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
The hard lessons that Conner football players learned during last year’s difficult 3-8 season have a lot to do with the team’s 3-1 start this year.
With starters returning in 10 positions on offense and nine on defense, the Cougars have been much more competitive than last season when they lost their first four games by margins of 20 points or more due to their inexperience.
“It’s a nice thing to have everybody knowing what their role is and having everybody gel together like we have been,” said Conner senior quarterback Kyler Padgett. “It’s just a great time being out there now and everybody’s having fun.”
In their last two games against Dixie Heights and Scott, the Cougars stopped a two-point conversion run after their opponent’s final touchdown to come away with a pair of one-point victories. Conner coach David Trosper said winning those close games shows how much his players have matured since last year’s shaky season.
“Last year, I don’t know if we make those plays,” the coach said. “As a matter of fact, we didn’t. Last year, Scott scored with about a minute to go and went for two and beat us. The thing I look at it is when it gets to crunch time are we ready, willing and able to make those plays, and we have been the last two weeks.”
Conner’s team leader on offense once again is Padgett, who has accounted for 765 of the team’s 1,141 total offensive yards in four games. He has completed 34 of 77 passes for 493 passing yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for 272 yards and six TDs.
Padgett gives his teammates much of the credit for his lofty statistics, especially offensive linemen Dylan Deckard, Josh Walls, J.J. Reed, Cameron Hodges, Tyler Kunkle and Austin Cain.
“They’re blocking up front great,” Padgett said. “Last year, we only had one senior on the line and this year we have three or four, depending on the situation we’re in. I’ve never had that before and it’s been so much better going out there and being able to get the ball to our playmakers.”
The team’s top playmaker is senior Isaiah Ebarb, who has 279 yards receiving and 118 yards rushing playing multiple positions on offense. His punt and kickoff returns have also been a key factor in Conner’s early success. Two weeks ago, he scored on a 50-yard punt return in the win over Scott.
“I’ve been trying to make sure I get the ball to where it needs to be (on returns), which has helped a lot the last two games,” Ebarb said. “Getting the ball in good field position helps our offense score a lot easier.”
Ebarb also plays defensive back for the Cougars, who did a much better job containing the Dixie Heights rushing attack in last week’s win than they did in their two previous games against Scott and Simon Kenton.
Stopping the run will be the primary goal of the Conner defense in this Friday’s game at Newport Central Catholic, a team that rushed for 367 yards and six touchdowns in a win over Harrison County last week.
NewCath’s main ball carrier is senior Jacob Smith, who has rushed for 338 yards and five touchdowns in the last three games after getting off to a late start due to a sprained ankle.
“Jacob Smith is one of the best running backs we’ll face this year,” coach Trosper said. “We’ve got to be able to stop him. That’ll be the key, to be able to force him to do things that we doesn’t want to do and force him to go different ways that he doesn’t want to go.”
NewCath has a 2-0 record against Conner since Trosper took over as head coach of the Cougars in 2007. The game on Friday will be another gauge to his team’s progress since last year.
“They’ve made huge strides,” Trosper said. “We’ve done a 180 (degree turnaround) in some areas and we can still do better. I tell them each week that there’s still a bunch of areas we can improve in, and if we do, we’re going to get even better.”