As the high school season is set to begin, I thought I would take a shot at looking at each team and who some of the top players are for each.  FYI, the records shown are against NKY competition only.  I know these are not the actual records for the last year.

Beechwood (5-6-2) 35th District 

The Tigers had one of the biggest junior classes for the 2023 and can possible return 11 of them for the 2024 season.  Beechwood has their leading scorer return in Breadon Trejo who had 13 goals for the season.  The month of August may be a look into how the season will go for the Tigers as they play Conner, Highlands, Cov Cath, and Lafayette.  Could this be the year the Tigers make it back to the regionals?

 

Boone County (5-9-1) 33rd District

The Rebels will be returning on of the best mid-fielders in the 9th Region (in my opinion) ...Parker Byland.  Boone County also has a large junior class and can return up to 11 players for the 2024 season.  This is the group will now be going into their 2nd year with Coach Trenkamp and I'm going to suggest that they have a winning record this year and will be a tough out in the tough 33rd District.

 

Conner (7-4-1) 33rd District

I've already given my thoughts on Conner in one of my other threads...but this could be a special year for the Cougars.  Conner returns 6 starters from last year's team and in my homer opinion...will have one of the best defenses in the 9th Region.  Conner will be looking to advance out of the tough 33rd District and look to play deep into October.

 

Cooper (4-5-3) 33rd District

Cooper enter the year under the reigns of first year coach Dennis Wainscott.  The Jaguars return Mattox Pembeerton (11 goals) and Liam Haswell to anchor the defense. Cooper will be a tough team to beat and will battle to advance out of the 33rd District.

 

Covington Catholic (7-1-2) 35th District

I don't see Cov Cath having any problems in the 35th.  They return Auggie Eilerman who allowed 0.8 goals per game.  The Colonels will also have their 3 year starter in Andrew Roland back.  Jack Fleck returns to pace the offense with his 11 goals from last year.  Cov Cath will be looking to return to the mountain top in the 9th Region.

 

Dixie Heights (5-4-1) 34th District

Trevor Bolte will be asked to do a lot for the Red Colonels this year.  Dixie had one of the better sophomore classes that now will be juniors and will be looking to grow as a team in preparation for a run in the 9th Region tournament.  Dixie shouldn't have any problems getting out of the 34th District.

 

Highlands (8-3-1) 36th District

The Bluebirds will look to re-load for 2024.  Harrison Gamble (15 goals) will lead the offense as the Bluebirds look for a new defensive leader as Adarsh Khullar is no longer there to anchor the defense.  As the new state of the art facility is being worked on, the Bluebirds will play at NKU for their home games.  The Bluebirds will of course make it to the regions as the 36th only has two teams (which is absurd in my opinion).

 

Holmes (2-8-0) 35th District

The Bulldogs will scrap and fight for wins in 2024.  I don't see the Bulldogs making a lot of noise in the 35th.

 

Holy Cross (7-7-1)

The Indians will be looking on ways to score with Nico Voight taking his 28 goals scored with him in graduation.  The Indians will be looking to battle for the runner-up position in the 35th.

 

Newport Central Catholic (12-3-0)

The 9th Region runner-up from 2023 will look for ways to replace the 10 Seniors who graduated last year and the man in the box Mason McCloskey who allowed 0.5 goals per game.  I might be going out on a limb here...but I see the Thoroughbreds stumbling this year from their derby run of 2023.

 

Ryle (11-0-0) 33rd District

The back-to-back 9th Region champions will look to remain on the top of the mountain.  Ryle lost some special players from last year but they return Bryce Denigan who paced the offense with 25 goals.  Chris Maraduaga will anchor the defense as the Raiders look for a new man in the box to replace Landon Barth.  With the numbers Ryle has and the Freshman class who will now be sophomores...the Raiders will be looking forward to October.

 

St. Henry (2-10-0) 34th District

The Crusaders will look to improve in the win column for 2024.  I didn't get a chance to see them play last year so I'm not sure of players to watch for them (sorry).

 

Villa Madonna (1-6-1) 34th District

The Vikings return Ivan Potapenko...if Ivan played for a bigger school more people would know about him.  Villa Madonna will again battle St. Henry for the runner-up position in the 34th District.

