The last time Franklin County and Cov Cath played each other in football, the the United States still had nearly 30,000 troops on the ground in Vietnam, and the fall of Saigon was still a full 19 months away. George Lucas' second film American Graffiti was the top movie in the US box office, and Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" was the number one Billboard hit. The youngest players on the football field in that game are now about a decade past federal retirement age.

Fast forward 51 years.

Franklin County is rolling. They're currently 12-0 with two-straight undefeated regular seasons under their belt. The Flyers have played two fewer games than Cov Cath after a regular season forefeit by Shelby County and a first round bye in the playoffs, but Franklin County has breezed their way to wins in both playoff games with a 52-14 win over Spencer County in the 2nd round and a 49-12 win over Bardstown last night in the 4A quarterfinals. Freshman QB Knox Barrett has been averaging 124 yards and 1.8 touchdowns passing per game, and senior running back Christian Moore is averaging 110 yards and 1.7 touchdowns rushing per game. Franklin County's offensive unit has averaged 348 total yards and 46 points per game this season. Their offense is a little more run-heavy, with 65% of their yardage coming via run and 35% coming via pass. The Flyer defense, led in tackles by senior Jeremy Walters (28 solo/71 assisted), junior Jacob Olds (28 solo/61 assisted) and senior Hunter Gotshall (27 solo/34 assisted) has allowed 914 yards rushing an 1034 yards passing for an average of 177 total yards and 11 points allowed per game in 11 games played.

Covington Catholic is also on a roll. The Colonels are currently on a 11-game win-streak after dropping their first two games of the season to Ryle (30-14) and Highlands (32-22). With Ryle competing this week in the 6A semifinals and Highlands competing in the 5A semifinals, those losses may look a little less critical for Cov Cath at this stage of the season, especially after the Colonels headed down to Danville last night and handed 4-time defending 4A state champions Boyle County their first loss since October 28, 2022 and their first home loss in the playoffs since November 2013. Junior quarterback Cash Harney was the MVP of last night's game, and has been a bell cow for the Colonels offense all season, with 1312 yards rushing for 18 touchdowns, plus another 1193 yards passing for 13 touchdowns. Junior running back Dylan Gaiser is the other major cog of in the Cov Cath offensive backfield, rushing for 1307 yards and 15 touhdowns this season, plus another 172 yards and 1 touchdown receiving. Oliver Link, who came back from an offseason injury in Week 5 of the regular season, has a team-leading 368 yards and 7 touchdowns receiving. Like Franklin County, the Colonel offsense is significantly more run-based, with 1321 yards passing (28%) and 3321 yards rushing (72%) for an average 357 total yards and 40 points per game this season. The Cov Cath defense, led in tackles by senior Tate Kruer (70 solo/21 assisted), sophomore Owen Pitzer (33 solo/16 assisted), senior Nick Krallman (37 solo/11 assisted) and senior Andrew Bessler (41 solo/6 assisted) has allowed 1821 yards rushing and 1011 yards passing for an average of 218 total yards and 19 points allowed per game in 13 games played. The defense is the statewide leader in interceptions with 25 picks, and it leads 4A in recovered turnovers at 37.

This is gonna be a really, REALLY good game in Frankfort, folks! Kickoff is set for 7:00pm.

What are your predictions for the game this Friday???

Complete Series Record:
1972 Cov Cath (Tassini) beat Franklin County (Adkins) 19-0
1973 Franklin County (Cline) beat Cov Cath (Bernier) 13-8

CalPreps showing CovCath as a double digit road underdog.

You have to wonder if CovCath will be able to get up for this game after the monster upset last week.

This is a very intriguing game. The Colonels beat Boyle County last night, which I don’t believe many thought was a chance of happening and they did, easily making Coach Eviston’s most impressive win outside of state championship wins. Covington Catholic has been good and has obviously gotten a lot better as this season has went on.

Franklin County has been nothing short of amazing all season long and for whatever reasons have gone unnoticed by very many. The little I’ve watched and heard about Franklin County, they are very good. 
 

After Covington Catholic got their enormous win, there has to be high emotion, confidence, and more. I’m sure that the confidence level of Franklin County has to be very high too, and why not after what they have done to this point. 
 

I am not picking a winner for this one, best of luck to both teams on what could be another amazing game of this year’s playoffs.

Sounds like kickoff is definitely set for 7pm on Friday.

Colonels continue to roll 35-14…..last week was a springboard with no let down or hangover at all.  Let’s Go!!!

Cov Cath 30

Franklin Co 20

Colonels can be two completely different offenses that Franklin Co can’t simulate in practice. They just beat the biggest baddest bully on the block. Gimme Colonels all day. 

I want to pick Cov Cath simply because they were so impressive last night in their victory over Boyle. 
 

But I wonder if they will be emotionally spent after that win. that's my major question mark. 
 

Franklin County is under the radar and  Coach James continues to just win baby win. 
 

At the end of the day, I’m going with Franklin County to win a thriller but I can easily see CovCath winning this one as well. 
 

FC-35

Cov Cath-31. 
 

