article NKY Pre-Season Power Rankings - Sponsored by NKY Family & Cosmetic Dentistry

Thanks to Northern Kentucky Family & Cosmetic Dentistry -"Making Northern Kentucky Smile" for sponsoring our 2017 Northern Kentucky Power Rankings! We encourage everyone to patronize all of our sponsors, and you can visit Northern Kentucky Family & Cosmetic Dentistry at 2047 Centennial Boulevard in Independence, KY.

1) 6A Simon Kenton (11-2) – After an undefeated regular season in 2015, Simon Kenton was looking to repeat the feat again in 2016 but was halted in their second-to-last regular season game by current NKY #1 ranked Ryle. Coach Marksberry has managed to develop his Pioneer program into a talented group with a lot of depth, so luckily replacing Cam Racke at QB will be relatively easily accomplished with senior Matt Shearer. There’s an additional bounty of returning starters on offense, but the defense will be much more of a question mark after heavy losses to graduation last year.

2) 5A Covington Catholic (9-4) – Last year the Colonels got over one hump by managing to beat Highlands after a decade of consecutive losses to the Birds. Another decade-old hump still remains: getting past regions. Coach Eviston has his eye on that goal, no doubt, and will be looking to his star senior QB Mayer and senior TE/LB Butler to lead his players towards that goal. Replacing offensive linemen stands as a principle task for the coaches at Cov Cath. The Colonels’ 2017 team is fortunate in their wealth of skill players and seniors returning.

3) 6A Ryle (13-1) – In his three years as head coach, Mike Englar has taken Ryle’s records from 5-7 to 9-3, to 13-1. Constant building and improvement is a mandatory policy when it comes to Englar’s Raiders. There are only two ways to improve on last season for Ryle: either 14-1, or 15-0. They will be relying heavily on returning senior RB Jake Chisholm for team leadership on and off the field this season, and the question of their QB is one of the biggest in the team’s immediate future. Junior Jake Smith appears to be the early leader for the role. We can expect another big year out of the Raiders, and they will be once again battling with Simon Kenton for the 6A crown in NKY.

4) 1A Beechwood (14-1) – The only thing between the Tigers and a perfect 15-0 season last year was a rivalry matchup against the 5A Cov Cath Colonels, but if losing to a team 4 classifications above your own is the only blemish on your season, you’ve got something good going. Beechwood graduated 13 seniors from the football team last year, and their offense is likely to rely heavily on returning QB Brayden Burch and junior RB Logan Castleman. The Tigers have a strong junior and sophomore class, as usual, and we can expect Beechwood to once again be leading contenders for an appearance at Kroger Field this year.

5) 6A Cooper (7-5) – After two of the Jaguars’ top yardage producers (Hendrix and Lonaker) and two of their top tacklers (Hendrix and Roksvag) graduated last year along with other fellow senior starters, Coach Borchers has some sizable shoes to get filled come August 18th. Fortunately, Cooper has a large class of incoming seniors to pull from, along with a very large roster of underclassmen. Their starters will likely be heavy on juniors this year, with Mikey Armour likely to get the nod as starting quarterback behind several sizable junior linemen and a receiving corps comprised primarily of juniors. It will be interesting to see how much success the Jags see with such a relatively young team.

6) 6A Conner (9-3) – Conner quietly made their way through a solid season last year, finishing as the #2 team in Boone County. Their immediate challenges this year will be replacing QB Walker Buelow, RB Armand Jackson and standout LB Peyton VanHorn. The Cougars will be returning numerous game-tested seniors this year, including two-way lineman Peyton Knippenberg, a current D1 recruit. Conner’s offense was balanced and potent last year, and Coach Trosper is certainly working to recreate that with this year’s team. Defensively, they have a lot of returning talent but the question will be whether or not they can develop that enough to fend off the high-powered 6A offenses they face in order to make a deeper playoff run in November.

