The Colonels put one in the W column in their 2023 lid lifter.

Willie Rodriguez sounds off with a 53 yard touchdown reception on the first drive of the game.

 

 

Willie definitely looks the D1 prospect but Leen is crazy good. Just a mule over and over again.

Go Colonels!

Solid opening game win. Some little things that need to be cleaned up, but overall a nice outing.

Nice win!

I believe that CovCath is the best team in NKY this year. Congrats to the Blue Colonels. Ryle has some really good sophomores and junior Landon Lorms did a nice job at receiver. Nate Verax with two excellent kickoff returns. Time to get better.

StraightShooter:

Lorms was the best tonight for Ryle IMO. Bright future and big season for him this year I would think.  Great Athlete.

12 minutes ago, StraightShooter said:

I believe that CovCath is the best team in NKY this year. Congrats to the Blue Colonels. Ryle has some really good sophomores and junior Landon Lorms did a nice job at receiver. Nate Verax with two excellent kickoff returns. Time to get better.

Ryle lost a lot of size up front from last year's team, but still put up solid offensive numbers. Verax made some nice improvisational plays. The lost fumble for Ryle in the 3rd quarter was the momentum changer.

? Colonels' KHSAA game stats page ☕

khsaa/cov_cath/stats

Ryle has some potential. But they go no better than 5-5 in the regular season. 

- I would not advise playing 1 on 1 across the board against this group of receivers unless it's 2 man. Link and Miller would start for multiple years at X/Moe/Trinity type schools and Rodriguez is a grown man that will be a 4* after he gets new film out this season and they update the rankings.

- I don't know how hurt Pitzer was last season, but he looked really good. He is a well above average NKY athlete, his arm looked much stronger and he's always been accurate throwing the ball when he knows where he's going with it. 

- Ben Reeves is a stud high school player on the DL and I thought the rest of the OL/DL looked fine. Big test next week.

- I don't think we called a single QB Iso play thank God. I'm glad the cyber bullying worked (lol)

- I'm really surprised at how clean we played for week 1. Ryle actually had this game pretty tight, but just shot themselves in the foot with turnovers, OL miscommunication, a special teams safety, etc. Their QB is a fun player. 

6 hours ago, Runcible Owl said:

? Colonels' KHSAA game stats page ☕

khsaa/cov_cath/stats

Rodriguez was targeted 4 times and had 3 catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. That's not a bad stat line at all, right there!

Sounds like a tough year for top 10 6A Ryle Raiders.

10 minutes ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

Sounds like a tough year for top 10 6A Ryle Raiders.

I wouldn't say that. At all, honestly. Ryle had some very costly turnovers but they were still very effective passing the ball and moved up and down the field well for 3 of the 4 quarters. Plenty of teams struggle in their first couple of quarters of a new season (see 2023 Simon Kenton Pioneers).

Logan Verax is impressively calm in the pocket under pressure. And he can make pass connections at the drop of a hat. JR Hays is fast and hits the edge hard. He's tough to bring down if you don't get him by his legs. Nathan Verax is explosive running with the ball if he gets into any kind of space, and he was a tough returner to get down. And Landon Lorms is one of the best receivers I've seen in recent memory....he was essentially always an easy outlet for Verax. Lorms is fast, his cuts were absolutely sick, and if the ball was anywhere near him he raked it in for a catch.

Once Ryle's offense went into its no huddle look they were very potent.

16 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

The Colonels put one in the W column in their 2023 lid lifter.

Willie Rodriguez sounds off with a 53 yard touchdown reception on the first drive of the game.

Willie's touchdown in the first quarter.

 

1 hour ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

Sounds like a tough year for top 10 6A Ryle Raiders.

Would Simon Kenton fare any better against Cov Cath?