The NKyTribune is offering focused coverage of NKY high school football throughout the season, thanks to support from St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine. See all our pre-season features on each of NKY’s 21 high school football teams and follow our coverage, including roundups each week at Northern Kentucky High School Football.
By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Ryle Raiders needed a third-quarter scoring surge to defeat Clark County, 49-10, and extend their perfect record to 6-0 in high school football action on Friday.
The first half ended with Ryle holding a slim 10-3 lead, but the home team scored 32 points in the third quarter to take command of the game against thier winless opponent.
The Raiders’ first two touchdowns in the third quarter came on an 86-yard run by senior Colin England and a 75-yard run by sophomore Jake Chisholm. Each of them also scored on a short run later in that period.
Ryle finished with a total of 435 rushing yards. England had 200 yards on 17 carries and four touchdowns. Chisholm had 162 yards on 11 carries and two TDs. The Raiders’ other touchdown was provided by junior linebacker Jackson High on a 46-yard fumble return.
Ryle has scored 267 points in six games for a 44.5 average going into its first Class 6A district game next Friday. The Raiders will visit neighboring rival Cooper, which has held four of its seven opponents to seven points or less.
CLARK CO. 3 0 7 0 — 10
RYLE 3 7 32 7 — 49
CC — Gaunce 23 FG
R — Molique 37 FG
R — England 1 run (Molique kick)
R — England 86 run (Molique kick)
CC — Kiniry 50 yard kickoff return (Gaunce kick)
R — Chisholm 75 run (Molique kick)
R — Chisholm 4 run (kick failed)
R — England 3 run (run failed)
R — High 46 fumble return (run failed)
R — England 18 run (Molique kick)
RECORDS: Ryle 6-0, Clark County 0-6.
COOPER 35, DIXIE HEIGHTS 7
Cooper senior quarterback Nathan Brown had a good night throwing the football despite the steady rain, completing 12 of 24 passes for 314 yards and four touchdowns. The Jaguars also picked up 248 yards on the ground with senior Torey Cordell-Armstrong getting 199 on 25 carries.
Three of Brown’s touchdown passes went to junior Dante Hendrix, who got behind the Dixie Heights defense on scoring plays of 39, 82 and 67 yards. Hendrix ended up with eight catches for 250 yards.
Dixie Heights tied the score when senior running back Keegan Barmore caught a 31-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Gunther Faeth in the second quarter. But the Colonels had a tough time moving the ball against Cooper’s defense after that and finished with 215 total yards.
DIXIE HEIGHTS 0 7 0 0 — 7
COOPER 0 14 21 0 — 35
C — Hendrix 39 pass from Brown (Hollifield kick)
DH — Barmore 31 pass from Faeth (Schulte kick)
C — Hendrix 82 pass from Brown (Hollifield kick)
C — Michels 31 pass from Brown (Hollifield kick)
C — Hendrix 67 pass from Brown (Hollifield kick)
C — Cordell-Armstrong 50 run (Hollifield kick)
RECORDS: Cooper 5-2, Dixie Heights 1-5.
CONNER 6, LLOYD 0
Conner senior wide receiver Joseph Warwick scored the game’s only touchdown late in the fourth quarter when he caught a 21-yard pass from senior quarterback Kyler Padgett in the end zone.
Both teams had a hard time handling the ball in the rain, but sloppy conditions weren’t the only reason for the low score. The Lloyd defense stopped Conner on two fourth-down plays inside the 5-yard line.
Both teams committed two turnovers. Conner finished with a net total of 207 yards on 77 offensive plays and Lloyd picked up 150 yards on 44 plays. The Juggernauts were 1-of-10 on third-down conversions and 0-of-3 on fourth-down conversions.
Padgett completed 8 of 19 passes for 77 yards and rushed for 70 yards on 23 carries to account for most of his team’s offense. Lloyd sophomore quarterback Jordan Fann completed 7 of 14 passes for 110 yards.
This is the fourth consecutive week that Conner has pulled out a close win in the fourth quarter. The winning margins in those four games were one, one, four and six points.
CONNER 0 0 0 6 — 6
LLOYD 0 0 0 0 — 0
C — Warwick 21 pass from Padgett (kick failed)
RECORDS: Conner 5-1, Lloyd 4-2.
