article Beechwood Tigers Notebook - The Bewitching Hour

We have reached the final regular season game - the annual end of the regular season battle versus rival Newport Central Catholic. This year the game will be played on Halloween night, which almost seems fitting. It is the night when the masks come off and the Tigers find out where they really stand as they get ready for the playoffs.

The Tigers wrapped up district play with a 41-7 thrashing of the Ludlow Panthers. Beechwood has never lost a 1A district game since the 6 class era started. This year they dominated district play perhaps more than any other year. All of the games were decided before halftime. In fact, they were all clearly decided by the end of the first quarter. It was domination on both sides of the ball. I don't recall any punts by the offense while the first team was playing. The first team defense gave up zero points and only gave up a couple first downs.

Because of this domination, the Newport Central Catholic game is always looked at as a test of how good the team is. The Thoroughbreds are always tough competition. This game often reveals to Beechwood where they may need to make an adjustment to have success in the playoffs. For example, two years ago Beechwood suffered one of their most lopsided losses to New Cath. The Tigers had entered that game on a 5 game winning streak and were starting to feel like they were ready for a run at a title. After the beating by the Thoroughbreds, Coach Rash saw that changes were needed to compete against the likes of Frankfort and Mayfield. He made several adjustments in personnel. The biggest change was moving freshman QB Kyle Fieger into the starting lineup despite not having played one varsity or junior varsity snap. The moves proved very smart. Fieger threw 5 TD passes in his first varsity start in the opening round of the playoffs. His success continued through the playoffs. Many people thought Frankfort would finally get their first win over Beechwood that year but the moves continued to work and the Tigers overwhelmed Frankfort with a 35-13 victory. Up next was Mayfield and Beechwood's new lineup rolled on as they went into halftime in control of the action with Mayfield needing a last play of the half run by Jonathon Jackson to tie up the score. The Tigers lost their groove in the second half as Jackson and Mayfield took over and went on to another win over the Tigers. But the New Cath game is what set the Tigers up for that very good playoff run. I expect Friday night to be another competitive battle with both teams fighting hard. Regardless of the final score, both teams will once again be better prepared for their playoff challenges.

Junior Varsity

The Beechwood JV team added a game versus Walton Verona to the schedule to finish their season. The Tigers entered this game with a 3-3 record. Walton Verona came into the game undefeated and looking to find out how good they really were with some tough competition versus Beechwood. It was not good news for the Bearcats. Beechwood controlled the game from the beginning on their way to a 42-14 win. That gave the JV a winning record for the season at 4-3.

Freshman

The freshman season is still ongoing with the young Tigers preparing for a championship game versus the Scott Eagles. Beechwood enters the game with two losses - a 4 point loss at Scott and a 5 point loss to Covington Catholic. In the Covington Catholic game, Beechwood had the ball first and goal at the three yard line with less than a minute to go and looked ready to get a win. A bobbled exchange was recovered by the Colonels securing the win for them. The first game between Beechwood and Scott was closely contested and there is no reason to expect anything different in this one. This game is scheduled for Wednesday, October 29 6 pm at Scott High School. Good luck to the Tigers on avenging their loss to Scott and winning the small school freshman championship.

Another good year for the Beechwood program. I am rooting for the Tigers to get that freshman title tonight and another 1A title for the varsity.

Don't over look the Beechwood Middle School team that moved up to the Middle Division from the Small School after consecutive Small School Championships! Against bigger schools they still made to the championship game but lost to a much bigger Walton Verona team.

Don't over look the Beechwood Middle School team that moved up to the Middle Division from the Small School after consecutive Small School Championships! Against bigger schools they still made to the championship game but lost to a much bigger Walton Verona team.

and with some key 8th graders playing freshman