The NKyTribune will be providing focused coverage of NKY high school football throughout the season, thanks to support from St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine. See all of 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

The leading passer in Northern Kentucky high school football going into the fourth week of the season is a first-year starter who doesn’t seem to pay much attention to his personal statistics.
Jarod Lonaker completed 48 of 77 passes for 846 yards and nine touchdowns in his first three games as starting quarterback for the Cooper Jaguars. He’s averaging 282 passing yards per game, which ranks among the top five in the state on the khsaa.org website.
But seeing his name among the state’s individual statistic leaders doesn’t seem to mean much to the varsity newcomer.
“Obviously, I want to do good and help my team out,” Lonaker said. “If I’m doing good on the stat sheet, that’s just how it is. But I’m not too worried about any of that.”
Cooper is off to a 2-1 start with a new offensive lineup that includes several players who filled vacancies left by the graduation of last year’s starters. Of course, none of them faced more scrutiny than Lonaker since he was chosen to run the retooled offense. But the Jaguars are averaging 356 yards and 46 points per game with their new quarterback and coach Randy Borchers considers that a “pleasant surprise.”
“I think the shocker for us is we’re usually not a team that’s putting up huge numbers offensively whether you’re talking points or yardage,” Borchers said. “So our offense has changed due to our personnel that we’ve got and Jarod has done a great job distributing the ball and running the offense we’ve got this year.”
Lonaker will try to keep the Cooper offense rolling in Friday’s game at Campbell County (2-1). The Camels won their last two games with late scoring drives and want to extend their winning streak in front of a home crowd.
“Their defense is very solid,” Borchers said. “Their kids do a great job of pursuing to the ball and reading keys. We’re going to have to put (scoring) drives together and we’re going to have to play a little better defensively to have a shot at winning the football game.”
This is the fourth consecutive year that Borchers has put a new starting quarterback in charge of the Cooper offense. The coach didn’t know what to expect going into the season-opening game against Highlands, but Lonaker passed for 233 yards and two TDs in his debut.
Cooper lost that first game, 52-42, but the offense didn’t let up the next two weeks. The Jaguars defeated Newport Central Catholic, 45-14, and Lexington Bryan Station, 52-28, with Lonaker leading the way. In addition to passing for 846 yards, he did not throw an interception in any of those first three games.
“The big thing is we’ve been pretty balanced with being able to throw and run the ball,” Borchers said. “We feel like we have four or five receivers that we can go to and we’ve got a couple guys in the backfield who do a good job running the ball for us.”
Senior running back Jaden Jackson has 417 yards rushing and 108 yards receiving in three games. The team’s leading wide receiver is senior Dante Hendrix with 317 yards on 18 catches, followed by senior Shea Burns with 229 yards on 11 catches.
“It’s definitely not all me,” Lonaker said of his team’s offensive success. “I couldn’t do it without the offensive line, obviously, and Jaden and Dante and Shea make it pretty easy for me at times.”
Hendrix, an Indiana State recruit, is a third-year starter who had 1,150 receiving yards last season. He could exceed that total this year if he maintains his current average of 123 receiving yards per game.
“We feel like any time you throw Dante the ball he can make a big play,” Borchers said. “We may only throw to him 10 times and he may only make three big plays, but those three plays can really get our offense going.”
When an opponent sets up its defense to keep Hendrix from getting the ball, the Jaguars will have to find other options on offense. The coaching staff will be counting on Lonaker even more when that happens.
“We feel like the ceiling is very high with Jarod,” Borchers said. “He’s been very successful so far, but we feel like he’s going to continue to get better as the year goes on. The more reps he gets and the more snaps he takes, the more comfortable he’s going to feel behind center.”
Friday Football Schedule
Newport at Bellevue, 7 p.m.
Cooper at Campbell County, 7 p.m.
Simon Kenton at Dixie Heights, 7 p.m.
Scott at Conner, 7 p.m.
Lexington Catholic at Covington Catholic, 7 p.m.
Dayton at New Miami (Ohio), 7 p.m.
Holmes at Lloyd, 7 p.m.
Holy Cross at Taft (Ohio), 7 p.m.
Highlands at Ryle, 7:30 p.m.
Franklin County at Beechwood, 7:30 p.m.
Brossart at Trimble County, 7:30 p.m.
Lexington Lafayette at Boone County, 7:30 p.m.
Ludlow at Gallatin County, 7:30 p.m.
Belfry at Newport Central Catholic, 7:30 p.m.
Henry County at Walton-Verona, 7:30 p.m.