a perfect 3-0 record compared to the Colonels’ 0-4 mark.
“I think it’s the perfect opportunity for us to turn the tide,” Sammons said. “In the games we’ve played so far, we’ve kind of performed less than we expected. But everyone’s been excited for this game (against Beechwood) since last year, so this is the perfect time for us to come around.”
Like many of his CovCath teammates, Sammons has several friends who attend Beechwood and play on the football team. He had to take a lot of ribbing from them after the Tigers won last year’s game, and he doesn’t want to go through that again.
“I am heated,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to playing Beechwood this week. “Everybody knows we’ve got to work hard in practice this week, and I think we are.”
The CovCath senior’s positive outlook on Friday’s game is puzzling when you compare the won-loss records of the two teams. But he knows the four teams that beat CovCath have a combined record of 9-5, while Beechwood’s first three opponents are 5-6 at this point.
After opening the season with a 35-28 loss to Ryle, the Colonels lost lopsided games to Ohio Division I teams St. Xavier, 57-7, and Sycamore, 42-7. The losing streak continued last week when Lexington Catholic edged CovCath, 15-14. 
The CovCath defense has given up an average of 415 yards per game in its first four games while the offense is averaging 229 yards.
“We can’t pinpoint one part of the team,” Sammons said of the Colonels’ disappointing start. “It’s a team game and we’ve all just got to go out and play harder.”
During Beechwood’s 3-0 start, the Tigers outscored Lloyd, Somerset and Ironton (Ohio) by a combined total of 151-55, but the yards-per-game margin is much closer, 411-340.
Sammons expects a close game on Friday if CovCath’s offensive and defensive units manage to perform better than Beechwood’s talented two-way starters.
“We’ve been competing against those guys for three or four years now and we should know what they have to offer,” Sammons said. “We’re looking at most of them playing both ways, so we’re going to try and play as hard as we can and I think they might start to slip late in the game.”
FRIDAY’S HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Covington Catholic at Beechwood, 7:30 p.m.
Holmes at Bellevue, 7 p.m.
South Oldham at Boone County, 7:30 p.m.
Conner at Dixie Heights, 7 p.m.
Newport Central Catholic at Harrison County, 7:30 p.m.
Louisville St. Xavier at Highlands, 7:30 p.m.
Scott at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.
Walton-Verona at Lexington Christian, 7:30 p.m.
Campbell County at Ryle, 7:30 p.m.
Cooper at Simon Kenton, 7 p.m.
Ludlow at Trimble County, 7:30 p.m.
St. Bernard (Ohio) at Dayton, 7 p.m.