By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The first day of preseason practice for Kentucky high school basketball is Wednesday and the Cooper teams that won boys and girls 9th Region championships last season will have new head coaches running the show when they take the court.
After the 2024-25 season ended, Cooper school officials did not renew boys head coach Tim Sullivan’s contract and put girls head coach Justin Holthaus in charge of that program. A few weeks later, former college assistant coach Christian Prohaska was hired to replace Holthaus, who compiled a 128-30 record, won four consecutive 9th Region championships and made it to the state tournament semifinals twice.
Prohaska has four returning starters on the Cooper girls team, including point guard Addyson Brissey and swing player Haylee Noel, who had team-high averages of 16.4 points and 7.5 rebounds last season. In March, Noel was named to the state all-tournament team after scoring 34 points in a semifinal loss to Louisville Sacred Heart. It was the fourth highest point total recorded by a 9th Region player in the girls state tournament.
The Cooper boys team had four seniors in last season’s lineup who graduated. The other starter was Roman Combs, who transferred to Lakota West. That means Holthaus will be building his first team around players with limited varsity experience.
Sullivan, who spent 17 years building the Cooper boys basketball program, will continue his head coaching career at St. Henry. He was hired to replace Dave Faust, who retired after setting a 9th Region record with 428 career wins in 33 years with the Crusaders.
The other boys head coaches hired by local teams during the off-season are Tommy Sorrell at Bellevue and Dan Sullivan at Ludlow. Sorrell was head coach of the Bellevue girls team the last 17 seasons. Dan Sullivan was Ludlow’s head coach from 2018 to 2022 and ran the boys programs at Campbell County and Walton-Verona earlier in his career.
The other new head coaches of girls teams are Aaron Stamm at Brossart, George Stoll at Notre Dame, Justin Wade at Ludlow and Trevor Gould at Bellevue.
Stamm is the most experienced head coach in that group. He spent the last three seasons as the boys head coach at Ludlow. Before that, he was girls head coach at Ludlow from 2004-2010, girls head coach at Conner from 2010-2019 and returned to Ludlow as the girls head coach from 2019-2022.
Stoll is returning to 9th Region coaching after a seven-year absence. He was girls head coach at Newport Central Catholic from 2012 to 2018 when his teams won the 2014 9th Region championship and three 9th Region All “A” Classic titles in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Brossart boys soccer team returns to 10th Region title match
Brossart will play in the championship final of the 10th Region boys soccer tournament for the fourth consecutive year after defeating Mason County, 5-0, in a semifinal match on Tuesday at Montgomery County High School.
Max Runge scored twice for the Mustangs (15-7-1) and teammates Luke Neltner, Austen Combs and Jorge DelCastillo each had one goal. Neltner also has two assists in the victory while goalkeeper Luke DAlessandro was credited with 12 saves in the shutout.
Montgomery County (13-6-2) knocked off defending region champion Campbell County, 1-0, in Tuesday’s other semifinal. The winner of the Brossart vs. Montgomery County title match at 6:30 p.m. Thursday will advance to the state tournament.
Brossart defeated Montgomery County, 5-0, in a regular season match on Oct. 2. Three years ago, Montgomery County defeated Brossart, 5-0, in the 2022 region final. The Mustangs won the 2023 region tournament and lost to Campbell County in last year’s final.
The semifinal matchups in the 9th Region girls soccer tournament will be Notre Dame vs. Conner at 5:30 p.m. and Dixie Heights vs. Highlands at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at St. Henry High School.
In Tuesday’s first-round matches, Conner got past Newport Central Catholic, 2-1, in overtime, Notre Dame smoked St. Henry, 7-0, and Highlands defeated Cooper, 2-0, with Gabby Simons and Araiana Harms getting goals for the Bluebirds.
9th REGION BOYS AT HOLMES
Wednesday
Newport Central Catholic vs. Covington Catholic, 5:30 p.m.
Highlands vs. Conner, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Championship match, 5:30 p.m.
10th REGION BOYS AT MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Thursday
Championship match: Brossart vs. Montgomery County, 6:30 p.m.
8th REGION BOYS AT CARROLL COUNTY
Wednesday
Woodford County vs. North Oldham, 6 p.m.
Simon Kenton vs. South Oldham, 8 p.m.
Saturday
Championship match, 1 p.m.
9th REGION GIRLS AT ST. HENRY
Thursday
Notre Dame vs. Conner, 5:30 p.m.
Dixie Heights vs. Highlands, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Championship match, 2 p.m.
10th REGION GIRLS AT HARRISON COUNTY
Wednesday
Brossart vs. Montgomery County, 5:30 p.m.
Campbell County vs. Bourbon County, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Championship match, 7 p.m.
8th REGION GIRLS AT CARROLL COUNTY
Thursday
Grant County vs. South Oldham, 6 p.m.
Simon Kenton vs. Woodford County, 8 p.m.
Saturday
Championship match, 3 p.m.