BROSSART 19, LUDLOW 13
Senior quarterback Craig Pfefferman scored on a 10-yard run early in the fourth quarter to give Brossart its first lead of the game and the defense did the rest for the 6-0 Mustangs, who are off to the best start in the history of the program.
Ludlow took a 13-0 lead in the first half on a 76-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Justin Blackburn to senior Kalib Mitchell and a 4-yard TD run by Blackburn. The Mustangs started their comeback with a pair of short touchdown runs by senior Frank Cetrulo, but he couldn’t convert the extra-point kick after either of those scores.
Both teams had 196 rushing yards, but Brossart finished with a 278-236 advantage in total yardage. Pfefferman had a team-high 68 rushiung yards and completed two passes for 40 yards.
BROSSART 0 12 0 7 — 19
LUDLOW 7 6 0 0 — 13
L — Mitchell 76 pass from Blackburn (Ledbetter kick)
L — Blackburn 4 run (kick failed)
B — Cetrulo 5 run (kick failed)
B — Cetrulo 3 run (kick failed)
B — Pfefferman 10 run (Cetrulo kick)
RECORDS: Brossart 6-0, Ludlow 4-3.
BEECHWOOD 69, NEWPORT 23
Beechwood took a 49-0 lead in the first quarter and went on to get Noel Rash’s 100th victory as coach of the Tigers.
Newport had five turnovers and Beechwood senior linebacker Brent Slusher scored off three of them. He returned two fumbles and a pass interception for touchdowns in the first half. Slusher also had a 4-yard TD run on offense.
Rash used reserve players for much of the second half. That’s when Newport senior running back Tyree Bolden scored all three of his team’s touchdowns, including an 80 yard run that accounted for much of the Wildcats’ 213 total yards.
NEWPORT 0 0 15 8 — 23
BEECHWOOD 49 7 6 7 — 69
B — Stringer 4 run (German kick)
B — Slusher 4 run (German kick)
B — Slusher 18 fumble return (German kick)
B — Slusher 14 interception return (German kick)
B — Justice 34 pass from Fieger (German kick)
B — Stringer 12 run (German kick)
B — Slusher 27 fumble return (German kick)
B — Justice 3 run (German kick)
N — Bolden 80 run (Ochoa kick)
N — Bolden 12 run (Porter run)
B — Davis 15 run (kick failed)
N — Bolden 4 run (Crim pass from Porter)
B — Davis 11 run (Mescher kick)
RECORDS: Beechwood 5-1, Newport 1-5.
HOLY CROSS 29, BARDSTOWN BETHLEHEM 6
Breakaway scoring runs by Holy Cross quarterback Hamilton Scott and running back Derrick Barnes put the Indians in control.
Holy Cross had a slim two-point lead in the second quarter before Hamilton scored on a 34-yard run to make it 15-6 at halftime. Barnes extended the Indians’ lead to 22-6 with a 37-yard TD run in the third quarter.
Scott ended up rushing for 103 yards on 12 carries and complketing four passes for 39 yards. Barnes had 74 yards on seven carries.
BETHLEHEM 0 6 0 0 — 6
HOLY CROSS 8 7 7 7 — 29
HC — Safety
HC — Wilder 29 interception return (kick failed)
B — Downs 8 run (pass failed)
HC — Scott 34 run (Scott kick)
HC — Barnes 37 run (Scott kick)
HC — Abernathy 2 run (Scott kick)
RECORDS: Holy Cross 3-3, Bethlehem 4-2.
SCOTT 43, HARRISON COUNTY 0
Scott won its seco0nd consecutive Class 4A district game with a dominate performance on both sides of the ball. The Eagles ended up with 415 total yards while holding Harrison County to 124.
Scott picked up 365 yards on the ground. The team leader was Roberto London with 116 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns. Deondre Pleasant also had two rushing TDs for the Eagles.
SCOTT 13 23 7 0 — 6
HARRISON CO. 0 0 0 0 — 0
S — London 25 run (Seay kick)
S — Pleasant 4 run (kick failed)
S — Pleasant 9 run (conversion run)
S — Fitzgerald 43 run (Seay kick)
S — Perrin 32 run (conversion run)
S — London 12 run (Seay kick)
RECORDS: Scott 6-1, Harrison County 2-4.