By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Newport Central Catholic football coach Steve Lickert expects to have a very strong running game this season even though two players who rushed for combined totals of 1,576 yards and 34 touchdowns last year have graduated.
Four returning offensive linemen are the main reason for Lickert’s optimistic outlook. He said the team also has “a nice little stable of backs” to share the ball-carrying workload for the Thoroughbreds, who will be ranked among the top Class 1A teams in the state once again.
“We have a nice mixture of (running) backs, ” Lickert said. “Some of them are slashers, some of them are speedsters and some of them are big, physical kids, so whatever we need in a game is what we’ll have out here, for the most part.”
NewCath’s top returning running back is senior Eddie Bivens, who picked up 440 yards on 50 carries and scored four touchdowns.
He was well behind the team’s rushing leader Kaleb Cole, who had 1,150 yards on 146 carries and 24 TDs in his senior season.
As the primary ball carrier in this year’s backfield, Bivens will be operating behind a veteran offensive line that includes seniors Will Sandfoss and Ben Colwell and juniors Aiden Tillman and Noah Kohler. They will also provide pass protection for senior quarterback Manny Miles, who completed 89 of 148 passes for 1,428 yards and 19 TDs last season.
“Manny had a really good junior year as our starting quarterback,” Lickert said. “He’s got really good instincts and its his second year as an offensive starter so he knows where to go with the football. With a nice line up front, and we’re pretty loaded at receivers, too, he should do fine.”
Sandfoss is a 6-foot-6, 280-pound tackle who has signed a letter of intent with Marshall University. He did not see much action on the defensive line last year, but Kohler and Tillman were starters up front.
The other returning defensive starters are junior linebacker Max Meyer and defensive backs Grayden Schirmer, Parker Hurtt and Bivens, who had three interceptions and returned one for a touchdown.
Six of the team’s top eight tacklers last season were seniors. Meyer ranked second with 78 and Bevins was seventh with 45 on that list.
The first-year starters who fill vacancies in the defensive line and linebacker positions will be crucial to the Thoroughbreds’ success this season.
Over the last six years, NewCath lost in the Class 1A semifinals twice and the region finals four times. The team’s goal once again is to reach the state championship finals for the first time since 2015 and win a state title for the first time since 2006.
“We lost some great players (to graduation) but have guys ready to step up and take over larger roles,” coach Lickert said. “We expect to be solid on offense from the start, but we’ll need to grow on defense. We have the pieces to the puzzle to be a very good team, but we need to put the pieces in place.”
Five of the first six games on NewCath’s schedule are against teams from larger schools, including defending Class 2A state champion Beechwood. The Thoroughbreds will also play Raceland, last year’s Class 1A state runner-up, before their three district seeding games in October.
Those early games give NewCath a chance to build its Ratings Percentage Index that’s used to seed teams for the post-season playoffs. If they win enough games to get a high seed, there’s a chance they could play a home game at the synthetic turf stadium that’s being built on campus.
“It was supposed to be ready at about week six,” Lickert said of the stadium. “They’re behind schedule by something like 50 days, so if it opens my best guess will be somewhere around playoff time. But I think we’ll be able to practice there sometime this September once they get the turf down. That in itself will be a huge asset to the program, for sure.”
NEWPORT CENTRAL CATHOLIC THOROUGHBREDS
2024 SEASON: 9-4 record, lost in region finals of Class 1A playoffs.
STARTERS RETURNING: 7 offense, 6 defense.
DISTRICT: Class 1A, District 3 with Bellevue, Dayton, Newport.
HEAD COACH: Steve Lickert (60-29 in seven seasons at NewCath, 134-112 in 21 seasons overall).
2025 SCHEDULE
Aug. 22 – at Lloyd, 7 p.m.
Aug. 29 – vs. Beechwood at CovCath, 7 p.m.
Sept. 5 – vs. Boone County at CovCath, 7 p.m.
Sept. 12 – at Conner, 7 p.m.
Sept. 19 – at Raceland, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 3 – at Campbell County, 7 p.m.
Oct. 10 – vs. Newport at Dixie Heights, 7 p.m.
Oct. 17 – vs. Dayton at Dixie Heights, 7 p.m.
Oct. 23 – at Bellevue, 7 p.m.
Oct. 31 – vs. Mason County at CovCath, 7 p.m.