7) 6A Campbell County (4-8) – The Camels did not have the season they were hoping for last year. But after going 1-6 and 1-7 against 6A opponents in the last two seasons, their team has learned a lot about resiliency from week to week. They also have the good fortune to be returning a large number of starters on both sides of the ball, including QB Austin Hoeh, RB/LB Alex Dowds, and WR Nic Mayer. Coach Lickert will also be relying heavily on juniors this season, with numerous players who saw significant playing time last year as sophomores. Look for Campbell County to improve on their record for a second year in a row.

8) 5A Dixie Heights (6-6) – The Colonels had a mixed bag of a season last year, impressing in some areas, and lacking in others. Their offense struggled to maintain consistency from week to week, but Coach Brossart is going to be looking to make a change to that based around his seasoned and sizable offensive line. Their starting quarterback still appears to be in question, though, and replacing running back Jose Torres is going to be a difficult task. Identifying the right men for skills positions on defense will be the other big challenge for Dixie in 2017. We will see if the pieces are able to fit into the right places, or if the season will finish similar to last year’s for the Colonels.

9) 5A Highlands (3-8) – There’s no question that the 2016 season was not what the Bluebirds were hoping for, nor was it the norm for Highlands football. Coach Weinrich’s first big change to try to make a turn-around in 2017 was to move himself back to the defensive helm, taking back the D-coordinator job that he had previously held for thirteen seasons. From a manpower standpoint, the Birds will benefit from a large number of players who saw a lot of time on the field last year. Their offensive line is going to be comprised nearly entirely of seniors, and they will be relying on the influence of repeat starters like OL Keaton Huddleston, WR Nick Veneman, and DB Logan Seipel to help lead the way for other seniors and underclassmen stepping into starting roles. High school fans around the state will be watching to see how Highlands rebounds this season in 5A.

10) 4A Scott (2-9) – In 2015, the Eagles had their most successful season ever. Then in 2016, after graduating virtually all of their starters, Scott scraped their way through a disappointing 2-9 season. The Eagles took their lumps, and Coach Wooley has his team back and ready to go this season. With an abundance of upcoming seniors and juniors who carried their team last year, they will be looking for lessons learned on the field last season to help with their efforts. Quarterbacks Jared Kelsay and Chad Ohmer will be vying for the offensive helm, and brothers Nelson & Quincy Perrin are going to be names you’ll hear often on the offense, playing wide receiver and running back, respectively. Look for Scott to improve significantly on their record from last year.

GAME OF THE WEEK: WEEK 0

6A Ryle vs. 5A Covington Catholic

Two of the top three teams in Northern Kentucky go head to head on Friday, and will give us a look right off the bat on how my pre-season power rankings stack up. Is Ryle able to improve on last year's record? After Ryle returned home scoreless after their scrimmage against 6A Trinity last Friday, are things looking as good for the Raiders this season as they did in 2016?

Covington Catholic came out Friday against 2A Newport Central Catholic looking calm and well oiled. Will they be able to step up and bring the same amount of intensity against a 6A competitor this week? We'll find out on Friday when these two teams take each other on in Park Hills in the first ever home game held at Cov Cath under permanent lights.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

AJ Mayer (QB) – Covington Catholic

Alex Dowds (RB/LB) – Campbell County

Austin Hoeh (QB) – Campbell County

Braden Posey (WR/DB) – Newport Central Catholic

Brandon Barker (RB) – Dixie Heights

Braydon Burch (QB) – Beechwood

Bryce Donnelly (WR/DB) – Bishop Brossart

Colton Williams (OL) – Simon Kenton

Dillon Perry (WR/DB) – Cooper

Jake Chisholm (RB) – Ryle

Jeffrey Bowling (LB) – Carroll County

John Mark Schutt (LB) – Boone County

Justin Blackburn (RB/DB) – Ludlow

Kam Butler (LB/TE) – Covington Catholic

Kyle Kelly – (RB/DB) – Newport Central Catholic

Mason Molique (K) – Ryle

Mason Smith (RB/LB) – Walton-Verona

Matt Shearer (QB) – Simon Kenton

Nelson Perrin (WR/DB) – Scott

Nick Myers (TE) – Cooper

Nick Veneman (WR) – Highlands

Parker Bisek (RB) – Ryle

Peyton Knippenberg (DL/OL) – Conner

Quincey Perrin (RB) – Scott

Great work CWB! Should be a great year in NKY!

