By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
They are 9-0 now. With the school’s first-ever district championship in football.
Wait a minute, you say, didn’t the Holy Cross Indians win a state football championship?
Indeed, the small parochial school from Latonia did. But in a year when the Indians were not district champions, only earning their state title – and a regional crown – with a postseason-ending rush.
So this one mattered, at two-time Class 1A District champion Ludlow at the Panthers’ Rigney Stadium down by the Ohio River where it seemed much colder than the 47 degrees on the thermometer.
Never fear, the still-unbeaten Indians – and now first-time-ever district champs – rattled off their ninth straight win to go 3-0 in the district with a 43-6 romp over the Panthers after a 36-0 first-half edge that called for a running clock the second half.
And they did it with a roster of just 25 players dressed for this game. There are cheerleading squads in Northern Kentucky bigger than that.
“We’re not done,” head coach Curt Spencer told his team afterward. “We’ve got a lot of work to do . . . weights tomorrow morning . . . enjoy tonight.”
And if the sounds from the sidelines and then from their buses headed back to Covington were any indication, Spencer didn’t have to tell his team that. But as a coach who’s moved up with these kids since their grade school days, he probably knew that.
One thing Spencer knows about his team that has outscored opponents, 362-54, “We hit people.” Indeed, the Indians may be more fearsome on defense despite averaging 40.3 points a game with a trio of offensive threats.
Two of them – sophomore quarterback Brian Ferguson and junior wide receiver Braylon Thornberry – are quicker than quick. And junior running back/linebacker Charles Oglesby brings the muscle.
As each did on this night, when Ferguson flew by defenders for three touchdowns, threw for two more to Thornberry and got the ball to Oglesby for a pair of TD runs. But is the Indian offense put the hurt on the Panthers on the scoreboard, the defense did it for real.
We’ll repeat Spencer’s take here: “We hit people.” And do so with the flying little guys who aren’t afraid to give up their bodies and D-linemen — one of whom is over 300 pounds, the other 400 pounds.
“This is a close group of guys,” Spencer says in his second year as head coach. “We have just 25 guys. But they’re a family.” It’s right there on the front of their jerseys: “FAMILY.” On the back, “TRIBE.”
And you do not want this Tribe coming after you. Because they will. And there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. Ludlow ball-carriers started to hit the turf before the wave of Indian gang-tacklers arrived.
The exception there was Panther senior quarterback Jackson Mays, who acquitted himself with a great deal of honor on this night, scoring Ludlow’s lone TD while running for 39 yards on 11 carries and throwing for 82 more on six of 18 against an Indian defense that contested every ball in the air.
And for those who wonder what the ceiling is for this Holy Cross team whose RPI rankings by the KHSAA took a hit when Holmes decided to go to unclassified status and that result doesn’t count, costing them at least a couple of places and down from the other unbeaten Class 1A teams in the state, Spencer is undaunted.
And comforted by a couple of things. “For the number of kids we have, we’re scary,” he said. But he had this warning for his team that may have gotten a bit caught up in the hitting.
“Champions don’t make mistakes,” he said of the incredible 155 yards on 13 penalties including personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct calls the Indians racked up as they got into a back-and-forth with Ludlow the more this game went on. Ludlow would be penalized five times for 35 yards.
Which is why Spencer called up his coaching staff after the game and asked them all to work to calm down his players who may be just a bit too much into the contact part of this game, if that’s possible.
So much so that after Holy Cross’ third touchdown, and a gang tackle that went onto the track on the ensuing kickoff, the referee stopped play and called both teams together.
“Knock it off,” he told them. “Play football.”
For the game, Holy Cross totaled 314 yards of offense to Ludlow’s 103 with a mere 21 yards on 20 carries while Holy Cross posted plays of 74, 51, 34 and 31 yards. Ferguson totaled 222 yards passing (134 yards) and running (88). Thornberry caught four passes for 88 yards while Oglesby ran it nine times for 57 yards.
Holy Cross 15 21 7 0—43
Ludlow 0 0 6 0—6
Holy Cross: Ferguson 13 run (Wilson run for 2 pts)
Holy Cross: Oglesby 18 run (Romita PAT kick good)
Holy Cross: B. Thornberry 21 pass from Ferguson (Romita PAT kick good)
Holy Cross: B. Thornberry 6 pass from Ferguson (Romita PAT kick good)
Holy Cross: Oglesby 12 run (Romita PAT kick good)
Holy Cross: Ferguson 13 run (Romita PAT kick good)
Holy Cross: Ferguson 51 run (Romita PAT kick good)