By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
With a pair of Northern Kentucky teams challenging out-of-state powers in Friday’s featured games, the locals came out 1-1. Covington Catholic’s Colonels, the end-of-game loser in a thriller at Highlands last week, were a winner this week against Indianapolis Cathedral. Highlands’ Bluebirds, however, did not have the winning hand in their visit to The Pit against unbeaten Cincinnati Elder.
Covington Catholic 17, Indianapolis Cathedral 10: In a big defensive effort at home, the Colonels got back on the winning track against their oh-so-challenging schedule with a seven-point edge over the defending Indiana state champs in a game that was scoreless at halftime. But not after a third quarter that saw CovCath score all 17 of its points in the first 12 minutes after halftime.
Cash Harney’s 29-yard TD pass to Owen Pitzer started it. Then Logan Zembrodt’s 21-yard field goal made it 9-0. And Dylan Gaiser’s one-yard plunge made it 15-0 with Harney’s two-point extra point pass to Pitzer giving the Colonels (5-3) a 17-0 lead they made stand up.
Not that the Irish didn’t make a final run, scoring 10 points in the game’s last 5:09 with a 24-yard Van Krisiloff field goal followed by a final score on Luke Finn’s 18-yard pass to Landon Hughes, Despite the defense, CovCath did manage to put up 349 yards of offense to Cathedral’s 300.
And as usual, Harney led the way with 282 total yards (118 rushing on 19 carries, 164 yards passing with a TD on 13 of 21). The only other Colonel to run the ball was Gaiser with 73 yards and a TD on nine carries (an 8.1 average). Logan Saniing’s six catches for 57 yards led CovCath receivers while Pitzer added two for 26 yards with that TD.
On defense, Johnny Lind and Charlie Reeves led CovCath with nine tackles each while Brady Guard added eight.
SCORING SUMMARY
CovCath 0 0 17 0–17
Cathedral 0 0 0 10–10
CovCath: Pitzer 29 pass from Harney (Weis run fails)
CovCath: Zembrodt 21 field goal
CovCath: Gaiser 1 run (Pitzer two-point conversion pass from Harney)
Cathedral: Krisiloff 24 field goal
Cathedral: Hughes 9 pass from Finn (Krisiloff extra point kick good)
Cincinnati Elder 40, Highlands 16: trying to do what both Cincinnati powers Moeller and St. Xavier could not do the previous two weeks – and Covington Catholic couldn’t manage in the season opener — a win at Elder, the Highlands Bluebirds made the short trip to Price Hill and the legendary home of the Panthers — The Pit — Friday. The Birds (6-2) couldn’t get it done either against an unbeaten Elder whose 8-0 start is the best at the school since 1991.
The Friday game was also the 499th victory for Elder at The Pit since the 8,000-seat stadium was built in 1945. And although Highlands took the early lead, 3-0, on a Kai Anderson field goal, that was just about the lone moment for Birds’ fans to feel good in a game that saw Elder score the next 40 points led by heady run-pass quarterback Caden Estep and tough, quick running back Tommy Becker, who out-toughed Highlands’ defenders for four touchdowns.
The Elder defense clearly keyed on Highlands’ junior Tayden Lorenzen, who scored four TD a week ago in a thrilling victory over CovCath, limiting him to one TD on an eight-yard run with 2:50 left in the third quarter to make it 40-9.
But this game may well have been decided on an 82-yard interception – one of four Elder picks on the night – for a game-changing Pick-Six by Jason Chumbley with 41 seconds left in the half. What could have been a 13-10 halftime deficit for the driving Bluebirds was suddenly 20-3 at intermission and there was no catching Elder at that point.
This game was in keeping Highlands’ Coach Bob Sphire’s desire to challenge his team with as tough a schedule as possible to prepare them for the playoffs. And while Elder will surely do that, the tough and smart Panthers exposed some serious issues for the Birds.
The four interceptions were one. But so was the sloppy tackling and inability to protect quarterback Rio Litmer who was under constant pressure most of the game.
Bellevue 18, Dayton 8: The visiting Tigers won “The Battle for the Paddle” in the first game of this neighborhood rivalry – and for the 14th time in 18 years — by an 18-8 score as Bellevue improves to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in Class 1A district play.
Newport Central Catholic 26, Newport 6: The Fireman’s Bell Trophy goes to the Thoroughbreds (3-4, 1-0) for the 26th straight meeting in a district seeding win over crosstown rival Newport (3-4, 0-1) in a Class 1A.
Holy Cross 6, Bishop Brossart 3: The unbeaten Indians (7-0, 1-0), one of the state’s highest scoring teams averaging 42.5 points a game, did it with defense on the road in Alexandria, holding the host Mustangs (2-5, 0-1) without a TD in a low-scoring Class 1 A battle.
Ryle 54, Campbell County 0: Ryle (4-3, 1-0) got back to the winning side of the ledger with a Class 6A romp over Campbell County (2-5, 0-1) in a district seeding game.
Beechwood 70, St. Henry 0: When one of the teams in this Class 2A district game – Beechwood (6-1, 3-0) – has won more state championships than the other team – St. Henry (2-5, 2-1) – has played varsity football games, this result is no surprise.
Simon Kenton 35, Great Crossing 16: The Pioneers improve to 4-3, (1-0 district) with a 6A seeding win over Great Crossing out of Georgetown (1-5, 0-1).
Walton-Verona 52, Gallatin County 13: With this Class 2A district win, the Bearcats (2-5, 1-2) end a four-game losing streak while sending Gallatin County (1-6, 0-3) to its sixth straight loss.
Thursday’s scoreboard
In district games Thursday, Boone County (4-3, 1-1 district) defeated Scott (2-5, 1-2), 36-28, in overtime in a Class 5A district seeding game.
Dixie Heights (3-5, 2-1 district) pounded Conner (2-6, 1-2 district) 34-7 in another 5A game.
Lloyd Memorial (8-0,3-0 in Class 3A District 5) stayed unbeaten with a 41-6 win over Henry County (3-4, 1-2).
And finally, also in Class 3 A, Carroll County (4-3, 1-1) dropped Pendleton County (1-6, 0-2), 35-6.