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By Evan Merrill
NKyTribune contributor
Another week, another dramatic finish for the Campbell County football team. Fresh off their last-second win against Highlands, the Camels defeated Newport Central Catholic, 33-28, Friday on a game-winning 18-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Austin Hoeh to wide receiver Cameron Sandman late in the fourth quarter.
The Camels had to convert on fourth down several times during their winning drive. One came on a pass interference call that Sandman drew.
“We just kept finding a way to get a first down,” Sandman said. “That penalty was big. The guy wrecked me and the coach wanted me to line up one-on-one. It’s surreal right now.”
The Camels’ offensive leader was Hoeh, who passed for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Sandman caught both TD passes and finished with 134 receiving yards. Junior running back Alex Dowds had 134 rushing yards.
Campbell County made a few mistakes along the way to the victory. NewCath’s defense forced the Camels to fumble the ball 10 times and three of them resulted in turnovers. Hoeh also had a pass intercepted.
“We had (those) turnovers and we still won the football game,” coach Stephen Lickert said. “We did not play well. We’re going to work on ball security all week. But our guys played well when we needed to and we won the game. That’s all you can really ask.”
The Thoroughbreds maintained a lead for much of the third and fourth quarters behind the play of quarterback Patrick Henschen and running back Kyle Kelly. Henschen scored twice and threw a TD pass. Kelly finished with 142 yards rushing and one TD.
But Campbell County got the ball late in the game with a chance to win and the players made the most of the opportunity.
“We practice two-minute offense twice a week for 10 minutes at a time,” coach Lickert said. “It’s something we really work on. Our guys produced and executed, were cool as ice and made the plays they needed to make.”
Coming off the big victory against Highlands last Friday, Lickert sensed that his players weren’t as mentally prepared in practice as they should have been this week.
“I definitely think we were hung over (from the Highlands victory),” Lickert said. “We had too many people telling us how good we were all week. We believed the hype. I don’t think we believe the hype anymore.I think our guys understand that we’re going to have to come and play every week and we’re going to get everyone’s best shot.”
The Camels will only be able to celebrate the emotional victory for a short time. They’re scheduled to play Cooper next week, a team that whipped NewCath, 45-14, two weeks ago.
“It was honestly one of the best nights of my life,” Sandman said Friday. “We pulled through. We were down by one point, got the ball back and scored. That’s unbelievable. Cooper’s a good team and we’re going to need to start preparing for them tomorrow.”
NEWCATH 0 14 7 7 — 28
CAMPBELL COUNTY 14 7 0 12 — 33
CC – Dowds 1 run (Mayer kick.)
CC – Dowds 2 run (Mayer kick)
NC – Kelly 8 run (Otten kick)
NC – Henschen 1 run (Otten kick)
CC – Sandman 59 pass from Hoeh (Mayer kick)
NC – Freppon pass to Henschen (Otten kick)
NC – Henschen 1 run (Otten kick)
CC – Hoeh 2 run (kick failed)
CC – Sandman 18 pass from Hoeh (run failed)
RECORDS: Campbell County 2-1, NewCath 1-2