Cam O'Hara (QB, Cooper)
Cash Harney (QB, Covington Catholic)
Mason Trimble (QB, Saint Xavier)
Marlon Harbin III (ATH, Saint Xavier)
Kaleb Evans (QB, Lloyd Memorial)
Lucas Tompkins (WR/DB, North Oldham)
Evan Hampton (RB, Owensboro)
Kain Patton (ATH, Prestonsburg)
Colin Daniels (QB, North Oldham)
Markezz Hightower (RB, Madisonville-North Hopkins)

‼️Milestones‼️
Keagan Maher (RB, Cooper)
🗞️ | Quiet, but always there when called upon. Throughout his career, Maher has been consistent to the point of disappearing into the background of Cooper's ascension. He made himself small to fit through narrow creases, churned his legs to grind hard yards, and served as O'Hara's release valve. Last week's 104 yards against South Oldham makes nine games of 100+ yards this year and 4,000 yards for his career. He's got three consecutive seasons of 1,500+ yards from scrimmage and 20+ touchdowns. The week-to-week, year-to-year repetition has made him essential when future generations dig through the annals of Cooper lore. 
Season so far: 201 carries for 1,390 yards and 21 touchdowns | 308 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns

Trending Up  📈
Luke Fetherolf (QB, Lawrence County)
🗞️ | The chief engineer of LC’s offensive machine was in a zone seldom seen against McCreary Central. He completed all seven attempts for 365 yards and four scores, plus another 51 yards on the ground and a touchdown. That's 52 yards per pass attempt and completion. He's connecting at a near 80% clip with 18 TDs/0 turnovers over his last five games.
Season so far: 103/133 (77%) for 2,141 yards and 26 touchdowns with 4 interceptions | 541 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns

On Friday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m., the #2 seed in 1A District 3 Newport Wildcats (7-4) visit the #1 seed in 1A District 4 Covington Holy Cross Indians (11-0).  This is the second round of the playoffs.  The game will be played at Scott High School.

Common Opponents:

Ludlow - Newport won 47-7
Ludlow - Holy Cross won 43-6

Bellevue - Newport won 6-0
Bellevue - Holy Cross won 29-6

Dayton - Newport won 52-14
Dayton - Holy Cross won 54-6

Start the discussion.

Historically this rivalry has come in threes, after an initial one-off matchup in 2006, the Golden Eagles and the Colonels faced one another in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and then again in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Cov Cath finally got its first shot at hosting Johnson Central in 2023, and then once against played host last year in 2024, and the JC/CC playoff three-fers will continue with the upcoming game on Friday.

(11-0) Johnson Central: "Hey diddle-diddle, we're coming up the middle."

We've all heard the Woody Hayes expression "three yards and cloud of dust." Well for the Golden Eagles, its more like "eight and an half yards and a cloud of dust." 8-1/2 yards. That's the yards-per-carry figure that Johnson Central's offense has averaged rushing this season. Over the course of 11 games and 429 rush attempts, they've managed to average 8-1/2 yards per carry on the ground. If you wanna know how an offense can get away with being 91.6% run and only 8.4% pass...that's the answer: 8-1/2 yards per carry, rushing.

(8-3) Covington Catholic: "RPO? Or maybe just R? Or maybe just P? We have whichever suits you."

Variety has been the name of the game this year for the Colonels. Maybe they're gonna pass all over the place. Or maybe they're gonna rush for almost 500 yards on you and only even try to throw it a handful of times. Or maybe the decision will be left up to senior QB Cash Harney and what he sees once he steps in behind center. Harney is 111-165 passing for 1852 yards this season...plus another 766 yards rushing for 9 touchdowns. Then add in senior RB Dylan Gaiser with 951 yards, 23 touchdowns and 9.1 yards per carry this season, plus a talented corps of receivers on top of all that, and you've got an offense with something going for itself.

Defensive Keys:

Johnson Central - Contain the pass and force the Colonels to try to beat you on the ground.

Covington Catholic - Control the line of scrimmage, control the line of scrimmage, control the line of scrimmage.

