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By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
His team made a few mistakes along the way, but Newport Central Catholic football coach Dan Wagner was happy with the end result in Friday’s 29-26 win over Lloyd at Newport Stadium.
The Thoroughbreds had to score two touchdowns in the final 10 minutes to secure the victory and clinch a Class 2A district title for the ninth consecutive year. But penalties and an erratic kicking game made their late comeback necessary.
“We’re resilient, but I wish we didn’t have to make ourselves so resilient,” Wagner said. “That first half, we moved (the ball), but we hurt ourselves. And, my gosh, I don’t know how many points we left on the field on (missed) extra points and field goals. It had to be five or six.”
NewCath was behind, 26-17, going into the fourth quarter and mounted a rally with senior running back Jacob Smith leading the way. During his team’s last two scoring drives, Smith carried the ball on 14 of 21 plays, picked up 85 of the 110 yards and scored both touchdowns.
“I just had faith in my guys up front,” Smith said. “We ran one play that was working so we just kept going back to that play and the holes were huge.”
A pass interception by NewCath defensive back Erik Anderson set the stage for the game-winning drive. The offense then moved the ball 70 yards in 14 plays and scored on a 15-yard run by Smith with 1:15 left on the clock.
But NewCath senior Ryan Hans missed his second extra-point kick and the score was 29-26 when Lloyd got the ball back.
A pass interference penalty gave Lloyd a first down on the NewCath 49-yard line with 33 seconds remaining. After picking up one yard on a pass play, sophomore quarterback Jordan Fann wasn’t able to connect with receivers on the next two plays. On fourth down, Fann was sacked by NewCath defensive end Luke Kues.
“We pride ourselves on conditioning and in that fourth quarter we stepped it up when we needed to,” Kues said. “That’s all that matters at the end of the day, getting that win.”
Fann completed 11 of 25 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns. On the pass that was intercepted, he threw the ball over his receiver’s head and Anderson was there to pick it off.
“That was big,” said Lloyd coach Eric Turner. “If the ball goes a little lower it goes for a touchdown instead of an interception. But our young quarterback played well. He just got the ball a little too high on that one. Sometimes those things happen.”
NewCath took an 11-8 lead in the second quarter when Hans kicked a 23-yard field goal, but he missed a field goal from that same distance in the third quarter and had an extra-point kick blocked.
Lloyd junior running back Justin Durham scored on a 41-yard touchdown run just before halftime to put his team on top, 14-11, at the break. In the third quarter, Fann threw touchdown passes to Lashunn Townsend and Charles Gaines to give the Juggernauts a 26-17 lead going into the fourth quarter.
But the Lloyd defense could not contain Smith during NewCath’s fourth quarter comeback.
“He’s one of the top running backs in Northern Kentucky, if not the state,” coach Turner said. “You’ve got to really crowd that guy, but it’s hard to keep him down for four straight quarters.”
NewCath finished with 367 total yards. Smith had 137 of the team’s 225 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns. Junior quarterback Patrick Henschen completed 8 of 17 passes for 142 yards and one TD.
Lloyd’s final total was 319 yards. Durham picked up 142 of his team’s 157 rushing yards. Gaines caught five passes for 96 yards and two TDs.
LLOYD 8 6 12 0 – 26
NEWCATH 8 3 6 12 – 29
L – Gaines 33 pass from Runion (Durham run)
NC – Wrobleski 28 pass form Henschen
NC – Hans 23 FG
L – Durham 41 run (run failed)
L – Townsend 11 pass from Fann (run failed)
NC – Smith 3 run (kick blocked)
L – Gaines 46 pass from Fann (run failed)
NC – smith 2 run (kick failed)
NC – Smith 15 run (kick failed)
RECORDS: NewCath 4-4, Lloyd 5-3.