Should be a fun season in NKY!

Thanks to Northern Kentucky Family & Cosmetic Dentistry -"Making Northern Kentucky Smile" for sponsoring our 2017 Northern Kentucky Power Rankings! We encourage everyone to patronize all of our sponsors, and you can visit Northern Kentucky Family & Cosmetic Dentistry at 2047 Centennial Boulevard in Independence, KY.

 

 

 

 

 

1) 6A Simon Kenton (11-2) – After an undefeated regular season in 2015, Simon Kenton was looking to repeat the feat again in 2016 but was halted in their second-to-last regular season game by current NKY #1 ranked Ryle. Coach Marksberry has managed to develop his Pioneer program into a talented group with a lot of depth, so luckily replacing Cam Racke at QB will be relatively easily accomplished with senior Matt Shearer. There’s an additional bounty of returning starters on offense, but the defense will be much more of a question mark after heavy losses to graduation last year.

 

2) 5A Covington Catholic (9-4) – Last year the Colonels got over one hump by managing to beat Highlands after a decade of consecutive losses to the Birds. Another decade-old hump still remains: getting past regions. Coach Eviston has his eye on that goal, no doubt, and will be looking to his star senior QB Mayer and senior TE/LB Butler to lead his players towards that goal. Replacing offensive linemen stands as a principle task for the coaches at Cov Cath. The Colonels’ 2017 team is fortunate in their wealth of skill players and seniors returning.

 

3) 6A Ryle (13-1) – In his three years as head coach, Mike Englar has taken Ryle’s records from 5-7 to 9-3, to 13-1. Constant building and improvement is a mandatory policy when it comes to Englar’s Raiders. There are only two ways to improve on last season for Ryle: either 14-1, or 15-0. They will be relying heavily on returning senior RB Jake Chisholm for team leadership on and off the field this season, and the question of their QB is one of the biggest in the team’s immediate future. Junior Jake Smith appears to be the early leader for the role. We can expect another big year out of the Raiders, and they will be once again battling with Simon Kenton for the 6A crown in NKY.

 

4) 1A Beechwood (14-1) – The only thing between the Tigers and a perfect 15-0 season last year was a rivalry matchup against the 5A Cov Cath Colonels, but if losing to a team 4 classifications above your own is the only blemish on your season, you’ve got something good going. Beechwood graduated 13 seniors from the football team last year, and their offense is likely to rely heavily on returning QB Brayden Burch and junior RB Logan Castleman. The Tigers have a strong junior and sophomore class, as usual, and we can expect Beechwood to once again be leading contenders for an appearance at Kroger Field this year.

 

5) 6A Cooper (7-5) – After two of the Jaguars’ top yardage producers (Hendrix and Lonaker) and two of their top tacklers (Hendrix and Roksvag) graduated last year along with other fellow senior starters, Coach Borchers has some sizable shoes to get filled come August 18th. Fortunately, Cooper has a large class of incoming seniors to pull from, along with a very large roster of underclassmen. Their starters will likely be heavy on juniors this year, with Mikey Armour likely to get the nod as starting quarterback behind several sizable junior linemen and a receiving corps comprised primarily of juniors. It will be interesting to see how much success the Jags see with such a relatively young team.

