By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Covington Catholic was voted No. 1 in a preseason poll of Northern Kentucky boys soccer coaches and the Colonels opened the season with a 2-1 win over No. 3 Conner on Tuesday in a match that was cut short by lightning.
CovCath has seven starters returning from last year’s 16-6-4 9th Region championship team. Four of them are defensive players who helped limit opponents to 22 goals in 26 matches with 12 shutouts.
“Defensively, we’re pretty talented,” said coach Jeremy Robertson. “Where we’re going to have our work cut out for us is on the scoring side of things.”
CovCath’s goals in the season opener were scored by junior Ethan Eibel and sophomore Chase Fleck, a varsity newcomer.
The team’s defensive veterans in that match included junior goalkeeper Booker Gifford and seniors Ryan Burke, Matthew Witte and Tanner Robertson, the coach’s son.
“Our defense is pretty stable,” Tanner said. “It’s almost the exact same as last year and we have a bunch of young kids coming up who are doing good. The senior spots that were left open last year got filled pretty fast and we’re looking pretty good right now.”
Tanner, who was named first-team all state and voted Defensive Player of the Year in Northern Kentucky after last season, will also be a placekicker for the CovCath football team this fall.
He decided to do that after attending summer camps conducted by Trey Gronotte, a CovCath graduate who kicked for West Point Academy.
“I texted Trey and went up there with my little brother twice to work with him,” Tanner said of the kicking camps. “I realized I could actually do it and (Trey) told me from the very beginning that my form was good and it looked like I’d done it before.”
Two kickers on last year’s CovCath football team graduated so the position is open. When Tanner decided to give it a try, his father practiced with him as the holder on kicks.
“It was funny though,” Jeremy said. “We got a football and went out there and he was hitting (field goals) from 35 yards out, so I figured we might as well give it a shot.”
Tanner said his father and CovCath football coach Eddie Eviston are working together to give him a chance to play two sports in the same season. His younger bother, Eli, is going to be a place kicker on the freshman football team as well.
“There really shouldn’t be a conflict because we don’t have any soccer games on Friday nights when all the football games are played,” Tanner said. “Coach Eviston and coach Jeremy do a good job communicating on what practices to go to and what practices I can leave early.”
If there are any conflicts, Tanner said soccer will cone first. And that’s good news to his father.
“It’s a whole new thing for me,” Jeremy said. “I guess I’ll be doing some Friday Night Lights, like I didn’t have enough going on already.”
Four golf teams win All “A” Classic region titles
St. Henry won the 9th Region All “A” Classic girls golf tournament for the fifth consecutive year and Newport Central Catholic took the boys team title for the first time since 2012.
The medalists in the two tournaments were Ellie Stamm of Beechwood with a 14-over 86 at Boone Links and Evan Himmelsbach of NewCath with a 2-under 69 at A.J. Jolly. This is the second consecutive year that Stamm has carded the best score in the girls tournament.
Brossart extended its string of 10th Region All “A”Classic boys title to 12 in a row led by senior Cole Bricking, who took medalist honors with a 1-over 72 at A.J. Jolly. The Brossart girls were the only team in their region tournament and claimed a 10th consecutive title.
Walton-Verona placed second in the boys 8th Region All “A” Classic tournament. Adam Gutman was medalist with a 3-over 74 at Sugar Bay Golf Course.
Region champion teams will compete in the Kentucky All “A” Classic boys and girls state tournaments on Sept. 6 at two golf courses in Richmond. Gutman is among the individual state qualifiers.
CovCath tennis player receives state’s top award
Alex Yeager became the first local recipient of the Kentucky Mr. Tennis Award after his senior season at Covington Catholic. The annual award is presented by the Kentucky High School Tennis Coaches Association.
At the state singles tournament, Yeager won tiebreaker sets in his final three matches to take the title and join his father on the list of state singles champions. He completed his undefeated season with four victories in the state team tournament that CovCath won for the second straight year.
Yeager, who was state doubles champion in 2023 and 2024 with partner Kalei Christensen, was recruited by Drake University in Iowa, an NCAA Division member that competes in the Missouri Valley Conference.