By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Four seniors on the Beechwood football team who want their final season to be something special led the Tigers to a 41-20 win over Dixie Heights on Friday in Fort Mitchell.
Senior wide receiver Luke Erdman scored three touchdowns on passes from senior quarterback Clay Hayden. One of their classmates, James Cusick, also caught a TD pass from Fryman and turned a punt attempt into a 51-yard scoring run. Senior running back Chase Flaherty did his part with a 28-yard touchdown run.
Beechwood pushed its record to 3-0 with the win. Dixie Heights (1-2) scored three times, but that wasn’t enough to offset the efforts of the Tigers’ four seniors, who provided a net total of 549 yards.
Beechwood scored on its first two offensive possessions to take a 14-0 lead. Those touchdowns came on a 36-yard pass from Hayden to Cusick and 28-yard run by Flaherty. Colson Lair converted both extra-point kicks.
Early in the second quarter, a short punt gave the Tigers the ball on the 40-yard line. That short drive ended with Erdman catching a 26-yard TD pass from Hayden, but the extra-point kick failed due to a bad snap.
That gave Beechwood a 20-0 halftime lead. Dixie Heights opened the second half with a scoring drive that ended on Armani Gregg’s two-yard burst into the end zone. He followed that up with a two-point conversion that made the score 20-8.
Less than a minute later, Erdman caught a 69-yard touchdown pass from Hayden to keep the momentum on Beechwood’s side. On their team’s next offensive series, those same two players hooked up again on a 33-yard scoring strike that pushed the lead to 34-8 with 6:17 left in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, Beechwood lined up for a punt by Cusick. The snap was high, but Cusick turned what seemed to be a broken play into a 51-yard scoring run.
Dixie Heights was able to score twice in the final 10 minutes. Junior quarterback Mason Fields got one on a 1-yard dive into the end zone and threw a TD pass to Nolan Goetz on the Colonels’ final possession.
High school football scoreboard
FRIDAY GAMES
Cooper 21, Ryle 14
Covington Catholic 42, Simon Kenton 3
Grant County 20, Holy Cross 3
Highlands 34, Campbell County 0
Conner 38, Lexington Lafayette 0
Lloyd 36, Holmes 6
Lexington Sayre 42, Ludlow 0
Newport Central Catholic 55, Scott 26
Owen County 42, Dayton 8
Pendleton County 36, Bellevue 6
Brossart 49, Pineville 0