By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Covington Catholic is among the top-ranked boys’ high school basketball teams in Kentucky once again this season even though three of the starters on last year’s state championship team graduated.
The new player combination that coach Scott Ruthsatz put together has been doing so well that that the Colonels are No. 5 in the latest Litkenhous state power rankings and have a 17-4 record going into Friday’s game against Pleasure Ridge Park in the King of the Bluegrass Festival at Louisville Fairdale High School. If the Colonels win Friday’s game, it will cap off an exceptional month of January.
Over the last four weeks, they posted wins against Newport Central Catholic and Holmes, two of the 9th Region’s best teams, and stunned previously undefeated Wilmington, one of the top Division I teams in southwestern Ohio. The reason for the ongoing success of the CovCath basketball program is simple, according to head coach Scott Ruthsatz.
“It’s just our guys playing within the system and knowing their roles,” he said. “As long as they play within their roles and play together, we should do well.”
CovCath’s leading scorers are the two returning starters from last year’s team. Sophomore guard Cole Von Handorf is averaging 17.7 points per game followed by senior forward Bo Schuh at 13.3. In last week’s game against Holmes, neither of those veteran players got off to a good start and Colonels trailed at halftime. But the team rallied in the second half and came away with the victory by holding Holmes to just eight points in the fourth quarter.
“Your offense can be on one game and off the next,” Schuh said after the win. “But something we can control in every game is how much effort we give in our defensive play and we were proud about that.”
The three first-year starters who have helped the Colonels stay among the state’s top contenders this season are senior point guard Cooper Theobald, senior forward Grant Romes and junior guard Andy Flood.
Theobald filled the most important vacancy in the starting lineup. He stepped into the point guard position to replace the head coach’s son, Nick Ruthsatz, a three-year starter who was named most valuable player in last year’s state tournament.
Theobald’s current scoring average of 12.2 doesn’t come close to matching his predecessor, who provided 21.8 points per game last season. But the senior has taken over the crucial role of floor leader.
“He’s not a true point guard, but we’ve put him in that situation and he’s slowly as the season is progressing taken that over,” coach Ruthsatz said of Theobald. “We used him there last year early on and then he kind of faded as the season went along and lost his confidence. But this year he decided, ‘This is my role and this is where the team needs me.’ He forgot everything in the past and worked constantly on his game, and right now he’s leading a great team.”
The other newcomers in CovCath’s starting lineup have also assumed important roles.
Romes is a strong rebounder and scrappy defensive player while Flood is an emerging scoring threat who had 19 points in the win over Wilmington and 15 points in the win over NewCath.
CovCath is currently averaging 65.6 points per game while holding its opponents to 52.2 with its new set of players.
“This year’s team is completely different from last year’s team,” Schuh said. “Last year, we had some deadly shooters that made it tough (to defend) and Nick (Ruthsatz) would just take over at times. This year, we are more centered on our defense than our offense. It’s not that we don’t miss Nick, we’re just a different team now.”
Despite their impressive record, the Colonels still have a lot of areas they need to work on before the post-season playoffs begin. Coach Ruthsatz said he watches game tapes with the players much more than he did last season to point out things they can do better.
“It’s always a work in progress,” Ruthsatz said. “We just have to make sure we address some of the little things more so this year than last year. That’s why we’re making sure they see everything for themselves on tape. It’s just a matter of educating the team on what their roles are and how we want them to perform.”