By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
At practice sessions, Campbell County football coach Brian Weinrich wants everyone except the quarterbacks to play both offense and defense positions during scrimmage sessions.
“So everybody is learning both ways and everybody is playing both ways,” Weinrich said. “It makes practice fun and makes games fun because everybody is in it together. And it provides us depth. We’ve got to understand how many guys we’ve got and keep that in mind with what our schemes are going to be.”
Campbell County has not won a Class 6A playoff game since 2017 and the team’s last winning season was 2018. The 12 seniors on this year’s roster are willing to do whatever it takes to end both of those streaks in their final season.
“Two years ago, we were literally two plays away from winning district,” Weinrich said, referring to close losses to Ryle and Simon Kenton. “Last year, we had some injuries and just kind off stumbled through, so now we’re ready to roll.”
Nine defensive starters on last year’s 2-9 team graduated so the Campbell County coaching staff had a lot of vacancies to fill on that side of the ball. They’ve rebuilt the defensive unit around senior outside linebacker Elijah Depperschmidt, who made a team-high 78 tackles last season, including 11 behind the line of scrimmage.
As the team’s defensive coordinator this year, Weinrich said he installed a scheme that he used as an assistant coach before coming to Campbell County.
“I went over to defense this year and I was like, let’s do what I’d been doing for 20 years,” Weinrich said. “And looking around, we’ve got some speed, we’ve got some athleticism and some size, so we’ve got a nice combination of everything.”
Senior quarterback Lucas Anthrop is the team’s top returning starter on offense. Last year, he completed 107 of 176 passes for 1,229 yards and 11 touchdowns as a first-year starter. He also rushed for 481 yards on 112 carries and scored five TDs.
Anthrop was a starting forward on the Campbell County basketball team and a pitcher on the baseball team during his junior year. The varsity experience he gained in those sports should help him in football.
“We told him, ‘You’ve got to bring all that (experience) here,’ and he’s really done a good job being a team leader and running the offense,” coach Weinrich said of the 6-foot-4, 175-pound three-sport athlete.
The Camels will have last year’s leading rusher, Trevor Bertram, in the backfield once again. He picked up 496 yards on 106 carries with six TDs.
The coach said Depperschmidt and junior Cooper Lairson will also be called on to carry the ball this season.
The quarterback’s younger brother, Cade Anthrop, is a sophomore wide receiver looking to make an impact. Up front, the Camels have veteran offensive linemen Brayden Allender, Connor Abercrombie, Maxwell Mill and Michael Burton returning.
“Offensive linemen are a special group of people and we have a phenomenal offensive line coach,” Weinrich said. “They understand that the team is on their shoulders and they’re excited about it. They have worked so hard in the weight room and a couple of them were on the wrestling team, and that’s the hardest sport there is.”
Those big guys will be used on the coach’s new-look defensive unit as well. The Camels need to to do much better in that phase of the game after giving up 367 yards and 41.7 points per game last season.
“On defense, we’re pumped where we are,” Weinrich said. “That’s the fun part of coaching defense, spending all week watching film and figuring out what the other teams is doing to try and take away what they do best.”
CAMPBELL COUNTY CAMELS
2024 SEASON: 2-9 record, lost in first round of Class 6A playoffs.
STARTERS RETURNING: 6 offense, 2 defense.
DISTRICT: Class 6A, District 6 with Great Crossing, Ryle, Simon Kenton.
HEAD COACH: Brian Weinrich (10-34 in four seasons at Campbell County, 59-62 in nine seasons overall).
2025 SCHEDULE
Aug. 22 – SCOTT, 7 p.m.
Aug. 30 – at Pulaski Southwestern, 2 p.m.
Sept. 5 – at Highlands, 7 p.m.
Sept. 12 – at Cooper, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 19 – LLOYD, 7 p.m.
Oct. 3 – NEWPORT CENTRAL CATHOLIC, 7 p.m.
Oct. 10 – RYLE, 7 p.m.
Oct. 17 – at Simon Kenton, 7 p.m.
Oct. 24 – GREAT CROSSING, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 30 – at Beechwood, 7 p.m.