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
Conner’s defense stopped a two-point conversion attempt late in the fourth quarter to seal a 28-27 victory over Scott in Northern Kentucky high school football action on Friday.
Conner took a 28-21 lead when senior Isiah Ebarb scored on a 50-yard punt return and Nathan Eberhard kicked the extra point. But Scott responded with a touchdown drive that ended with Deondra Pleasant’s 1-yard carry into the end zone.
Scott decided to go for a two-point conversion after that touchdown that would have given the Eagles the lead, but Conner stopped the run short of the goal line.
Conner quarterback Kyler Padgett scored three touchdowns to lead his team to its first victory of the season. He also completed nine of 13 passes for 91 yards.
Scott finished with more than 200 rushing yards in its first loss of the season. The team leader was sophomore Nelson Perrin, who had 131 yards on five carries, including a 66-yard TD run in the third quarter.
CONNER 0 6 15 7 — 28
SCOTT 7 7 7 6 — 27
S — London 2 run (Lawson kick)
C — Padgett 4 run (kick blocked)
S — Pleasant 12 run (Lawson kick)
C — Padgett 8 run (Warwick pass from Padgett)
S — Perrin 66 run (Lawson kick)
C — Padgett 9 run (Eberhard kick)
C — Ebarb 50 punt return (Eberhard kick)
S — Pleasant 1 run (run failed)
RECORDS: Scott 3-1, Conner 1-2
COOPER 35, CAMPBELL COUNTY 7
Cooper junior Jaden Jackson rushed for 136 yards and three touchdowns after coming in to replace senior tailback Torrey Cordell-Armstrong, who left the game in the first quarter with a shoulder injury.
The Jaguars totaled 175 rushing yards with Jackson getting most of the carries while quarterback Nathan Brown completed six of 16 passes for 117 yards and one touchdown.
Cooper’s first touchdown was scored by senior defensive end Marcus Watson on an 19-yard interception return. That was one of five turnovers committed by the Campbell County offense that finished with just 112 total yards.
COOPER 7 14 7 7 — 35
CAMPBELL CO. 0 0 7 0 — 7
CO — Watson 19 interception return (Hollifield kick)
CO — Jackson 50 run (Hollifield kick)
CO — Jackson 13 run (Hollifield kick)
CO — Hendrix 45 pass from Brown (Hollifield kick)
CA — Mayer 32 pass from Plessinger (Schierenbeck kick)
CO — Jackson 11 run (Hollifield kick)
RECORDS: Cooper 3-1, Campbell County 0-4
LEXINGTON CATHOLIC 15, COVINGTON CATHOLIC 14
With less than two minutes left in the game, CovCath quarterback A.J. Mayer’s 1-yard touchdown run cut Lexington Catholic’s lead to one point. The Colonels went for a two-point conversion to take the lead, but the pass play failed.
That was the only touchdown scored by the Colonels, who got their other eight points on a safety and two field goals by Matt Kloska. CovCath finished with 298 yards in total offense and LexCath had 310 yards.
Mayer completed 15 of 35 passes for 147 yards. He also rushed for 56 yards on 17 carries.
COVCATH 2 3 0 9 — 14
LEXCATH 6 7 2 0 — 15
LC — Jones 14 pass from Fagot (run failed)
CC — Safety
LC — Jones 25 run (Rios kick)
CC — Kloska 41 FG
LC — Safety
CC — Kloska 27 FG
CC — Mayer 1 run (pass failed)
RECORDS: CovCath 0-4, LexCath 2-2.
SIMON KENTON 45, DIXIE HEIGHTS 7
Simon Kenton played well on both sides of the ball once again and posted its fourth straight victory by a double-digit margin.
The Pioneers’ balanced offensive attack was led by quarterback Cam Racke, who scored the team’s first touchdown on a 35-yard run and threw a pair of TD passes in the first half. Simon Kenton also got rushing touchdowns from Dylan Hampton, Dillion Powell and Tanner Green.
