By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The opening night of the 2025 high school football season on Friday has some interesting storylines for local fans to follow.
St. Henry will play it’s first-ever varsity game at home against Holy Cross and local teams expected to be state title contenders will face stiff challenges in their season debuts.
Tim Odom returns to Northern Kentucky high school football after 29 years as the first head coach at St. Henry. None of the 54 players in the program have competed on the varsity level. The Crusaders played 15 games against junior varsity and freshman teams last year and won five of them.
“I’ve always felt I was called to help form young men,” Odom, 60, said when he was hired as St. Henry’s head coach. “I’ve got a knack for it and I knew I was going to get back to that someday.”
Northern Kentucky has six teams that were voted among the top 10 in their respective classes in a statewide preseason coaches poll conducted by the Lexington Herald Leader newspaper.
Two of those teams will face each other in a season-opening game on Friday when Ryle, voted No. 3 in Class 6A, will visit Covington Catholic, ranked No. 3 in Class 4A, in a marquee matchup.
Last year, Ryle snapped a six-game losing streak against CovCath with a 30-14 victory. The Raiders ended up playing in the Class 6A championship game while CovCath made it to semifinals in the Class 4A playoffs.
In another opening game between two highly ranked opponents on Friday, Frederick Douglass will visit Highlands at 7 p.m. In the coaches poll, Douglass is No. 5 in Class 6A and Highlands is No. 5 in Class 4A. Both teams made it to the semifinal round of last year’s playoffs.
The other local teams that made top 10 lists in the coaches poll are No. 1 Beechwood in Class 2A, No. 2 Cooper in Class 5A and No. 7 Newport Central Catholic in Class 1A.
Last season, Beechwood won the Class 2A state title, Cooper played in the Class 5A title game for the second straight year and NewCath made it to the Class 1A semifinals.
Based on the rankings, Campbell County has the toughest schedule. The Camels will play seven teams ranked among the top 10 in their class, including Ryle, Cooper, Beechwood, Highlands and NewCath.
Simon Kenton and Highlands each have six state-ranked opponents on their schedule and Ryle has five. CovCath and Dixie Heights are next in line with four each. It will be difficult for any of them to enter the playoffs with a 10-0 record.
The top vote-getters in five of the six classes won state championship trophies last year. The only exception was in Class 1A with the coaches selecting Raceland as the No. 1 team over defending champion Lexington Sayre.
Brossart and Newport will both play Sayre this season. Ryle has a game against Collegiate Academy-Louisville, the top-ranked team and defending state champion in Class 3A.
Top 10 teams in statewide coaches poll
CLASS 6A — 1. Louisville Trinity, 2. St. Xavier, 3. Ryle, 4. Louisville Male, 5. Frederick Douglass, 6. Louisville Manual, 7. South Warren, 8. Louisville Ballard, 9. Great Crossing, 10. Lexington Bryan Station.
CLASS 5A — 1. Bowling Green, 2. Cooper, 3. Scott County, 4. Woodford County, 5. Owensboro, 6. Pulaski County, 7. Louisville Atherton, 8. Pulaski Southwestern, 9. South Oldham, 10. Collins.
CLASS 4A — 1. Paducah Tilghman, 2. Boyle County, 3. Covington Catholic, 4. Franklin county, 5. Highlands, 6. Corbin, 7. Johnson Central, 8. Ashland Blazer, 9. North Oldham, 10. John Hardin.
CLASS 3A — 1. Christian Academy-Louisville, 2. Louisville Central, 3. Bell County, 4. Lexington Catholic, 5. Union County, 6. Rockcastle County, 7. Murray, 8. Hart County, 9. Glasgow, 10. Bardstown.
CLASS 2A — 1. Beechwood, 2. Mayfield, 3. Lexington Christian, 4. Owensboro Catholic, 5. Belfry, 6. Somerset, 7. Breathitt County, 8. Prestonsburg, 9. Bracken County, 10. Monroe County.
CLASS 1A — 1. Raceland, 2. Pikeville, 3. Kentucky Country Day, 4. Lexington Sayre, 5. Campbellsville, 6. Hazard, 7. Newport Central Catholic, 8. Williamsburg, 9. Louisville Holy Cross, 10. Paris.
Friday night football games
Holy Cross at St. Henry, 7 p.m.
Cooper at Anderson (Ohio), 7 p.m.
Bellevue at Trimble County, 7:30 p.m.
Conner at Madison Central, 7:30 p.m.
Dayton at Gallatin County, 7:30 p.m.
Dixie Heights at Simon Kenton, 7 p.m.
Highlands at Frederick Douglass, 7 p.m.
Holmes at Boone County, 7 p.m.
Newport at Ludlow, 7 p.m.
Newport Central Catholic at Lloyd, 7 p.m.
Ryle at Covington Catholic, 7 p.m.
Scott at Campbell County, 7 p.m.
Walton-Verona at Brossart, 7 p.m.