 

6) 6A Conner (9-3) – Conner quietly made their way through a solid season last year, finishing as the #2 team in Boone County. Their immediate challenges this year will be replacing QB Walker Buelow, RB Armand Jackson and standout LB Peyton VanHorn. The Cougars will be returning numerous game-tested seniors this year, including two-way lineman Peyton Knippenberg, a current D1 recruit. Conner’s offense was balanced and potent last year, and Coach Trosper is certainly working to recreate that with this year’s team. Defensively, they have a lot of returning talent but the question will be whether or not they can develop that enough to fend off the high-powered 6A offenses they face in order to make a deeper playoff run in November.

 

7) 6A Campbell County (4-8) – The Camels did not have the season they were hoping for last year. But after going 1-6 and 1-7 against 6A opponents in the last two seasons, their team has learned a lot about resiliency from week to week. They also have the good fortune to be returning a large number of starters on both sides of the ball, including QB Austin Hoeh, RB/LB Alex Dowds, and WR Nic Mayer. Coach Lickert will also be relying heavily on juniors this season, with numerous players who saw significant playing time last year as sophomores. Look for Campbell County to improve on their record for a second year in a row.

 

8) 5A Dixie Heights (6-6) – The Colonels had a mixed bag of a season last year, impressing in some areas, and lacking in others. Their offense struggled to maintain consistency from week to week, but Coach Brossart is going to be looking to make a change to that based around his seasoned and sizable offensive line. Their starting quarterback still appears to be in question, though, and replacing running back Jose Torres is going to be a difficult task. Identifying the right men for skills positions on defense will be the other big challenge for Dixie in 2017. We will see if the pieces are able to fit into the right places, or if the season will finish similar to last year’s for the Colonels.

 

9) 5A Highlands (3-8) – There’s no question that the 2016 season was not what the Bluebirds were hoping for, nor was it the norm for Highlands football. Coach Weinrich’s first big change to try to make a turn-around in 2017 was to move himself back to the defensive helm, taking back the D-coordinator job that he had previously held for thirteen seasons. From a manpower standpoint, the Birds will benefit from a large number of players who saw a lot of time on the field last year. Their offensive line is going to be comprised nearly entirely of seniors, and they will be relying on the influence of repeat starters like OL Keaton Huddleston, WR Nick Veneman, and DB Logan Seipel to help lead the way for other seniors and underclassmen stepping into starting roles. High school fans around the state will be watching to see how Highlands rebounds this season in 5A.

 

10) 4A Scott (2-9) – In 2015, the Eagles had their most successful season ever. Then in 2016, after graduating virtually all of their starters, Scott scraped their way through a disappointing 2-9 season. The Eagles took their lumps, and Coach Wooley has his team back and ready to go this season. With an abundance of upcoming seniors and juniors who carried their team last year, they will be looking for lessons learned on the field last season to help with their efforts. Quarterbacks Jared Kelsay and Chad Ohmer will be vying for the offensive helm, and brothers Nelson & Quincy Perrin are going to be names you’ll hear often on the offense, playing wide receiver and running back, respectively. Look for Scott to improve significantly on their record from last year.

 

 

GAME OF THE WEEK: WEEK 0

6A Ryle vs. 5A Covington Catholic

 

Two of the top three teams in Northern Kentucky go head to head on Friday, and will give us a look right off the bat on how my pre-season power rankings stack up. Is Ryle able to improve on last year's record? After Ryle returned home scoreless after their scrimmage against 6A Trinity last Friday, are things looking as good for the Raiders this season as they did in 2016?

 

Covington Catholic came out Friday against 2A Newport Catholic looking calm and well oiled. Will they be able to step up and bring the same amount of intensity against a 6A competitor this week? We'll find out on Friday when these two teams take each other on in Park Hills in the first ever home game held at Cov Cath under permanent lights.

