By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Seven seniors on the Walton-Verona football team gathered together for a photograph before Friday’s final regular season home game against St. Henry. Then they made sure it wouldn’t be the last time they played there.
Walton-Verona clinched a home game in the first round of the playoffs with a dominant 35-0 win over St. Henry that decided second place in the Class 2A, District 5 standings.
That’s a nice accomplishment for Walton-Verona’s seniors. The Bearcats did not make the playoffs when they were freshmen, lost in the first round when they were sophomores and went 1-1 last year with both playoff games on the road.
“Our last home playoff game was in 2022 and since I’ve been here this was the first really big game we’ve had to build things back up,” said Walton-Verona’s third-year head coach Gary Pence.
“So here was a chance to take that next step, which is kind of our motto, by getting a win tonight. I love the effort they came out with and they executed perfectly.”
The Bearcats (7-2) played so well on both sides of the ball that they finished with a 391-121 advantage in total yards. The offensive breakdown was 276 rushing and 115 passing.
The defensive unit posted its fourth shutout of the season by holding St. Henry to negative 6 yards rushing and junior safety Dustin Hamilton set a team record with a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Walton-Verona senior Alexander Yutze rushed for a team-high 105 yards on 12 carries and made a team-high 10 tackles at the inside linebacker position.
“I knew I was going to run the ball a lot tonight and I knew I going to run it hard,” Yutze said. “We were bigger and stronger than St. Henry all over and just dominated.”
Walton-Verona’s first two possessions were scoring drives that covered 60 and 78 yards. The first one ended with junior running back Andrew Lynn catching an 8-yard touchdowns pass from sophomore quarterback Braxton Parr.
On the Bearcats’ next offensive series, they had three third-down conversions to keep the chains moving. Lynn crossed the goal line on a 1-yard run that came on another third-down play.
Walton-Verona took the second-half kickoff and went 70 yard in seven plays. Yutze carried the ball three times for 44 yards and senior Burch Cooper finished it off with runs of 15 and 3 yards into the end zone.
“I was like, let use our advantage,” coach Pence said. “We have some size, so let’s kind of pound it right at them and see if they can slow us down. With our big linemen and our running backs running hard, it was a real good game.”
St. Henry put together it’s best drive of the night and moved the ball to the 18-yard line. That’s when Hamilton picked off a pass and raced 99 yards to the opposite end zone with 2:36 left in the third quarter. Walton-Verona’s final touchdown came on a 55-yard breakaway run by sophomore Wesly Simpson on his only carry in the game.
“I was a great Senior Night,” Yutze said. “It’s my first winning season at Walton-Verona and I expect to win a few more games.”
The Bearcats will wrap up their regular season schedule with a game at Grant County next Friday and then prepare for that long-awaited home playoff game.
ST. HENRY 0 0 0 0 — 0
WALTON-VERONA 7 7 14 7 — 35
WV — Andrew Lynn 8 pass from Braxton Parr (Lucas Engel kick)
WV — Lynn 1 run (Engel kick)
WV — Cooper Burch 3 run (Engel kick)
WV — Dustin Hamilton 99 interception return (Engel kick)
WV — Wesly Simpson 55 run (Engel kick)
RECORDS: Walton-Verona 7-2, 4-1; St. Henry 5-4, 3-2.
High school football scoreboard
CLASS 1A
Newport Central Catholic 33, Bellevue 14
Newport 28, Dayton 7
Holy Cross 35, Ludlow 14
Brossart 47,
Trimble County 8
CLASS 2A
Beechwood 63, Bracken County 0
Walton-Verona 35, St. Henry 0
CLASS 3A
Lloyd 48, Carroll County 21
CLASS 4A
Covington Catholic 42, Mason County 0
CLASS 5A
Cooper 41, Boone County 7
Conner 42, Scott 0
CLASS 6A
Simon Kenton 14, Ryle 7
Campbell County 27, Great Crossing 16
NON-DISTRICT
Highlands 34, Scott County 13
Holmes 28, Lewis County 22