Jose Torres scored a touchdown for Dixie Heights on a 2-yard run in the first quarter, but the Colonels were shut down by the SK defense the rest of the game.
DIXIE HEIGHTS 7 0 0 0 — 7
SIMON KENTON 15 15 7 7 — 45
S–Racke 35 run (Kreidenweis run)
D–Torres 2 run (Schulte kick)
S–Vance 30 pass from Racke (Kreidenweis run)
S–Hampton 4 run (Powell run)
S–Kreidenweis 6 pass from Racke (McNamara kick)
S–Powell 1 run (McNamara kick)
S–Green 8 run (McNamara kick)
RECORDS: Simon Kenton 4-0, Dixie Heights 0-3.
NEWPORT 8, BELLEVUE 0
Newport won its first game under new head coach Tim Viox behind a dominating defensive performance.
The Wildcats limited Bellevue to 92 total yards, intercepted three passes and recovered a fumble to post the shutout. Junior defensive back Nate Lloyd picked off two passes and senior linebacker Dee Joseph had a fumble recovery and interception.
The game’s only touchdown came in the third quarter on a 14-yard run by Newport senior running back Tyree Bolden. But the Wildcats’ offensive leader was freshman quarterback Tyler Porter, who accounted for 123 of the team’s 236 total yards. He finished with 83 yards rushing and 40 yards passing.
Bellevue’s leading rusher was junor Adam Hazeres with 43 yards on 11 carries. Senior running back Cameron Chase was held to 15 yards on nine carries.
BELLEVUE 0 0 0 0 — 0
NEWPORT 0 0 8 0 — 8
N – Bolden 14 run (Porter run)
RECORDS: Newport 1-3, Bellevue 2-2.
BEECHWOOD 35, IRONTON (Ohio) 19
Beechwood had a slim 21-19 lead at the halftime break, but the Tigers tacked on two more touchdowns in the second half to remain undefeated.
In the third quarter, Brett Slusher caught his third touchdown pass from senior quarterback Kyle Fieger to give the Tigers a 27-19 lead. In the fourth quarter, Ethan Stringer capped it off with a 53-yard breakway run for his second TD of the game.
Stringer finished with 124 yards on 20 carries. Fieger completed eight of 12 passes for 168 yards with Slusher catching five passes for 140 yards.
BEECHWOOD 7 14 6 8 — 35
IRONTON 0 19 0 0 — 19
I — Barker 1 run (Young kick)
I — Isaac 80 run (kick failed)
I — Young 4 run (pass failed)
RECORDS: Beechwood 3-0, Ironton 0-3.
BROSSART 40, TRIMBLE COUNTY 0
Senior quarterback Craig Pfefferman tied a team record by throwing five touchdown passes in the game and scored one himself on a 6-yard run to lead the unbeaten Mustangs to their fourth straight victory.
Pfefferman completed nine of 14 passes for 251 yards. His favorite receivers were Frank Cetrulo and Mitchell Rice, who each caught two TD passes. Cetrulo also kicked four extra-points and played linebacker on the Brossart defense that held Trimble County to less than 50 total yards.
The 4-0 Mustangs are off to their best start since 2010. They have a bye next week and then play their first Class 1A distruct game against Nicholas County.
BROSSART 13 20 7 0 — 40
TRIMBLE CO. 0 0 0 0 — 0
B — Rice 30 pass from Pfefferman (kick failed)
B – Pfefferman 6 run (Cetrulo kick)
B – Cetrulo 28 pass from Pfefferman (pass failed)
B — Shoultheis 42 pass fropm Pfefferman (Cetrulo kick)
B — Cetrulo 47 pass from Pfefferman (Cetrulo kick)
B — Rice 20 pass from Pfefferman (Cetrulo kick)
RECORDS: Brossart 4-0, Trimble County 0-4.
LLOYD 27, HOLMES 6
Lloyd junior Alex Runion scored one touchdown on a 97-yard interception return and another on a 1-yard run during his team’s victory.
