I'm sure most of the Park Hills Colonels are rolling their eyes from hearing it by now, but Friday night will be our first glimpse at what Covington Catholic's football team looks like after Michael Mayer. Cov Cath's offense will have some familiar names and faces in QB Caleb Jacob, WR, Ethan Reardon, and RB Owen Nally. Their starting offensive line will be virtually all new faces, although seniors Peter Rice, Ken Janiszewski, and Ben Dickhaus are expected to get the nod up front after being significant contributors as juniors. On the defensive side, linebacker Luke Stegman and safety Adam Schneider are the only returning starters, with DL Ben Dickhaus also expected to step in as a leader for the Colonels' D. Friday will also be our first look at senior transfer Skyler Schmidt, who was a standout for Clermont Northeastern at TE/DE and walked into the halls of Cov Cath this summer at 6'8" and carrying division 1 college offers in both football and basketball.

The Edgewood Colonels have 23 returning seniors this year. The offense is going to be anchored by junior QB Logan Landers, who passed for 1478 yards and 8 TD's last season as a sophomore, and rushed for another 259 yards. Landers also has the honor of being voted team captain as a junior. Also be on the look out for RB/WR Simon Sharp & WR Kel Hawkins. Both moved up from JV to varsity starters mid-season last year. Sharp had 12 receptions for 129 yards and rushed for another 171 yards, and Hawkins had 12 receptions for 232 yards and 4 TDs. Last year's young-blood on the line comes in as this year's battle-tested veterans for Dixie, with Rhys Brown, Zach Ernst, Jared Weber, Colin Chisenhall, Jack Lambert, Alex Kautz all coming back on both sides of the line. The defense also returns the team's #1 tackler from last year, safety Pierce Rohlman and #3 tackler LB Silas McDaniel, as well as a large group of senior lineman and DB Wyatt Hirth. Dixie also has a senior transfer who is likely to make waves walking in - WR/DB Aumad Edwards came to Dixie from Hamilton High School in Ohio and brings in some additional speed and experience to the team.

Northern Kentucky's "Battle For Colonel Highway" kicks off at 7:00pm on Friday at Dixie Heights, and Friday night will make the 48th time the Colonels have faced the Colonels. The series record stands at 40-7 in Covington Catholic's favor. The last win for Dixie took place during the regular season in 2007. Cov Cath would turn around and beat them in the 2007 playoffs, and they have won the subsequent 12 contests.

Kenton County School District has stipulated that 2 tickets will be allowed per student-participant at the game, with no additional ticket sales, and no student section/student attendance for the game. Dixie will be live-streaming the game on their YouTube channel for free viewing on Friday.

We'll get the game-specific link posted on Friday, but here's the link to Dixie's YouTube channel.

Dixie Heights Athletics | YouTube

The Dixie game last year was very physical. With Dixie returning as much as they are and CovCath working in lots of new faces (only 2 returning starters on defense), I think this game will be closer than many might expect.

2 hours ago, colonel-fan said:

The Dixie game last year was very physical. With Dixie returning as much as they are and CovCath working in lots of new faces (only 2 returning starters on defense), I think this game will be closer than many might expect.

With so little time in the pre-season to figure out personnel, you might be right. It could be close for a while, but I think the offense will make enough plays for a comfortable 3-4 score win, at minimum.

CCH will have too much fire power on offense for Dixie to stop. CCH will score quick and easily and have a running clock by half. 

13 minutes ago, bluecolonels95 said:

CCH will have too much fire power on offense for Dixie to stop. CCH will score quick and easily and have a running clock by half. 

Easily have a running clock by half!?

1 minute ago, theguru said:

Easily have a running clock by half!?

Not buying that. Even if the blue Colonel offense is clicking, Dixie should be able to put together long drives on offense and keep the ball away from the CovCath offense.

Just now, colonel-fan said:

Not buying that. Even if the blue Colonel offense is clicking, Dixie should be able to put together long drives on offense and keep the ball away from the CovCath offense.

Me either @colonel-fan

28 minutes ago, bluecolonels95 said:

CCH will have too much fire power on offense for Dixie to stop. CCH will score quick and easily and have a running clock by half. 

Don't make us all look arrogant with that kind of stuff.

Besides, Mayer, Coldiron, McGinness, Felix and Boydston have all graduated.

38 minutes ago, The Oracle said:

Don't make us all look arrogant with that kind of stuff.

Besides, Mayer, Coldiron, McGinness, Felix and Boydston have all graduated.

I guess we will find out on Friday. I got faith in them. They said the same thing last year when we lost McGinness and Coldiron to graduation and looked what we did last year. Owen Nally will be a good RB this year for the blue colonels. 

10 minutes ago, bluecolonels95 said:

I guess we will find out on Friday. I got faith in them. They said the same thing last year when we lost McGinness and Coldiron to graduation and looked what we did last year. Owen Nally will be a good RB this year for the blue colonels. 

We looked good against Dixie last year, but we didn't have a running clock on them in the first half.

15 minutes ago, The Oracle said:

We looked good against Dixie last year, but we didn't have a running clock on them in the first half.

Ok, maybe no running clock in 1st half just because its first game of the year and they may be rusty but running clock at some point. It was 45-0 last year so probably similar this year.

I like CovCath by 3 TDs.

23 hours ago, bluecolonels95 said:

CCH will have too much fire power on offense for Dixie to stop. CCH will score quick and easily and have a running clock by half. 

Michael Mayer was a national nightmare on both sides of the ball. Not only could he do whatever he wanted but he consumed the best players on the other teams. For example the good Cov Cath  players never took on the best players of the other team, Mayer did that work, sheltering his teammates.  Also the other teams game plan was all about him. Not saying Cov Cath loses, but Mayer was a 17 point difference maker with normal ky teams on his bad days. The heavy lifting is about to be spread around. Caleb Jacob is really good but now he is the focus. Mayer’s shoes are impossible to fill, luckily the Colonels have the best coach in the state. 
 

Dixie           28

Cov Cath.   42

How many people will be sitting in the old Kmart parking lot to listen to the game since attendance is limited?