By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
A portion of the gate receipts from the Newport Central Catholic at Covington Catholic football scrimmage game at 7 p.m. Friday will be donated to Team “B”elieve, a organization providing support for Brian “B” Eviston and his family as he battles ALS, a degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Both teams have a connection to Eviston. The 1996 NewCath graduate was the starting quarterback on the football team for two seasons and one of his teammates was his younger brother, Eddie, who is now head football coach at CovCath.
Eddie said his brother was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in November of 2016. That’s when Team “B”elieve was created and began planning fundraisers, including the football scrimmage game and a Thanksgiving benefit on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at The Newport Syndicate.
The money raised goes to treatments, equipment and technology needed to continue Brian’s battle against the debilitating disease.
Admission to the NewCath-CovCath scrimmage game will be $7 for adults and $4 for students. There will be a Split the Pot raffle to raise additional money for Team “B”elieve.
Donations can also be made online by going to gofundme.com/team-believe.
Defending regional volleyball champs head into new season
High school volleyball season begins this week with St. Henry and Scott among the 16 defending regional champions around the state.
Maria Tobergte, the leading hitter on St. Henry’s 9th Region championship team last year, is returning for her senior season. The University of Cincinnati recruit had 477 kills and a .317 hitting percentage last season.
The Crusaders’ other returning starters include senior setter Bridgett Bessler, senior outside hitter Kayla Kluemper and junior middle hitter Zoe Epplen, who was named most valuable player in last year’s 9th Region tournament.
Scott will be bidding for its fifth consecutive 10th Region title without the program’s all-time kill leader Kelly Franxman, who was recruited by Xavier University. Franxman surpassed the 2,000 mark in career kills during her high school career.
The top returning player for Scott is junior setter Keaton Mossman, who was named to the 10th Region all-tournament team last year.
Veteran coach takes charge of Lloyd girls basketball program
Paul Sturgeon, the new head coach of the Lloyd girls basketball team, should be a familiar face to many of the players.
Sturgeon is a business teacher at Lloyd and he was an assistant boys basketball coach there last season. He was hired to replace Tyler Teke, who resigned as girls head basketball coach after six seasons.
Sturgeon was head coach of the St. Henry girls basketball team for four seasons. His team compiled a 62-62 record and qualified for the 9th Region tournament three times from 2014 to 2017.
He’s taking charge of a Lloyd varsity team that posted a 20-10 record last season with mostly underclassmen on the roster. The team’s leading scorers were freshman Keylasia Pouncey and sophomore Jayla LaBordeaux.
Lloyd is one of six 9th Region girls basketball teams that will have a new head coach next season. The others are Dayton, Holmes, Holy Cross, Newport Central Catholic and Notre Dame.
St. Henry wins 9th Region All “A” Classic boys golf title
St. Henry won the 9th Region All “A” Classic boys golf tournament on Monday with four team members finishing among the top five scorers in the 18-hole event at Kenton County Willows.
The tournament’s medalist was St. Henry senior Sam Cornett with a 74 and teammate Mason Butler placed second with a 77. The next three names on the leaderboard were Elijah Heck of St. Henry (81), Mitchell Schilling of Beechwood (82) and Evan Schwarz of St. Henry (82).
St. Henry finished with a 314 team total, followed by Beechwood at 336 and Newport Central Catholic at 384. This is the fifth consecutive year that the Crusaders won the regional title to qualify for the Kentucky All “A” Classic state tournament to be played Sept. 8 in Richmond. They won the small-school state tournament two years ago.