A tough act to follow. Last year's Beechwood Tiger freshman team breezed their way to a N. Ky. freshman championship. But each year is a brand new start in the freshman ranks. Last year gives little insight into this one.

 

The first challenge each year in freshman ball in N. Ky. seems to be what teams are playing against who. The 1A schools, except Beechwood, haven't fielded freshman teams for a few years, instead combining freshman and sophomores onto teams and playing a "froshmore" schedule and no JV. Over the past few years, the 2A schools have struggled fielding freshman teams. I believe those teams are also now playing "froshmore" games. You can also add 4A Holmes to the struggling freshmen and perhaps 5A Scott too, although someone needs to fill in the facts on that one for me. The end result of all this is Beechwood made the move up and joined the "big schools", 4A-6A, in their freshman league. In 2012, Beechwood had the talent to get the job done and they did. Can 1A Beechwood hang with the big boys again? That is a tall order for a 1A school.

 

In looking at the freshman team, they do have some talent. They may not be big, but they have some tough kids who play bigger than their size. Blake Wilson looks like he will be the primary running back. Blake is a long time wrestler who is as fit as any 8th grader you will see. Aidan Justice is also a small, hard nosed player who shows a lot of potential. There is one player who played freshman as an 8th grader last year and started - Lucas Benson. Lucas is a playmaker at offensive and defensive end and you will be hearing a lot about him. Another player to watch will be Jahin German. He is a strong kid and a hard runner.

 

It is hard to say what to expect from this group. There are about 20 kids on the roster. There look to be 4 or 5 talented kids that can carry the team to some success. They have played one brief scrimmage game, versus Conner. They held their own in that game and look to be well coached by Tony Proccaccino and his staff. The best guess is this - it is Beechwood. They will be well coached, play hard and you will know you have been in a battle when the final horn sounds.

 

It all starts this Saturday, August 31 at 1 pm when the Tigers visit the Simon Kenton Pioneers. Here is the complete freshman schedule but please note ... freshman schedules do get changed around at times:

 

August 31 ........ 1 pm .... at Simon Kenton

September 5 ..... 6 pm ... at Ryle

September 12 ... 6 pm ... at Highlands

September 19 ... 6 pm ... at Dixie Heights

September 25 ... 6 pm ... at Covington Catholic

October 3 ........ 6 pm ... vs. Cooper

October 10 ...... 6 pm ... vs. Conner

October 17 ...... 6 pm ... vs. Campbell County

October 24 ...... 6 pm ... vs. Boone County

Good summary EOT. That schedue is impressive. Looking forward to seeing how they fill the Big Shoes.

Brutal schedule, admire the fact that Beechwood has committed themselves to play freshmen football, unlike a number of teams who wont play freshmen ball because they only have 25 kids on the roster.