 

All in all, I feel the region has 4 teams who can win it this year.  Ryle should be ranked #1 in the region until someone knocks them off their perch.  Cov Cath will be tough as always, Dixie will be there, and I believe Conner will battle for it also.  Here is my bias opinion for ranking the 2024 pre-season.

1. Ryle

2. Covington Catholic

3. Conner

4. Dixie Heights

5. Boone County

6. Highlands

7. Cooper

8. Beechwood

9. St. Henry

10. Newport Central Catholic

11. Holy Cross

12. Villa Madonna

13. Holmes

Covington Catholic (7-1-2) 35th District

I don't see Cov Cath having any problems in the 35th.  They return Auggie Eilerman who allowed 0.8 goals per game.  The Colonels will also have their 3 year starter in Andrew Roland back.  Jack Fleck returns to pace the offense with his 11 goals from last year.  Cov Cath will be looking to return to the mountain top in the 9th Region.

 

Hearing rumors that Cov. Cath. has added a significant new player to the squad.  Hearing it's a student who has been enrolled at the school for three years but has never played on the high school team.   I think he played on FC Cincinnati's Academy team.  Can anyone confirm?

Here is my "know-nothing" 9th Region preseason top 10:

 

1. Ryle

2. Covington Catholic

3. Conner

4. Dixie Heights

5. Highlands

6. Cooper

7. NCC

8. Beechwood

9. BC

10. St. Henry

7 minutes ago, 2 much info said:

Here is my "know-nothing" 9th Region preseason top 10:

 

1. Ryle

2. Covington Catholic

3. Conner

4. Dixie Heights

5. Highlands

6. Cooper

7. NCC

8. Beechwood

9. BC

10. St. Henry

Boone County is going to surprise teams.  They took Ryle to the very end last year and had a bunch of young players who got a lot of varsity minutes.  I could be wrong...but they are my choice for the "Didn't see that coming" team this year.  

Evan Dennison reporting on X that Brice Denigan is not playing this year. This is major news out of Union. 

Dusting this thread off one last time before the season gets "officially" started.  We have seen/heard what teams have done in Bluegrass and Soccerama, wondering what @kyag thoughts on recalibrating your top 10 list....  I don't want to go further down than 10 since it gets messy at the bottom, probably gets messy after the top 7 or 8 but I'll go with doing a Top 10.

Here are my thoughts.

1. Cov Cath - unfortunately we didn't see anything in Soccerama, this is a gut feeling that with the departure of Denigan at Ryle, Cov Cath becomes the team to beat.

2. Ryle - even with the departure of Denigan they are still really really good

3. Highlands - I like their energy and potential.  Like I said the offense they have and with Lang in the goal, they will be a tough team.

4. Conner - dropping them until they get healthy and show me something at full strength, so this rank is purely b/c they are hurting now, not the potential.

5. Cooper - Did really well at Bluegrass, unfortunately only got a taste at Soccerama with NCC before Mother Nature ruined the party

6. Dixie - just wasn't impressed on Monday night, sorry....

7. NCC - you have the reigning 9th Region coach of the year Ben Williams, I know they lost a ton but he will get everything out of the new kids on the hill

8. Boone County - we will quickly see if they should be your surprise team with their first 3 games out of the gate vs St Henry, Villa Madonna and NCC.....all 3 teams vying for a spot in the bottom half of the Top 10.

9. Beechwood & 10. St. Henry - don't know much about these 2 so just filling out the top 10 with them

Sleeper pick for the Top 10 in weeks to come:  Holmes, they just might surprise people with the talent that is brewing in the Cov, we will see....

On 7/15/2024 at 9:05 AM, UKato91 said:

Hearing rumors that Cov. Cath. has added a significant new player to the squad.  Hearing it's a student who has been enrolled at the school for three years but has never played on the high school team.   I think he played on FC Cincinnati's Academy team.  Can anyone confirm?

I can't confirm how long he has been a student at CovCath, but yes, they do have a player who had previously played for FC's Academy team but is now going to play high school ball.