Trinity 104.22
St. Xavier 91.35
Christian Academy - Lou. 90.77
South Warren 89.64
Manual 86.09
Highlands 81.73
Covington Catholic 80.39
Boyle County 79.97
Woodford County 77.89
Frederick Douglass 77.18
Ryle 75.96
Johnson Central 75.78
Paducah Tilghman 75.5
Owensboro 74.35
Madison Central 71.41
Beechwood 71.1
Scott County 70.76
Cooper 69.92
Mayfield 69.14
Pulaski County 68.35
Belfry 68.04
Corbin 67.45
Owensboro Catholic 67.1
Bowling Green 66.77
Atherton 64.94

Cam O'Hara (QB, Cooper)
Ryker Campbell (WR/DB, Cooper)
Marlon Harbin III (ATH, Saint Xavier)
Wyatt Robbins (QB, Murray)
Jacob Savage (RB/LB, Ryle)
Evan Hampton (RB, Owensboro)
Gerian Traynor (RB, Manual)
Kain Patton (ATH, Prestonsburg)
Cam Wade (WR/DB, Paducah Tilghman)
Maddox O'Neal (QB, McCracken County)
Cam Davis (ATH, Ashland)
Colin Daniels (QB, North Oldham)
Mason Trimble (QB, Saint Xavier)

Class 1A
1. Pikeville
2. Raceland
3. Campbellsville
4. Kentucky Country Day 

Class 2A
1. Beechwood 
2. Lexington Christian Academy
3. Owensboro Catholic 
4. Mayfield 
5. Belfry 

Class 3A
1. Christian Academy-Louisville
2. Lexington Catholic
3. Bell County
4. Murray
5. Glasgow

Class 4A
1. Boyle County
2. Highlands
3. Covington Catholic
4. Johnson Central
5. Franklin County
6. Paducah Tilghman

Class 5A
1. Woodford County
2. Owensboro
3. Cooper
4. Scott County
5. Pulaski County
6. Atherton

Class 6A
1. Trinity 
2. South Warren
3. Saint Xavier 

The Perfect 10 💯 %

CAL Centurions ⚔️
Cov. Holy Cross Indians 🏹
Franklin County Flyers 🛩️
Glasgow Scotties 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Johnson Central Golden Eagles 🦅
Lloyd Memorial Juggernauts ⚫🟡
Middlesboro Yellow Jackets 🐝
Murray Tigers 🐯
Prestonsburg Blackcats 🐈‍⬛
South Warren Spartans ⚔️

5A Bowling Green (4-5) at 4A Franklin County (9-0)

The Purples make the 2.5-hour trip northeast to the State Capital to take on the stout undefeated Franklin County Flyers in the final regular season game for each team, as both try to keep momentum rolling in an effort to make deep runs within their respective classification playoffs.  This will be the very first meeting between the Purples and Flyers, but it’s an exciting one IMO.  While neither is in the others radar as far as matters such as district competitors, classification competitors, or even regional competitors, they are both good football teams and should prepare both for the tough playoffs run ahead.  They have however faced each other in the younger realms, as I recall Deuce Bailey’s 8th grade team playing and falling to Franklin County’s 8th Grade Team (Elkhorn Middle School) in the 8th grade final game that season.

Both of these schools have had very successful runs of late and want to continue that momentum and would love nothing better than to finish out the 2025 season at Kroger Field.  Plain and simple.  That is why I think games like this one matter in regard to your playoff run.  While injuries surely can and have happened in competitive games at the end of the season like this, it has always been my belief that you need to continue to test your team at the end of the regular season in hopes of addressing a few weaknesses and peaking during the playoffs.  I just feel if you schedule lighter competition that you set yourself up for a letdown going into the playoffs that can bite you and send you home earlier than you would like.

Scheduling is a tough business, but this game will help both teams for their playoff run. Should be a really fun game to watch!

For the 5th straight season two of the better football programs in the state square off in the final game of the regular season. The Boyle County Rebels (8-1) "Who You With" makes the trip to "The Farm" to take on the Frederick Douglass Broncos (6-3). The Rebels have won 3 of 4 of the games so far. Boyle won the first meeting in 2021 at Douglass 34-7. Douglass returned the favor the next year in 2022 beating Boyle 37-6 at Boyle. The Rebels have won the last 2 games 28-7 and 38-17.

Both teams come into this one riding 6 game winning streaks the Rebels last loss was to Lexington Catholic on Sept. 5. The Broncos last loss was also on Sept. 5 to Manuel. The Broncos started the season with 3 straight losses to Highlands, Trinity, and Manuel. This could be the closest game so far in the series. They have a common opponent in Highlands. The Broncos opened the season at Park Hills and lost a tough one in double OT 21-20. The Rebels also played Highlands at Danville just 3 weeks later and believe it or not the Rebels defeated the Bluebirds by the exact same score of 21-20.

