By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Beechwood’s football program has compiled a statistical history of senior quarterback Cameron Hergott’s three-year varsity career to promote him for the 2020 Mr. Kentucky Football Award.
This season, Hergott has been an offensive catalyst for the 9-2 Beechwood team that will play Lexington Christian (10-1) in the Class 2A state championship game at 3 p.m. Friday at the University of Kentucky
The veteran quarterback has 2,313 yards passing and 990 yards rushing for a personal total of 3,303, which is 81 percent of the team’s entire offensive production. The Tigers have scored a total of 52 touchdowns and Hergott provided most of them with 24 passing and 14 rushing.
The other remarkable stat is Hergott has completed 149 of 194 passes for 76.8 percent. The state’s single-season record is 79.9 percent and the highest ever recorded by a Northern Kentucky quarterback is 69.4 percent.
Hergott, who has not made a college commitment, enters his final high school game with career totals of 6,060 yards passing and 2,288 yards rushing.
He will not break Beechwood team records in either one of those categories, and coach Noel Rash does not know what the team record is for total offensive yards in a career.
I don’t have those (stats) readily available,” Rash said. “There is no comparison. Cameron is on a whole other level.”
This is the first time that Beechwood has made it to the Class 2A championship game after winning 14 state titles in Class 1A. In a semifinal game last Friday, the Tigers came from behind to defeat West Carter, 35-34, with Hergott passing or rushing for all five of his team’s touchdowns.
Late in the fourth quarter, Hergott completed a 34-yard touchdown pass to Brady Moore that made it a one-point game, 34-33. On the ensuing two-point conversion, Hergott eluded defenders to extend the play and fired a pass to Moore that gave their team the victory.
All “A” Classic state tournaments moved back to February
Dates for the Kentucky All “A” Classic boys and girls basketball tournaments have been moved back to Feb. 16-22 at Eastern Kentucky University’s McBrayer Arena in Richmond.
Organizers of the annual small-school state tournaments made that decision during a meeting on Sunday and posted it on allaclassic.org with first-round pairings for each of the 16-team brackets.
The state tournaments were originally scheduled for Jan. 25-30. They were rescheduled because concerns over the coronavirus pandemic postponed the beginning of Kentucky’s high school basketball season until Jan. 4.
“Moving the tournaments back gave all regions an opportunity to finish if they have a COVID-related interruption,” said Mike Reeves, one of the organizers of the statewide playoffs.
The winners of 16 All “A” Classic regional tournaments for boys and girls held across the state advance to the state tournaments. Reeves said directors of the regional tournaments now have the option to keep their original dates or move them.
Some of the regional tournaments were originally scheduled on the first week of January, which is when basketball season is now set to begin.
“At this point no school has withdrawn, however, they will not be penalized if they choose to not participate,” Reeves said.
CovCath graduate among starters on highly-ranked Iowa team
Covington Catholic graduate CJ Fredrick has started all six games for the undefeated University of Iowa men’s basketball team that’s ranked No. 3 in the NCAA Division I coaches poll and by the Associated Press.
Iowa will play top-ranked Gonzaga (3-0) at 11 a.m. Saturday in a nationally televised game on CBS.
Fredrick, a 6-foot-3 redshirt sophomore guard, is averaging 9.5 points and 2.8 assists for the Hawkeyes. He’s shooting 57 percent (20 of 35) from the field overall and 55 percent (11 of 20) from behind the 3-point line.
He scored a season-high 21 points with five 3-point field goals in a win over North Carolina on Dec. 8.
Fredrick was named most valuable player in the 2018 Kentucky boys state high school tournament after leading CovCath to the title. He set a team single-season scoring record with 900 points in 39 games for a 23.1 average and had more than 1,600 points during his three-year varsity career.