By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Kentucky high school football playoffs begin this week while local teams in other sports will be making bids for state championship titles.
On Wednesday, the Covington Catholic boys’ soccer team will play Louisville Fern Creek in the state semifinals at 6 p.m. at Lexington Dunbar High School.
CovCath defeated Louisville Trinity, 2-1, on Saturday to advance to the final four in the state playoffs for the first time since 2009. The Colonels have a 22-2-2 record with their only loses coming to Ohio opponents. In seven playoff games, they have scored 25 goals and allowed only four.
Fern Creek enters Wednesday’s match with a 20-4-1 record. After opening the season with three losses, the Tigers have won 20 of their last 22 matches. Senior forward Kornell Hilliard has scored 51 of the team’s 115 goals this season.
Volleyball teams from Notre Dame and Scott won regional championships last week to earn return trips to the state tournament that begins Friday at Louisville Valley High School.
The eight first-round matches include Scott vs. North Oldham at 11 a.m. and Notre Dame vs. Lexington Henry Clay at 12:30 p.m. The winners of those two matches will face each other in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
The two local teams are in the same bracket as perennial powers Louisville Mercy and Louisville Assumption. In the last 11 years, Assumption has won eight state titles and Mercy has won three. Last year, Mercy defeated Notre Dame in the championship match.
The St. Henry girls’ cross country team will be going for its fifth consecutive Class A state championship in Saturday’s state meet at Kentucky Horse Park outside of Lexington.
In the regional meet last Saturday, St. Henry had four runners among the top 10 finishers and won the Class A team title by a 48-point margin.
Highlands, the three-time defending state champion in Class 2A girls, also had a strong showing in the regional meet. The Bluebirds won the team title by 47 points with five runners among the top 10 finishers.
On the boys’ side, Highlands senior Ethan Shuley is looking to repeat as the Class 2A boys’ individual state champion. He posted the state’s fastest time this season when he crossed the finish line in 15:16.89 at the Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational in September.
North Oldham and Highlands are considered the top contenders for the Class 2A boys’ team title. The other local boys’ teams expected to do well at the state meet are St. Henry in Class A and Cooper in Class 3A.
Twenty-one high school football teams in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties will play first-round playoff games this weekend. Two of them will be hosting a playoff game for the first time in the history of their programs when Rowan County visits Scott in Class 4A and Raceland visits Bishop Brossart in Class 1A.
The playoff schedule also includes three games between local teams. Those matchups will be Conner at Campbell County and Boone County at Ryle in Class 6A along with Newport at Walton-Verona in Class 2A.
Here’s a complete schedule of the first-round playoff games with the current records for each team:
FRIDAY
(All games begin at 7:30 p.m. unless noted otherwise below)
Class 1A
Eminence (4-6) at Beechwood (9-1)
Kentucky Country Day (5-5) at Ludlow (6-4)
Dayton (1-9) at Louisville Holy Cross (5-5)
Bellevue (3-7) at Frankfort (2-8)
Raceland (6-4) vs. Brossart (9-1) at Campbell County Middle School
Class 2A
Gallatin County (4-6) at Newport Central Catholic (5-5), 7 p.m.
Carroll County (5-5) at Lloyd (7-3), 7 p.m.
Holy Cross (5-5) at Owen County (6-4)
Newport (1-9) at Walton-Verona (5-5)
Class 4A
Rowan County (5-5) at Scott (8-2)
Holmes (4-6) at Johnson Central (8-1)
Class 5A
Woodford County (3-7) at Highlands (5-5)
Anderson County (5-5) vs. Covington Catholic (3-7) at Dixie Heights High School
Dixie Heights (2-8) at Montgomery County (7-3)
Class 6A
Louisville Butler (2-8) at Simon Kenton (10-0)
Conner (7-3) at Campbell County (1-9), 7 p.m.
Boone County (0-10) at Ryle (8-2)
Louisville Seneca (0-10) at Cooper (8-2)