This has the makings of a great game! I hope neither team has any injuries after this one as both look to make a deep run in the post season. If you can't get out to "The Farm" to watch this one in person it will be on NFHS Network (with membership) it will also be on Gilcod Sports for free. Good luck to both teams!

An interesting regular season finale we've got here!

Male (6-3) will make their shortest road trip of the year right up the street to Eastern Parkway where they will take on Manual (7-2). Both teams have won consecutive games (three for Male, two for Manual) and each will be looking to go into the playoffs on a high note. 

Who wins and why?

Top 25:

Trinity 103.95
Christian Academy - Lou. 90.71
St. Xavier 89.53
South Warren 88.08
Manual 83.42
Highlands 81.98
Covington Catholic 81.54
Boyle County 78.26
Woodford County 78.08
Frederick Douglass 77.56
Ryle 76.26
Paducah Tilghman 75.8
Johnson Central 75.75
Owensboro 73.36
Madison Central 72.61
Beechwood 71.4
Scott County 71.21
Bowling Green 70.63
Cooper 69.13
Mayfield 68.67
Pulaski County 68.63
Belfry 67.85
Owensboro Catholic 66.55
Corbin 66.22
Male 64.73

Class 1A
1. Pikeville
2. Raceland
3. Campbellsville
4. Kentucky Country Day 

Class 2A
1. Beechwood 
2. Lexington Christian Academy 
3. Owensboro Catholic
4. Mayfield 
5. Belfry 

Class 3A
1. Christian Academy-Louisville
2. Lexington Catholic
3. Bell County

Class 4A
1. Boyle County
2. Highlands
3. Covington Catholic
4. Johnson Central
5. Franklin County
6. Paducah Tilghman

Class 5A
1. Woodford County
2. Owensboro
3. Bowling Green
4. Cooper

Class 6A
1. Trinity 
2. South Warren 
3. Saint Xavier 

For a third straight year, it will be the Birds hosting the Colonels for the championship game of the NKY Freshman Football Conference. Covington Catholic's football program (the younger of the two programs) is currently in it's 60th season, and this will make the sixth time overall that these two programs have faced off against one another for the conference title, with Highlands getting the dub in all five previous title meetings.

The two teams played in Park Hills nine weeks ago in the season opener for both programs, with Highlands winning the game 34-14. Since the August 27th contest, both teams have gone on to win the following 8 games. Highlands' most notable win following the opening week of the season came on September 11th when they beat the Elder Panthers 42-8, and Cov Cath's most notable win came on October 15th when they beat the Trinity Shamrocks 28-13.

Kickoff for the championship game is currently scheduled for 6:30pm on Wednesday at David Cecil Memorial Stadium.

Week 10

Jacob Savage (RB/LB, Ryle)
Evan Hampton (RB, Owensboro)
Kain Patton (ATH, Prestonsburg)
Keagan Maher (RB, Cooper)
Kaleb Evans (QB, Lloyd Memorial)
Markezz Hightower (RB, Madisonville-North Hopkins)
Mason Griffin (QB, South Laurel)
Landon Yoak (RB/LB, East Carter)
Cam Davis (ATH, Ashland)

‼️Milestones‼️
Cam O'Hara (QB, Cooper)
🗞️ | First, the school record book fell by the wayside. Now it's the NKY edition, one that's noticeably thicker. O'Hara is now the region's all-time leader in career passing yards, aside from the touchdown pass standard he's already set. The Lorenzen’s, Towles’, Hergott’s, and Morgan's of the world are now all in his rearview. He's also this week's recipient of the 'William Tell Marksmanship Award' 🎯 after completing a perfect 10/10 attempts against Boone County. And I'm certain that's what he was really after this week.
Season so far: 88/154 (60%) for 1,380 yards and 13 touchdowns with 5 interceptions 

Trending Up 📈
Maddox O'Neal (QB, McCracken County)
🗞️ | After receiving an honorable mention in the pre-season watchlist, O'Neal faded from view following an inauspicious start by player and team. As poor as the front half of the regular season was, the back half has been 🔥. He's averaging 264 yards per game with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 21/0 over his last five. O'Neal became McCracken's all-time leader in career yards and touchdown passes last week against Henderson County.
Season so far: 144/228 (63%) for 1,892 yards and 26 touchdowns with 5 interceptions | 2 rushing touchdowns 

