1 hour ago, theguru said:

I agree @Al Bundy and unless we are also going to start talking about kids held back in the 3rd grade (clearly we are not) I wish we could move past all the COVID stuff. 

I don't disagree, although don't most kids hold back in 8th grade? And in the case of the Covid year stuff, the difference is the players got to spend an extra year in high school instead of grade school (or extra 1/2 year as the case may have been). 

14 minutes ago, The Oracle said:

Link's biggest advantages are his height and ability to get downfield fast. From what I remember most of his catches the last 2 yrs have either been screen passes or long balls. BW seems to do well shutting down the screen most years and their guys were pretty fast last year. I don't remember them giving up any deep passes to CCH last year.

Seems like this year we've kinda limited our vertical passing because Harney's accuracy diminishes quickly once he's has more than 20yds or so between himself and the receiver. I don't know if we wanna risk deep throws tonight with the speed of BW's defenders and potential for them to turn off-target passes into pickoffs.

I kinda expect to see us play it conservative with passing this week - especially early in the game. Eddie may send some receivers on deeper routes early on to feel out the defenders and then consider trying to actually pass to them later in the game, but I think he'll more than likely stick to tight end drag routes, swing passes, and screen passes, and an occasional tight end release.

I believe you're correct about last year with deep shots. However, I think for as much as Coach Eviston loved passing deep with AJ Mayer and Caleb Jacob (particularly 2018 and 2019 Caleb Jacob), he has changed his passing up to where more often than not if he's going for big yardage, he's trying to have the QB get the ball is into the WR's hands 12-15 yards off the line of scrimmage while the receiver is running in stride, and then any long yardage is made after the catch. He does take the occasional deep shot, but that seems like it's only happening 2-3 times a game at most, whereas with the arms and accuracy that Mayer and Jacob both had, it was happening 6, 7, 8 times a game sometimes. I'm an Excel nerd and I keep a lot of historical stats on Cov Cath football, but don't have any hierarchal stats on how many deep pass attempts we have per game or per season...lol, that would be a pretty niche stat to keep track of, beyond just being a pain in the rear to follow. I've got these, though, and average yards per catch probably indicates a little.

44 minutes ago, colonel-fan said:

I don't disagree, although don't most kids hold back in 8th grade? And in the case of the Covid year stuff, the difference is the players got to spend an extra year in high school instead of grade school (or extra 1/2 year as the case may have been). 

I would say 8th grade is a popular year because the parents/student realize it would be an advantage for them.  Either way, 3rd grade, 8th grade, COVID grade, etc., the child is one year older. 

A little over an hour and a half till kickoff and the poll is 46 votes for Beechwood and 49 votes for Cov Cath. Looking at the votes, there are a small handful on both sides of the game picked the other team. I think it's definitely gonna be one of the more closely matched games between these two .

Beechwood
theguru, MaddenCurse44, HS Fan Man, SPKY17, Maroon Beech, Paul Dean, royal36, Quarterback18, Duncan74, Scooby2323, FatNate, The Head Director, TimeWillTell, Hard Work, The Double Deuce, FJ11, Joe Lorenzen, RememberTheTigers24, Bowhunter74, Hornet34, The_Bull44, Hardin County Preps, Hungover_in_Andover, BWTigers, BrickhouseCOV, Beechwoodfan, Al Bundy, TigerRat34, Milo, Sparkey, 4th&1, OMD, hector607, GoCATsNKY, Ted Stickles, Bluebird, JustHighSchool, fatsnbul, TigerMomx3, Lucky Dog, PP1, CCHFC, Camelfans, jumbojack, TigerKing, NKY KnowItAll