The Juggernauts had 216 yards rushing in the game with junior Justin Durham picking up 114 yards on 16 carries and senior Dashon Lunsford getting 58 yards on six carries. Each of them also scored a touchdown.
The only touchdown for Holmes came on a 2-yard run by senior Andrew Arnold, who has scored five of the team’s eight TDs this season.
HOLMES 0 0 6 0 — 6
LLOYD 13 6 0 8 — 27
L — Durham 17 run (Hunt kick)
L — Lunsford 34 run (conversion failed)
L — Runion 97 interception return (conversion failed)
H — Arnold 2 run (conversion failed)
L — Runion 1 run (Gaines run)
RECORDS: Lloyd 3-1, Holmes 1-3
LUDLOW 43, GALLATIN COUNTY 15
Ludlow rolled up 524 yards in total offense with sophomore quarterback Justin Blackburn accounting for more than half of it.
Blackburn rushed for 210 yards and two touchdowns, including a 57-yard breakaway run in the fourth quarter. The first-year quarterback also completed six of 11 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns.
Ludlow running back Jeremiah Martin caught one of Blackburn’s TD passes and scored on runs of 6 and 79 yards. He rushed for 177 yards on 16 carries.
LUDLOW 6 3 13 21 — 43
GALLATIN CO. 8 0 0 7 — 15
GC — Brock 7 run (Hanson run)
L — Martin 6 run (run failed)
L — Ledbetter 26 FG
L — Blackburn 3 run (Ledbetter kick)
L — Martin 45 pass from Blackburg (kick failed)
L — Booker 33 pass from Blackburn (Ledbetter kick)
GC — Shrader 4 pass from Brock (Steuer kick)
L — Martin 79 run (kick blocked)
L — Blackburn 57 run (Martin run).
RECORDS: Ludlow 3-1, Gallatin County 2-2.
BELFRY 28, NEWPORT CENTRAL CATHOLIC 10
Belfry controlled the ball with its running game in the second half and scored three unanswered touchdowns to come away with the win.
NewCath had a 10-7 lead and a 168-70 advantage in total yards at the end of the first half. The Thoroughbreds took the lead on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Henschen to Josh Schneider in the second quarter.
In the second half, however, Belfry rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns while holding NewCath to just 13 yards.
Henschen ended up completing 13 of 19 passes for 92 yards in the game. NewCath’s leading rusher was Jacob Smith with 55 yards on 19 carries.
NEWCATH 3 7 0 0 — 10
BELFRY 0 7 7 14 — 28
NC — Hans 30 FG
B — Adkins 38 run (Woolum kick)
NC — Schneider 23 pass from Henschen (Hans kick)
B — Fletcher 40 run (Woolum kick)
B — Wellman 16 run (Woolum kick)
B — Wellman 4 run (Woolum kick)
RECORDS: NewCath 1-3, Belfrey 3-0.
NEW MIAMI (Ohio) 32, DAYTON 20
After New Miami took a 20-0 lead in the first half, Dayton played much better and got the ball into the end zone three times, but the comeback fell short.
Xavier Hundemer put Dayton on the scoreboard with a 7-yard touchdown run. Phillip McDaniel scored the Greendevils’ last two TDs on a 54-yard punt return and a 4-yard pass from Dylan Adams.
New Miami finished with 338 yards of offense compared to Dayton’s 231 total.
DAYTON 0 0 6 14 — 20
NEW MIAMI 8 12 6 6 — 32
NM — Johnston 8 run (Hensley run)
NM — Acus 77 punt return (pass failed)
NM — Johnston 6 run (pass failed)
D — Hundemer 7 run (kick blocked)
NM — Johnston 4 pass from Hensley (run failed)
D — McDaniel 54 punt return (kick blocked)
NM — Johnston 61 pass from Hensley (run failed)
D — McDaniel 4 pass from Adams (Adams run)
RECORD: Dayton 1-3.