The NKyTribune is featuring players on each of the 21 high school football teams in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties leading up to the first games of the 2023 season on Thursday and Friday. We will then provide focused coverage of local teams during the regular season and through the playoffs.
By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Donovan Ambrocio finished his first season on the Holy Cross football team with some impressive numbers last fall. In addition to making a team-high 90 tackles as a linebacker, the transfer student moved from tight end to quarterback in the fifth game and ended up passing for 1,030 yards and eight touchdowns for the 2-9 Indians.
Ambrocio will be playing those same two positions this season, but the 6-foot, 220-pound senior expects to be taking less snaps at linebacker because of his quarterback duties during games.
“I’m good with it, but my true thing isn’t really offense,” he said. “I’ve always liked defense more. I kind of like to have more control of the game there.”
Ambrocio said he went to summer camps as a defensive player because that’s what he wants to play in college. He worked on his passing skills in his own backyard to get ready for preseason practice that began last month.
He said the team has been working to make the offense more balanced than last year when the Indians’ per-game averages were 169 yards passing and 76 yards rushing in the last seven games with him at quarterback.
“It’s really going to just come down to our linemen and them winning down in the trenches,” Ambrocio said. “Whatever they do is going to allow us to do what our skill players can do.”
Holy Cross coach Bruce Kozerski and his staff have rebuilt the offensive line around two good-sized returning senior starters — Tyler Luster (6-6, 278) and Zach Chalfin (6-0, 265). The team also added an imposing newcomer in freshman tackle Littello Johnson (6-2, 300).
The top returning pass receivers are seniors Davonte Ryan and Andrew Bales, but last year’s leading rusher did not return to the team. The most experienced running back on the current roster is Ambrocio’s stepbrother Trevin Figgs, a sophomore who picked up 197 yards on 50 carries and scored four touchdowns last season.
That means Ambrocio will likely be the only senior in the Holy Cross backfield. The offense will rely on his leadership, so he didn’t object to sacrificing time at linebacker to play quarterback once again.
“Not really, if it’s going to help us win. That’s all I really want,” he said.
Ambrocio said most of the defensive starters on last year’s team returned. One of them is senior linebacker Ryan Elhman, who made 55 tackles in 11 games. Figgs is a veteran defensive back who tallied 44 tackles.
“The team’s really come together,” Ambrocio said after the final scrimmage game on Friday. “We did a couple stupid things, but that’s expected at the beginning of the season. We should probably be pretty good this year, better than most years.”
Holy Cross spent the last 16 years as a Class 2A team. After winning the 2011 state title in that class, the Indians have compiled a 6-10 record in playoff games with three of those wins coming in 2016.
A statewide realignment this year has moved Holy Cross into Class 1A with smaller schools. The Indians’ three district games in October will be against Brossart, Ludlow and Trimble County.
Ambrocio said the move to Class 1A is good news for his team that will start the season with 31 players on the roster, including 11 freshmen. The two teams that played in last year’s Class 2A championship game had 65 and 60 players.
HOLY CROSS INDIANS
2022 SEASON: 2-9 record, lost in first round of Class 2A playoffs.
DISTRICT: Class 1A, District 3 with Brossart, Ludlow, Trimble County.
HEAD COACH: Bruce Kozerski (77-131 in 19 seasons at Holy Cross).
2023 SCHEDULE
(All home games at Thomas More College)
Aug. 18 – LEXINGTON SAYRE, 7 p.m.
Aug. 25 – DOHN COMMUNITY (Ohio), 7 p.m.
Sept. 1 – at Grant County, 7 p.m.
Sept. 8 – MIDDLETOWN CHRISTIAN (Ohio), 7 p.m.
Sept. 15 – at Cincinnati College Prep Academy (Ohio), 7 p.m.
Sept. 29 – MORGAN COUNTY, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 6 – at Brossart, 7 p.m.
Oct. 13 – TRIMBLE COUNTY, 7 p.m.
Oct. 20 – at Ludlow, 7 p.m.
Oct. 27 – NEWPORT, 7 p.m.
OTHER 2023 PREP FOOTBALL PREVIEWS
Andrew Bales and Davonte Ryan are also seniors on the offense, not juniors