Covington Catholic
Colonels_Wear_Blue, Gotigas, RedHawk, OldSchool45, snakesnot_2000, hrcarrier, 16thBBall Fan, TheMagicMan, Bluerunner, bluecolonels95, Kyfootballking, richard maners, TheBearsFavoriteHat, BBN, Velvet Jones, NKYPrepSportsFan, Falcon Pride, StraightShooter, Subway5024, Astro Domino, 859sports, Bluesport, GottaLuvFootball, NKY soccer, Profootballer, DoubleDuce, Shaquille_Oatmeal, UKato91, Dukey_662001, Cov_Cath_Hwy, Coach112, ApolloFan98, GREEN ACE, WinningColors, Tones, NeuroColonel, blue-five-two, Damien, DRKARK, InsideSlant, BigBlue92, Deaconjim, DARZ, Stirmechew, Mr. Giggles, KYRedandBlack, 1992Rebel, ChizeL822, kyag

I voted Beechwood but I am anything but confident.  

1 minute ago, theguru said:

I voted Beechwood but I am anything but confident.  

I'm gonna say I'm cautiously optimistic about Cov Cath. I played in too many of the 1990s games to feel like this one is anything even remotely close to a sure thing.

14 minutes ago, theguru said:

I voted Beechwood but I am anything but confident.  

I am the same way just got my stream all paid for and ready to go. I will never pick against Beechwood but I know when they are clear underdogs and this is one of those games as the injury bug may just be to much to handle. Cov Cath is big and deep like always so if Beechwood stands a chance they will need to make possessions last long than quick TD's or 3 and outs. Keep CCH's D on the field and score on as many possessions as we can but even if we don't score limit their possessions. 

Does Cov Cath treat this as big of a rivalry as Beechwood? 

1 hour ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

I'm gonna say I'm cautiously optimistic about Cov Cath. I played in too many of the 1990s games to feel like this one is anything even remotely close to a sure thing.

My first thought every time Beechwood week starts up is Coach Ray coming into the weight room and taking a knee just after pregame in 1998, and Coach Ray charging in and tearing over a 300 pound industrial fan and throwing it across the floor because he was so incensed over a certain Beechwood running back running down in front of him and jeering while the coaches were on their way in for the pregame speech. We were all fired up as hell....and then promptly squandered a 21-7 halftime lead, went into overtime and missed a 21 yard field goal from the left hash and then watched Beechwood kick in a 22 yarder from the left hash to win it in overtime.

Also definitely hard to forget standing on the sideline and watching Adam Wulfeck dive into the endzone late in the 4th quarter to put Beechwood ahead to win in the 1997 game.

5 minutes ago, Gotigas said:

Does Cov Cath treat this as big of a rivalry as Beechwood? 

Hard to say, honestly...but the Beechwood rivalry does take a backseat to the Highlands rivalry. So in that regard, if Beechwood treats this as their biggest rivalry game of the year, then no, Cov Cath doesn't treat it as being as big a rivalry as Beechwood does. But that's not to say (at all) that it's not still treated as a huge rivalry game.

That kind of adds to the point I made in the first post of this thread, though, that basically every year Cov Cath has three games where they are playing rivalries - Highlands, Beechwood, and Dixie - we're absolutely guaranteed to have every ounce of everything coming at us from our opponents. I say that's a good thing come playoff time.

3 hours ago, 1992Rebel said:

Wasn’t 2021 the year a lot of kids reclassified and played a 5th year for BW?  That might also explain their advantage that year…

 

2 hours ago, The Oracle said:

One yeah. The one who had been voted the best athlete in the state the year before.

I do enjoy these posts each year and seeing how much that loss bothers CCH fans.

Good seeing Oliver Link in pads for warmups.

If Beechwood were at full strength, I'd probably lean that way. Clay Hayden is truly one of the state's elite quarterbacks, but being down Erdman on top of Fryman nudges my vote in the other direction. 

7 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

I was hopeful we would see Oliver Link back in for Cov Cath. That's a major boon to our receiving corps.

I'm hearing Erdman is a no-go at Beechwood, unfortunately.

Luke Erdman is dressed.

Cov Cath wins the toss and has elected to receive the opening kickoff.