By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
They are 14-0 in their first year in Kentucky’s Class 4A football. They are eight-time state champions. They are the No. 1-ranked team in the KHSAA’s RPI ratings. They survived a schedule that included state semifinalists Beechwood and Highlands. They have a four-time state champion coach. They have beaten, in back-to-back playoff games, the best teams in the East – Ashland Blazer – and the West – Paducah Tilghman — in tough, hard-fought games against perennial Kentucky powers.
And yet, in the minds of many around the state, the Covington Catholic Colonels are not the team to beat Friday at UK’s Kroger Field in the 8 p.m. championship game.
Three-time defending champion Boyle County is. The 14-0 Rebels are the No. 1 Class 4A team in the AP voting, two spots ahead of CovCath. And why shouldn’t they be favored? Don’t they almost always win when they get there, as they have six times in the last seven years?
The Rebels may not have faced quite the schedule the Colonels have, thus their lower RPI ranking. But they have a Kentucky Mr. Football candidate leading their 75-man roster – quarterback Sage Dawson (28 TDs passing, three rushing, 2,378 yards passing, just five interceptions) and a pair of other offensive stars, both juniors, in running back Avery Bodner (1,195 yards rushing, 20 TDs) and 5-9, 160-pound speedy wide receiver Montavin Quisenberry (40 catches, 12 TDs, 818 yards), who has offers from Kentucky, Ole Miss, Michigan and Louisville and is ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the class of 2025.
“He’s a great player,” Eviston says, not unlike Paducah’s Martels Carter Jr. from last week. “You have to always know where he is, to keep an eye on him.”
Right behind Quisenberry on the 2025 prospect list at No. 7 is 6-2, 205-pound linebacker Brock Driver, who has 71 tackles, second only to Bodner’s 80 for the Rebels, who have held opponents to 11.8 points a game (while scoring 45.2).
“They are very well-coached, very sound, very disciplined,” says CovCath Coach Eddie Eviston. “And they have great talent.”
Only one team came within a touchdown of Boyle – fourth-ranked Corbin 11 days ago – as the third-ranked Rebels have outscored opponents, 633-165, this season including a 41-14 semifinal romp where the Rebels piled up 501 yards of offense against a helpless, although then unbeaten, Franklin County Friday.
But wait, CovCath is 8-1 in state championship games all-time. Yeah, well Boyle County is 11-2.
What about the coaches? CovCath’s Eviston has won two state titles in his three championship appearances with the Colonels (in 2017 and 2019) with a runner-up spot in 2018 while also winning state titles in 2010 and 2012 at Newport Central Catholic with a perfect 10-0 playoff record those two seasons.
With Boyle County, Justin Haddix is 18-0 in the playoffs with those three state titles after coming over from Corbin but did lose twice with Corbin in championship games before heading to Boyle. Eviston has a 28-6 playoff record although this is CovCath’s first year in Class 4A.
You want more numbers. These are courtesy of Danville sports radio guy Joe Mathis who did the math.
Boyle County has played football since 1963, CovCath since 1967. In that time, the two teams have combined for more than 950 wins and those 19 state championships (Boyle 11, CovCath eight) and yet have never played one another. Friday’s game will be their first-ever head-to-head matchup.
“That’s pretty neat,” Eviston says, “it’s cool that the two of us will finally get to play.”
Boyle County’s Haddix told the Danville Messenger-Advocate that “We’ll have our hands full” with CovCath “They’re a good football team; they wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. They’re undefeated, ranked No. 1 in 4A in the RPI, so we’ve got to get after it . . . . They’re a good team with a nice quarterback and a couple of good receivers.”
For CovCath fans heading to Lexington, Boyle County’s colors are “Las Vegas gold and black.” And like almost every great program, the product of a community effort. The Rebel program has a 1:01 minute history highlight video of all its state title teams that would make most college programs proud.
On Thanksgiving, the team invited the community out to 3,500-seat Rebel Field for the holiday practice and then to stay to eat dinner with the team. The invite also noted: Rebel gear will be available for fans to buy at practice. And this week’s highlight has the team visiting all the grade schools in the county.
So here’s the question: Will CovCath’s tougher schedule and five games that came down to a touchdown or less be the difference?
Eviston says he “doesn’t know” how that might play out, but “we’re used to playing in games like that . . . you try to build your schedule so that you build to a game like this.”
There’s something else that could help the Colonels, Eviston says: “We’ve played against multiple guys who will be playing college football on Saturday.”
Been there, done that, CovCath can say of surviving tough tests. And as many stars as the Rebels have, they don’t have an SEC-bound senior like CovCath tight end/linebacker Willie Rodriguez, who is taking his 12 TDs on 28 pass receptions, along with his 6-foot-4, 240-pound frame, to the University of Kentucky.
But he’s not alone. Six-foot-five senior quarterback Evan Pitzer has passed and run for 3,172 yards (2,536 passing, 636 rushing) while producing 43 TDs (32 passing, 11 rushing) to lead the Colonels’ offense supported by tough senior tailback Owen Leen’s running (834 yards, 12 TDs) and senior speedster Braylon Miller’s (59 catches for 859 yards, eight TDs, 191 rushing yards, two TDs).
Dynamic junior safety Tate Kruer leads the Colonels with 109 tackles, linebacker Ben Reeves has 61 with a team-high seven sacks. Josh Flood has 58 tackles, Logan Sanning 50.
Then there’s sophomore Cash Harney, who has a team-high five interceptions (two last week against Paducah Tilghman) for 138 yards in returns and one TD.
“We prepare for everything,” Pitzer said after last week’s 22-14 win over a talented Paducah Tilghman that had him running the ball 24 times for 123 yards and two TDs after an in-game adjustment.
It’s a tribute to their trust in their coaches, Pitzer said. “I leave that to the adults,” he said of the on-the-fly change-up to go away from the passing game.
“We talk to our kids about maximizing the season,” Eviston said after last week’s Paducah Tilghman win when the Colonels’ defense stepped up to hold the talented Blue Tornado to 14 points. “We’ll play to the last play, fight to the last snap.”
Sounds like a preview for Friday in a game where both teams have turned to running the football more the closer they get to the final game. “I think that’s a natural thing in football this time of year to be the team that can run the football and move the chains,” Eviston says.
And now this class of CovCath seniors has what they’ve always said they wanted – the chance to get back to Lexington.
“We wanted the opportunity to play in the big game,” Pitzer said.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.