By Matthew Dietz
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Walton-Verona football program enters the 2021 season with an overall record of 99-56 in 13 years. Jeff Barth has been head coach of the Bearcats for 12 years and his teams have compiled a 95-50 record.
There’s a good chance both of those records will reach the century mark at some point this season, but Barth wants to give Walton-Verona fans other reasons to celebrate.
“It’s a great community, and it’s obviously a community-wide effort,” he said. “We feel like we’ve built a very reputable football program, but we obviously want to take that next step to where we’re winning state championships.”
With a solid core of returning starters, the Bearcats look to build on their 7-5 record and Class 2A state quarterfinal appearance last season. One of the veterans is senior Trey Hatmaker, who passed for 1,229 yards and 14 touchdowns in his varsity debut.
Hatmaker was listed as a wide receiver on last year’s preseason roster, but he played quarterback on the junior varsity team as a sophomore. The coaching staff decided to let him run the varsity offense and he became the first Walton-Verona quarterback to pass for more than 1,000 yards since 2013.
The Bearcats have several other skill position players returning, including senior wide receiver Trey Ferguson, who caught 21 passes for 507 yards and nine touchdowns last season. Barth considers him “the best receiver that we’ve had in program history.”
The team returns a trio of running backs in Jacob Gaines, Jonathan Freeman and Wiley Baker, who combined for over 1,200 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns last season. All four of them are seniors, but sophomore Tyson Beach is also expected to play a significant role in the backfield.
“Jacob (Gaines) got a little bulked up this offseason, so we expect him to mix a little bit more power in with what had been a traditional speed game for him,” Barth said.
The coach added that Freeman will see most of his touches at the fullback position. Beach, although just a sophomore, will likely see almost as many carries as the seniors since many of them will be playing on both sides of the ball.
Walton-Verona had relied on a power running game until last season when the Bearcats became a more balanced offensive team, averaging 102 yards passing and 162 yards rushing per game. Barth expects that trend to continue.
“We’ve always tried to suit what we’re able to do based on what we have as a group, but I think in (Class) A and AA ball we can’t just say we’re this kind of a team and try to fit a square peg into a round hole,” Barth said. “If we have better guys to run, we’re going to run it more, and if we have better guys to throw and catch, we’re going to throw and catch a little more.”
Even with so many skill position players returning, the offensive line will have to be strong for the Bearcats to be productive. Barth plans to start five seniors up front for the first time in program history.
That group includes three-year starters Ethan Art and Carter Burch as well as center Zach Watson. Nolan Art, who has played linebacker and fullback in the past, will be moving to left guard and Max Schnieder will fill the other tackle position.
“I think anytime you look and you see five experienced senior linemen coming back, you got to be excited about that,” Barth said.”
The Bearcats have many of those same players returning on a defensive unit that allowed 201 yards and 17.1 points per game. Burch and Schnieder are defensive linemen who combined for 40 solo tackles last season. Baker and Ferguson are the top returning players in the secondary while Gaines will move from safety to outside linebacker.
The team’s top returning tackler is senior linebacker Chris Harward, who made 60 stops. Logan Ryan will also take on a bigger role as a linebacker coming off the edges.
Reaching the 100-win plateau may not come quickly for coach Barth. Three of the first five games for the Bearcats are against teams in higher classes (Scott, Grant County, Boone County). They will also face Holy Cross and Newport Central Catholic, a team that made it to the quarterfinals of the Class 1A playoffs last year.
“We really take our out-of-conference schedule very seriously, and we hope to test ourselves against good competition to try and help further our season when we get to the playoffs,” Barth said.
Closing in on the 100-win mark has allowed Barth to think about how far the Walton-Verona program has come and the future success that he hopes to achieve.
“It’s been a heck of a run out there,” he said. “We certainly would like to have a couple more regions (titles) up there and a state championship up there as well, but it’s been a very fruitful run for all parties on deck.”