Cov Cath has made a concerted effort to add in some new opponents to their regular season schedule during Coach Eviston's tenure. They faced both Sycamore (OH) and Scott County for the first time in program history in 2015, they added in Cooper via district realignment in 2017 along with first-time non-district games against Kings (OH) and Bishop Chatard (IN) in 2017, Belfry was added last season as a part of their contract to play in the Pike County Bowl, and this year they will face 1A power Pikeville in the Pike County Bowl. The Panthers have seen 3 appearances and 2 wins in the 1A state championship game in the last 4 years, while the Colonels have seen 2 appearances and 1 win in the 5A state championship game in the last 4 years.

The Colonels have seldom wandered far outside of the "Golden Triangle" during the regular season in the program's 56 year history, particularly in more recent years. They frequented Boyd County & Greenup County in the early years of the football program, playing Ashland in each of their first 7 seasons, Boyd County in each of their first 5 seasons, and Russell in their first 2 seasons. Danville, Somerset, North Hardin and Harrison County also made appearances as opponents early on. It wasn't until the mid-00s that the Colonels made a trip to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, though, when they first faced Johnson Central in the 3A playoffs in 2006. Cov Cath has a 4-3 record against the Golden Eagles, and with the addition of Pike County Bowl contract last year, the Colonels improved to 5-3 over mountain teams from Eastern Kentucky when they beat the eventual 3A state champion Belfry Pirates 42-13 in a late-night game at Belfry.

For a second year in a row, the Colonels will make the trip to Pike County licking their wounds after a beating from GCL powerhouse Elder, who beat Cov Cath 42-21 on Friday in Park Hills. Pikeville, the defending 1A state champs, will also be playing for their first win this Saturday after losing 24-19 on Friday to the 3A Corbin Redhounds in the Cumberland Falls Pigskin Classic at Corbin.

Pikeville is working to find their groove after graduating passer Isaac McNamee, who threw for over 1800 yards in last year's state title season; McNamee will be playing on Saturdays this year at Murray State University. The Panthers are also working to fill the shoes of RB Blake Birchfield, who posted 2512 yards rushing and 25 touchdowns last year. Sophomore QB Isaac Duty was 7-13 passing on Friday for 48 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, while junior Tayvian Boykins rushed 10 times for 122 yards and 2 TDs. On the defensive side, Pikeville returns their two leading tacklers in linebackers Luke Ray and Devin DeRossett, who combined for 250 tackles last year as juniors.

The Colonels are once again working to zero in on their own starting quarterback early in the season. Senior Zac Roberts started out the game on Friday at QB, but was replaced by junior Evan Pitzer in the middle of the 2nd quarter after Roberts left the field with an injury. Pitzer finished out the game 12-18 with 168 yards and 2 TDs passing, plus 35 yards gained on foot. Junior runningback Owen Leen rushed 9 times for 42 yards and 1 TD, Roberts tallied 32 yards on 6 carries before his injury, and Casey Bir added 24 yards on one carry. Junior tight end Willie Rodriguez led the receiving corps with 3 receptions for 103 yards and 1 TD, and sophomore Oliver Link had 5 receptions for 24 yards and 1 TD. The Colonel defense was led by junior DB Braylon Miller with 7 tackles, and then senior LB Aiden Jones, junior DL Josh Flood, junior DL Ben Reeves, and senior DB each had 5 tackles a piece.

Both teams will be looking to slough off their Week 1 losses on Saturday. Who takes home the W in this one? What are your predictions?

Big week of practice for the boys up front for Cov Cath. The Colonels aren’t going to win too many games playing like we did against Elder on the line of scrimmage. There are a lot of upperclassmen on the lines, so we need to show a little pride and come out physical and aggressive on Saturday night. I’m hoping that Elder is just an outlier and we should be able to be pretty competitive on the lines against the rest of the schedule, but that is a tbd.

CovCath by at least 14.

If Pikeville rolls with Boykins at QB1 I think they’ll win. If they go with the 2 QB system CC wins. 

Pikeville lost a tough season opener on the road against a very tough Corbin team 24-19. Pikeville will look to rebound this Saturday night in The Pike County Bowl against a good Covington Catholic team.

Covington Catholic lost at home to Elder (OH) 42-21 in week 1. They will also be looking to rebound. So one of these two team will get its first win of the season, while the other be 0-2.

Who wins this tough matchup? Does Pikeville have enough firepower to get a solid win over Covington Catholic? Does Covington Catholic come to Pikeville and put the Panthers at 0-2 on the season?

I just watched a news report from WYMT.com that said you can catch all the games on WYMT.   Does anyone know if that will include a stream on the net?

36 minutes ago, theguru said:

I just watched a news report from WYMT.com that said you can catch all the games on WYMT.   Does anyone know if that will include a stream on the net?

Yes you will be able to pull those up.

Pikeville wins by 3.

CovCath feels like a work in progress in many areas, and they again don't have a QB you can just pencil in and go with, so I will say the LONG travel and advantages of being at home are the two factors that get Pikeville over the top.  

CovCath should not lose to Pikeville. 

13 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

CovCath should not lose to Pikeville. 

That thought has crossed my mind at least five times today. 

1 hour ago, TheDeuce said:

CovCath should not lose to Pikeville. 

 

1 hour ago, theguru said:

That thought has crossed my mind at least five times today. 

Cov Cath has 70 players on their roster. Pikeville has 61. Both schools have winning traditions that attract talent. 

33 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

 

Cov Cath has 70 players on their roster. Pikeville has 61. Both schools have winning traditions that attract talent. 

CovCath is a private school with kids from at least 3 different counties with a nice selection of really good football players.

4 minutes ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

CovCath is a private school with kids from at least 3 different counties with a nice selection of really good football players.

My guess is the Pikeville roster has players who came from other counties.

Covcath should win. They were showing some signs of life in the 2nd half against Elder even though it was probably Elder's 2nd string.  I hope they go with Pitzer at QB. He looked better than the one that started the game. 

Covcath defense needs to get a lot better especially secondary.  I thought that was going to be their strength this year based on all the threads  I read before season started. Not very impressive so far in the scrimmage against SK or last week's game. 

If we lose to Pikeville then I can easily  see a 4-6 or 5-5 year for the Colonels.