 

And to think this would have been Year 4 in the “Battle of the Eddie’s”, but I won’t bring that up….Instead here we are with their first time meeting.  At least EJ has some history saying “Beat Colonels” for a weekend.

This will be an epic battle.

Gotta go with the hot team from Park Hills in this one…

16 minutes ago, FrankNicodemus said:

And to think this would have been Year 4 in the “Battle of the Eddie’s”, but I won’t bring that up….Instead here we are with their first time meeting.  At least EJ has some history saying “Beat Colonels” for a weekend.

This will be an epic battle.

Gotta go with the hot team from Park Hills in this one…

I think this is the perfect time for @Evvie Ediston to chime in. 

50 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

Cov Cath 30

Franklin Co 20

Colonels can be two completely different offenses that Franklin Co can’t simulate in practice. They just beat the biggest baddest bully on the block. Gimme Colonels all day. 

I can see your point kind of, but this is what’s scary about 4A now. Many didn’t think that the Colonels had a chance against Boyle, which was probably true for the rest of 4A. Whether people noticed or not, the top 5, maybe even 6 of 4A was very good, especially Franklin County and Paducah. Boyle County overshadowed a lot of very good football being played until last night. I want the Colonels to win, but there’s no easy road regardless of who they play. 4A was very strong in football this season, especially at the upper part of it. 

4 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

The last time Franklin County and Cov Cath played each other in football, the the United States still had nearly 30,000 troops on the ground in Vietnam, and the fall of Saigon was still a full 19 months away. George Lucas' second film American Graffiti was the top movie in the US box office, and Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" was the number one Billboard hit. The youngest players on the football field in that game are now about a decade past federal retirement age.

Fast forward 51 years.

Franklin County is rolling. They're currently 12-0 with two-straight undefeated regular seasons under their belt. The Flyers have played two fewer games than Cov Cath after a regular season forefeit by Shelby County and a first round bye in the playoffs, but Franklin County has breezed their way to wins in both playoff games with a 52-14 win over Spencer County in the 2nd round and a 49-12 win over Bardstown last night in the 4A quarterfinals. Freshman QB Knox Barrett has been averaging 124 yards and 1.8 touchdowns passing per game, and senior running back Christian Moore is averaging 110 yards and 1.7 touchdowns rushing per game. Franklin County's offensive unit has averaged 348 total yards and 46 points per game this season. Their offense is a little more run-heavy, with 35% of their yardage coming via run and 65% coming via pass. The Flyer defense, led in tackles by senior Jeremy Walters (28 solo/71 assisted), junior Jacob Olds (28 solo/61 assisted) and senior Hunter Gotshall (27 solo/34 assisted) has allowed 914 yards rushing an 1034 yards passing for an average of 177 total yards and 11 points allowed per game in 11 games played.

Covington Catholic is also on a roll. The Colonels are currently on a 11-game win-streak after dropping their first two games of the season to Ryle (30-14) and Highlands (32-22). With Ryle competing this week in the 6A semifinals and Highlands competing in the 5A semifinals, those losses may look a little less critical for Cov Cath at this stage of the season, especially after the Colonels headed down to Danville last night and handed 4-time defending 4A state champions Boyle County their first loss since October 28, 2022 and their first home loss in the playoffs since November 2013. Junior quarterback Cash Harney was the MVP of last night's game, and has been a bell cow for the Colonels offense all season, with 1312 yards rushing for 18 touchdowns, plus another 1193 yards passing for 13 touchdowns. Junior running back Dylan Gaiser is the other major cog of in the Cov Cath offensive backfield, rushing for 1307 yards and 15 touhdowns this season, plus another 172 yards and 1 touchdown receiving. Oliver Link, who came back from an offseason injury in Week 5 of the regular season, has a team-leading 368 yards and 7 touchdowns receiving. Like Franklin County, the Colonel offsense is significantly more run-based, with 1321 yards passing (28%) and 3321 yards rushing (72%) for an average 357 total yards and 40 points per game this season. The Cov Cath defense, led in tackles by senior Tate Kruer (70 solo/21 assisted), sophomore Owen Pitzer (33 solo/16 assisted), senior Nick Krallman (37 solo/11 assisted) and senior Andrew Bessler (41 solo/6 assisted) has allowed 1821 yards rushing and 1011 yards passing for an average of 218 total yards and 19 points allowed per game in 13 games played. The defense is the statewide leader in interceptions with 25 picks, and it leads 4A in recovered turnovers at 37.

This is gonna be a really, REALLY good game in Frankfort, folks! Kickoff is set for 7:00pm.

What are your predictions for the game this Friday???

I think you have these reversed.  I think it's just a typo as you alluded to it in the text. 

5 hours ago, colonel-fan said:

You have to wonder if CovCath will be able to get up for this game after the monster upset last week.

ZERO doubt.

IMO, this is silly to even consider possible. And it isn't going to be a reason the Colonels lose if Franklin County beats them. Franklin County is extremely good. 

7 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

ZERO doubt.

IMO, this is silly to even consider possible. And it isn't going to be a reason the Colonels lose if Franklin County beats them. Franklin County is extremely good. 

Could not agree more.  Crazies will keep CovCath pumped and ready all week.