Top 25

Trinity 103.9
Christian Academy - Lou. 90.38
St. Xavier 89.17
South Warren 88.14
Manual 83.4
Covington Catholic 80.6
Highlands 80.1
Woodford County 78.74
Boyle County 78.35
Frederick Douglass 76.81
Ryle 75.94
Paducah Tilghman 75.82
Johnson Central 74.02
Scott County 71.68
Pulaski County 71.11
Beechwood 71.04
Owensboro 70.98
Madison Central 70.53
Cooper 68.86
Mayfield 68.2
Bowling Green 67.6
Belfry 67.27
Male 66.01
Owensboro Catholic 65.78
Corbin 65.51

KCD will travel to Campbellsville with a District Title on the line… Campbellsville enters the game with a 7-1 record (#3 RPI) and KCD enters with a 8-0 record (#1 RPI)… Both teams possess high octane offenses and physical defenses…  This will be a Great Game… Who gets the Win???

The District Championship is on the line this week as the #1 Pikeville Panthers make the trip to take on the #6 Hazard Bulldogs. Pikeville is looking to win its 10th straight District Championship and #1 seed of the District for the playoffs. Hazard is looking to gets its first District Championship win since 2017. Hazard won the game in 2017 at home 38-26. The last win though against Pikeville came in the playoffs in 2020 in an upset 21-12. 

Pikeville comes into this 2025 matchup averaging 28 points per game and giving up 20 points per game. Hazard comes in averaging 33 points per game and giving up right at 23 points per game. These teams are very close in numbers. Who wins the district?

Does Pikeville make it 10 in a row? Does Hazard shock 1A knocking off the #1 Panthers?

Welcome to Homecoming week at Highlands High School!

The alumni will be flowing in to watch this regular season finale with 5A power Scott County traveling up I-75 to meet up with one of the Top teams in 4A.

Game time: 7:30pm

Scott County (7-2) has had a pretty good season with their blemishes by 6A Madison Central in the middle of season and just lost a heartbreaker last night against the Top 5A team Woodford County.  Looking at all the statistical season info they might as well be called the Young Guns.  I don’t see any Senior in any category!  The starting QB is a Sophomore (Charlie Ellison), his main role this year has been to hand the ball off and allow your RBs to run!!! The current split has been 915 yds passing vs 2700 yds rushing for the season. I’m assuming they still run that crazy offense that we saw when they played us in 2022 with the double back set with backs going in different directions to really mess with the camera man.  Let’s see how that fairs this time around. Camera crew better be on their toes.

Highlands (7-2) will be coming in with the same record with only blemishes at Boyle and at Elder this season.  They rebounded nicely after the Elder loss by putting a running clock on Mason County.  The key to this game is to stop the run of course.  

Scott County does come in with a nice 5 game win streak against the Birds, albeit 4 of those were during the Weinrich tenure and the 2022 playoff game loss the only Sphire era loss, while they were 5A foe’s.

Should be a perfect fall weather night for a Friday Nights game in the mid 50s and dry!

Who you got?

I’m having Highlands staying perfect at home with a bit of a grind out win for the Birds:  

24-14

GO BIRDS!!!

Class 1A
1. Pikeville
2. Raceland
3. Kentucky Country Day 
4. Campbellsville
5. Sayre

Class 2A
1. Beechwood 
2. Lexington Christian Academy
3. Owensboro Catholic 
4. Mayfield 
5. Belfry 

Class 3A
1. Christian Academy-Louisville
2. Lexington Catholic
3. Bell County

Class 4A
1. Boyle County
2. Highlands
3. Covington Catholic
4. Johnson Central
5. Franklin County
6. Paducah Tilghman

Class 5A
1. Woodford County
2. Owensboro
3. Bowling Green
4. Cooper
5. Scott County
6. Pulaski County
7. Atherton 

Class 6A
1. Trinity 
2. South Warren 
3. Saint Xavier 
4. Manual 
5. Frederick Douglass

Week 9

Jacob Savage (RB/LB, Ryle)
Colin Daniels (QB, North Oldham)
Keagan Maher (RB, Cooper)
Evan Hampton (RB, Owensboro)
Cavalli Pittman (RB, John Hardin)
Brady Wasik (QB, Lexington Catholic)
Marlon Harbin III (ATH, Saint Xavier)
Kain Patton (ATH, Prestonsburg)

‼️Milestones‼️
Markezz Hightower (RB, Madisonville-North Hopkins)
🗞️ | The upset loss to Apollo overshadowed his landmark night, but Hightower’s 222 rushing yards moved him past 5,000 for his career. He also scored four touchdowns, though it was all in vain as M-NH’s pursuit of an unbeaten season was cut short.
Season so far: 156 carries for 1,328 yards and 22 touchdowns | 116 receiving yards

The ratings use Avg. margin of victory/loss applied to strength of schedule played. There is a cap to margin of 35 pts to keep teams' having an inflated rating from running up the score. Out of state opponents are not counted in the ratings. These are posted on Wednesdays.

