By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Not a bad way to start the high school football season here. Not bad at all.
Especially a season when for the first time, Northern Kentucky will have teams in all six classes. You can’t win championships if you’re not there to begin the season. As Covington Catholic Coach Eddie Eviston said Friday, the Northern Kentucky Football Coaches Association would be mighty pleased if there’s a chance in the postseason all down the line.
Sure, the formerly unpopulated Class 3A has only the Lloyd Memorial Juggernauts in it after reclassification but that may be enough from what we saw Thursday against NewCath on the brand-new artificial turf at Cecil Dees Field.
All the Juggs did was outgain NewCath, 242 yards to minus one, on the ground. Ground and pound for Lloyd, but pound it with speedsters Yurii Collins Comer and Isaiah Sebastian, who combined for 232 of those yards and two TDs on 32 carries.
Not that they’re alone. Converted D-lineman Avander Abrams, all 260-pounds of 5-foot-9 quickness, is available for short yardage at the goal line when he’s not sacking quarterbacks, which he did as one of six Juggs who combined for eight sacks that accounted for NewCath’s minus rushing yardage.
No wonder Coach Kyle Niederman can’t say enough good things about his team – as a team. But can they throw it, you ask.
Heck yeah. Lloyd completes two out of every three passes the Juggs throw, even with starting quarterback Kaleb Evans out with a broken collarbone. Which is exactly correct: The Juggs threw three passes, all by Sebastian, completed two of them.
So watch out Class 3A, all you Top 10 preseason teams like Christian Academy of Louisville, Louisville Central and Lexington Catholic, here come the guys from Erlanger and Elsmere who started the season at No. 12 but won’t end up there.
• SPEAKING OF NEWCATH: With talented tailback Demetrick Welch and 6-4, 230-pound quarterback Kolton Smith back as seniors, no wonder the Thoroughbreds were picked No. 3 in Class 1A behind perennial powers Pikeville and Raceland. But it’s back to the drawing board for NewCath’s offense after the meltdown in Erlanger Thursday. Somehow, NewCath has to get the ball into the hands of Welch and Smith where they can hurt people – instead of themselves – by putting pressure on the defenders to make plays at the line of scrimmage, not zeroing in on Smith’s deep 15- to 20-yard drops from both sides of the D-line. Smith is bigger and more athletic than any defensive end he’ll run up against this year. He just has to be put in that position.
And if he gets going, how much better for Welch, who had his eyes set on 2,500 rushing yards this season. That’s a long way to go for the Breds now to get to but they have some blocks to build on in a class where Northern Kentucky has so often controlled.
• DID ANYONE SAY BEECHWOOD?: Actually, 10 voting coaches did pick the Tigers to four-peat in the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Class 2A poll, even with the legendary Noel Rash having retired with new man Jay Volker succeeding him in Fort Mitchell. But the opener was encouraging as the Tigers survived something of a trap game opener in Cincinnati at McNicholas, 31-14, with Clay Hayden, Chase Flaherty, Xavier Campbell and Luke Erdman all stepping up.
With Mayfield, last year’s runnerup, and Lexington Christian, the runnerup a year before with quarterback Cutter Boley headed to UK and a team nine coaches voted No. 1, this will not be easy for Volker’s thin squad, just 35 strong. But if there’s one thing they know how to do at Beechwood, it’s win football games.
Then there’s No. 7 preseason, Walton-Verona, led by 6-3 speedster quarterback Jackson Smith, coming off a solid 27-14 win at Bishop Brossart.
• AND NOW FOR THIS WEEK’S MARQUEE GAME, MAYBE THIS SEASON’S: It’s CovCath-Highlands week. And despite all the history here, there’s a twist. No matter who wins Friday, they both can go on to the playoffs and bring back state titles to Northern Kentucky, the first time that’s happened.
With CovCath down to Class 4A this season and Highlands staying in 5A, these two can do a great deal of damage – and not to one another. Saw Highlands in one practice, CovCath in its 37-22 win over Ryle Friday – and thought these were the best two teams up here.
As for Highlands, Coach Bob Sphire has big bodies everywhere – up front and in quarterback/runner/receiver Brody Benke, who Sphire prophetically talked of producing “30 touchdowns, hypothetically, on the season” and how that “10 could be by running, 10 passing and 10 receiving.” Turns out he might have understated the 6-4, 223-pounder senior’s prospects as Benke accounted for five TDs – two rushing, two passing and one receiving on his way to a 347-yard offensive night at Lexington Catholic. Watching him against CovCath’s swarming defenders should be fun.
As for the Colonels, their 1-2 punch of 6-5 senior QB Evan Pitzer, who produced 334 yards running and passing against Ryle, and tough tailback Owen Leen, who added 96 with three TDs, this is the kind of game both teams can’t wait for Friday to get here.
Highlands started out the year as No. 5 in preseason but watch out, Bowling Green, Scott County, Owensboro, South Warren, the Bluebirds may just be back.
As for CovCath, the Colonels started at No. 3 behind three-time winner Boyle County and another perennial power, Corbin. But the number you earn in December is the one that counts.
• AND FINALLY, DOES 6A MEAN SIMON KENTON AGAIN? And if so, do the Pioneers become the break-through team here following behind the state’s best offensive lineman, Aba Selm, headed to UK? The coaches ranked them 12th in preseason. Or does Ryle, ranked ninth in preseason, ride the active arm and feet of four-year quarterback Logan Verax as the Raiders get their act together by playoff time? Or what about Campbell County? Is this the year for the Camels, led by another of Northern Kentucky’s athletic, do-everything quarterbacks, Nathan Smith?
Whichever, against the likes of the top four in 6A – St. Xavier, Male, Frederick Douglass or Trinity, as Simon Kenton’s 51-20 loss to Trinity a year ago makes clear, even after a good first half, it’s going to take a heck of an effort for the first 6A team from Northern Kentucky to go all the way. “I’m not sure what the answer is,” Pioneers coach Roy Lucas told us last week. Thus far, there hasn’t been one.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.