 

 

 

 

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

AJ Mayer (QB) – Covington Catholic

Alex Dowds (RB/LB) – Campbell County

Austin Hoeh (QB) – Campbell County

Braden Posey (WR/DB) – Newport Catholic

Brandon Barker (RB) – Dixie Heights

Braydon Burch (QB) – Beechwood

Bryce Donnelly (WR/DB) – Bishop Brossart

Colton Williams (OL) – Simon Kenton

Dillon Perry (WR/DB) – Cooper

Jeffrey Bowling (LB) – Carroll County

John Mark Schutt (LB) – Boone County

Justin Blackburn (RB/DB) – Ludlow

Kam Butler (LB/TE) – Covington Catholic

Kyle Kelly – (RB/DB) – Newport Catholic

Mason Molique (K) – Ryle

Mason Smith (RB/LB) – Walton-Verona

Matt Shearer (QB) – Simon Kenton

Nelson Perrin (WR/DB) – Scott

Nick Myers (TE) – Cooper

Parker Bisek (RB) – Ryle

Peyton Knippenberg (DL/OL) – Conner

Quincey Perrin (RB) – Scott

You overlooked Jake Chisolm- (RB) Ryle. He's on the Mr. Kentucky watch list.

You overlooked Jake Chisolm- (RB) Ryle. He's on the Mr. Kentucky watch list.

You're very right...I'm going to go back and edit him in. He was one of the original four or five names I had on that list, but I must have flubbed and left him out as I was cutting and pasting to alphabetize their names. Thanks for pointing that out...otherwise Jake would have been VERY sorely missed there.

You're very right...I'm going to go back and edit him in. He was one of the original four or five names I had on that list, but I must have flubbed and left him out as I was cutting and pasting to alphabetize their names. Thanks for pointing that out...otherwise Jake would have been VERY sorely missed there.

For SK players to watch are Matt Shearer QB, Jon Sergent RB, Sam Murray WR, Fisher Hayden WR, Noah Turner LT. Colton Williams no longer plays.

You could add the wr from Highlands Veneman.

I would add Nick Veneman from Highlands as well.

You're very right...I'm going to go back and edit him in. He was one of the original four or five names I had on that list, but I must have flubbed and left him out as I was cutting and pasting to alphabetize their names. Thanks for pointing that out...otherwise Jake would have been VERY sorely missed there.

Casey McGinnis may be worth the price of admission also... Hope he has a great year after the first game of course.

Casey McGinnis may be worth the price of admission also... Hope he has a great year after the first game of course.

As a Cov Cath fan, I'm really excited about everything the Colonels have in their arsenal this season. Mac is definitely going to be a big part of the offense this season, you're right. And aside from Mayer and Butler, whom I listed above, Grant Dyer will be something to watch too, along with Malachi Pike, Jack Coldiron, and Jack Maile as soon as he's back to 100% from having had mono over the summer.

At the same time, trying to approach my power rankings without any blue-tinted glasses on, there are SO many talented football players to pick from around NKY. In the interest of trying to shine a little light on as broad a group as possible, I had to definitely shy away from making that list anything that could be interpreted as any kind of "Cov Cath All Stars" list.

Thanks for pointing Casey out, though. It's not every day that a 5A football team comes across a 3-year starter delivered in the package of a 5'10" running back.

For SK players to watch are Matt Shearer QB, Jon Sergent RB, Sam Murray WR, Fisher Hayden WR, Noah Turner LT. Colton Williams no longer plays.

Wow...I hadn't heard that. Hope everything works out for him.

You could add the wr from Highlands Veneman.

I would add Nick Veneman from Highlands as well.

Yeesh...I must have really crapped up something at some point one of the times that I went to save my Word document, because I know I had Nick written down, along with Jake Chisholm.

Mea culpa.

The best corner in NKY is Beechwoods Mckinney.

Wow!! Surprised by the lack of kids on this. Especially since I know 2 from Beechwood that have had multiple D1 coaches show up last Spring to talk with them.. Plus I would add Nelson Perrin from Scott for sure.

When putting an informative write-up together like this, it's VERY easy to overlook someone, (hell I've done it in my softball previews)......good job @Colonels_Wear_Blue