Top 25 (10/15)

Trinity 103.92
Christian Academy - Lou. 90.69
St. Xavier 90.09
South Warren 87.45
Manual 82.98
Covington Catholic 80.69
Highlands 80.15
Boyle County 78.09
Woodford County 77.84
Frederick Douglass 76.74
Ryle 76.53
Paducah Tilghman 76.34
Johnson Central 74.19
Scott County 71.95
Beechwood 71.44
Owensboro 70.75
Bowling Green 69.73
Madison Central 68.85
Cooper 68.84
Mayfield 68.22
Belfry 68.03
Pulaski County 67.58
Male 65.84
Owensboro Catholic 65.8
Madisonville N. Hopkins 65.59

Lexington Catholic is coming off of 2 blowout wins and has another chance at a large margin of victory in this one. Bardstown blew out Mercer like Catholic did, but lost in a thriller to Garrard County, a squad Lexington Catholic shutout and hung 38 points on.

It has been fun to watch this Knight offense rack up the points. Expect that again here. That finale against Ashland looms in the distance as the next significant challenge to their offense. That doesn't mean that Bardstown can't hang for a while in this one, but I don't see them containing the Knights for four quarters.

Bellevue takes a long trip across the street to face their district foes. In his third year as the Tigers' head coach, Chad Montgomery has continued to breathe new life into the Bellevue football program. After a four year skid that only managed 3 wins for the program, Montgomery returned to coach at his alma mater in 2023 and immediately produced a 3-win season, followed by a 5-win season in 2024, and Bellevue is currently sitting on a 5-2 record this year. The Tigers are currently 1-0 in 1A District 3 after beating the Dayton Greendevile 18-0 last Friday in their annual Battle For The Paddle.

A few hundred yards to the west on the other side of I-471, Coach Paul Wiggins is currently in his sophomore season as head coach at Newport. This year his Wildcats team currently holds a 3-4 season record and a 0-1 record in 1A District 3 after their 26-6 loss to Newport Central Catholic last Friday in their annual battle for the Newport Fireman's Bell.

The two teams have played one common opponent thus far this season in the 1A Ludlow Panthers. Newport thumped the Panthers 47-7 back in Week 1 of the season, while Bellevue pulled out a 12-7 win over Ludlow in Week 6.

Who takes home the win on Friday? Kickoff is currently scheduled for 7pm at Newport Stadium.

The 7-1 Cardinals are traveling to Versailles to play the 6-1 Yellow Jackets.

The series with the new district is split through two seasons. A couple years ago the Cardinals blitzed on the road winning 36-0 to take the district. Last year, Woodford got their revenge on a game winning field to take the district.

This game has MASSIVE implications for November. Whoever wins will secure home field for at least two rounds of the playoffs, and the RPI boost won’t hurt either.

The question for Woodford will be how to contain Junior Timmy Emongo. Timmy had four touchdowns in only 7 or 8 touches last night as the Cardinals only ran 26 total plays on offense in their 49-21 win over South Oldham.

Scott County will have to figure out how to slow down the air attack by Woodford. Two years ago they dominated, but last years performance was anything but. Luckily, the strength of Scott County’s defense is the secondary which is led by JuJu Harmon, and of course, Timmy Emongo.

This is a top 15 matchup in the state and possibly the #1 vs #2 in 5A. Does Scott County take the district for the second time in three seasons? Or does Woodford claim their second district title in a row?

Week 8

Cash Harney (QB, Covington Catholic)
Cam Davis (ATH, Ashland)
Jacob Savage (RB/LB, Ryle)
Brady Wasik (QB, Lexington Catholic)
Marlon Harbin III (ATH, Saint Xavier)
Kain Patton (ATH, Prestonsburg)
Mason Griffin (QB, South Laurel)

‼️Milestones‼️
Colin Daniels (QB, North Oldham)
🗞️ | He continues to build on a stellar season, probably the best in program history. Daniels threw five touchdown passes against Valley to bring his season total to 31, a single season school record. He likely has several games remaining to stretch the new standard out.

Season so far: 120/176 (68%) for 1,826 yards and 31 touchdowns with 2 interceptions | 137 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns

Trending Up 📈
Kaleb Evans (QB, Lloyd Memorial)