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By Brett Bibbins
NKyTribune contributor
The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds continued their streak of postseason success with a 15-7 win over the Danville Admirals on Friday. The victory moves NewCath into the Class 2A state championship game for the 11th time in the last 16 years.
After losing four of its first six games this season, it was tough to imagine NewCath competing for a state championship down the road, but the Thoroughbreds have won seven of their last eight games to make it happen. They’ll play Mayfield (13-1) in the title game at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 6 at Western Kentucky University.
“They know how to persevere,” NewCath coach Dan Wagner said of his team. “They just keep at it, they know what they’re doing because they’ve been there before.”
NewCath’s semifinal game was a scoreless defensive battle until the first points were scored midway through the third quarter.
The first half featured staunch defense by both teams, combined with some sloppy play by the Admirals. They had two touchdowns called back in the first half due to penalties and turned the ball over on downs in the red zone once.
The Danville defense held NewCath to only 38 total yards of offense in the first half and without a first down until 4:35 left in the second quarter.
“We knew with them coming in here that they had a really good defense,” said NewCath senior running back Jacob Smith. “They’ve been tough all year. We just had to keep fighting it.”
Danville’s defense remained in control for most of the second half as well and capitalized on a NewCath turnover to break the scoreless tie. The Thoroughbreds fumbled on a punt return and it was recovered by the Admirals just inside the red zone. Four plays later, Danville’s Jakobi Turner took it into the end zone from 10 yards out for a touchdown.
NewCath’s offense continued to falter until late in the fourth quarter. With just over four minutes remaining, the Breds finally found an offensive spark. They moved the ball down the field quickly and efficiently to set up a 5-yard TD run by Smith.
The NCC coaching staff decided to go for a two-point conversion and the lead with 2:52 remaining in the game. Smith took a handoff and ran toward the right sideline before turning and throwing the ball back to quarterback Patrick Henschen, who broke a tackle and found his way into the end zone to give the home team an 8-7 lead.
“We were going for two all along if we scored on that drive,” coach Wagner said. “If it was late in the game, we had to just based on the way the game was being played.”
On the first play of the following possession, NewCath defensive back Trent Wrobleski intercepted a pass and returned it to the 2-yard line. Smith took it into the end zone a few seconds later to give the Thoroughbreds a 15-7 lead with 2:30 remaining in the game.
With no timeouts remaining, Danville moved the ball to the 7-yard line before time expired on an unsuccessful pass into the end zone.
DANVILLE 0 0 7 0 — 7
NEWCATH 0 0 0 15 — 15
D — Turner 10 run (Steber kick)
NC — Smith 5 run (Henschen pass from Smith)
NCC — Smith 2 run (Hans kick)
RECORDS: NewCath 9-5, Danville 12-2