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
A sprained toe limited the number of times he could run the ball, but Conner senior quarterback Kyler Padgett’s throwing arm was working just fine during Thursday’s homecoming game against Campbell County.
Padgett completed 21 of 28 passes for 266 yards and five touchdowns in a 36-14 win that lifted the Cougars’ record to 6-1, the team’s best start since 2009.
Conner coach Dave Trosper said it was Padgett’s best passing performance of the season and it came at an ideal time. The Cougars will be taking a five-game winning streak into their first Class 6A district game against Ryle next week.
“Kyler grew up a lot (Thursday). He made some check reads and did some other things that we really needed him to do,” Trosper said. “We work on all that in practice and he just took it to the next level (Thursday). And that’s what we needed him to do before we get into district play.”
Conner won its previous four games by six points or less and it looked like Thursday’s game was going to follow suit when the first half ended with the Cougars holding a slim 15-7 lead.
Conner’s first two touchdowns came on passes from Padgett to receivers Darrel Marshall and Isaiah Ebarb in the second quarter so the Cougars continued to put the ball in the air after halftime.
In the first 90 seconds of the third quarter, Padgett engineered a 66-yard scoring drive with four pass plays. After Marshall made a leaping catch for a 41-yard gain, senior Tanner Neyers scored on a 10-yard slant pass and Nathan Eberhard kicked the extra point to quickly extend Conner’s lead to 22-7.
“When we were watching films (of Campbell County’s previous games) were knew that we could exploit some things with our passing game,” Padgett said. “Our line was blocking amazing and our skill guys just made some great plays.”
Campbell County responded with a long drive of its own, but the Camels came up short on a fourth-down play inside the 5-yard line and turned the ball over on downs.
Padgett came out firing once again, completing seven of eight passes during a 95-yard scoring drive that ended with Marshall making a sliding catch in the end zone on a 15-yard TD pass. Eberhard’s point-after kick made it 29-7 going into the fourth quarter.
Campbell County senior Carson Plessinger shared the quarterback duties in the first half with sophomore Austin Hoeh. But the veteran was literally running the offense on the Camels’ only touchdown drive of the second half.
Plessinger ran the ball seven times for 50 yards and completed three passes for 20 yards during that drive. He capped it off with a 1-yard push across the goal line.
But the Cougars came right back with a touchdown drive of their own. After Padgett picked up 26 yards on one of his few runs in the game, he threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Neyers that secured the victory. The next time Conner got the ball the reserves took the field and the starters stayed on the sideline.
Conner finished with 266 passing yards and 100 rushing yards. Six receivers caught passes for the Cougars. The leaders were Neyers with seven catches for 104 yards and Marshall with three catches for 69 yards. They each had two touchdown receptions.
“Kyler did a good job of seeing who was open and getting it to them,” coach Trosper said. “That’s always crucial for us to be able to get the ball to our playmakers, and we’ve got a lot of them.”
Campbell County had 299 total yards (160 rushing, 139 passing) and Plessinger accounted for most of it. He completed 8 of 13 passes for 79 yards and picked up 131 yards on 14 carries for the 0-7 Camels.
CAMPBELL CO. 7 0 0 7 — 14
CONNER 0 15 7 14 — 36
CC – Dean 27 pass from Plessinger (Mayer kick)
CON – Marshall 13 pass from Padgett (Padgett run)
CON – Ebarb 23 pass from Padgett (Eberhard kick)
CON – Neyers 10 pass from Padgett (Eberhard kick)
CON – Marshall 15 pass from Padgett (Eberhard kick)
CC – Plessinger 1 run (Mayer kick)
CON – Neyers 3 pass from Padgett (Eberhard kick)
RECORDS: Conner 6-1, Campbell County 0-7.