Final from Park Hills.

The Raiders dominated the line of scrimmage tonight and Jacob Savage ran at-will. Congratulations to Ryle and good luck moving forward.

 

 

 

Congrats to Ryle. Dylan Lee was fantastic with 2 key interceptions and Jacob Savage fought through cramps. Dameyn Anness is a blessing coming over from Ludlow to spell Savage at RB. Ryle controlled the LOS. Ryle needs to improve its passing game. Cash Harney is a stud. Savage is a great player. Cov Cath is definitely in the running to win 4A. Thanks to both teams and staffs for a great opening night.

Ryle was at about 70%. 
 
Will get better as then season progresses. Cov conditioning was WAY better. A lot of work to do.

Congrats to Ryle. Cov Cath really good team.

Lots to work on for the Colonels. False start penalties in short yardage situations were killers. On defense, have to do a better job setting the edge (some of that was due to good line play by the Raiders). And a couple of unforced errors by the play clock operator. Things don’t get easier next week.

Jacob Savage, Nathan Verax, Dylan Lee, and Dameyn Anness all had great games, as expected. Gavin Moses' kicking was top notch. I looked at his Twitter and it looks like he has some D2 and D3 programs courting him but I didn't see any offers as of yet. If he doesn't get offered by anyone it's a serious miss by recruiters. Ryle's line was dominant on both sides of the ball, and is only going to improve as long as everyone stays healthy.

Harney and Gaiser were both really solid tonight for Cov Cath. Harney had a couple of passes I'm sure he'd like to have back to do over but overall I thought his throwing tonight looked improved from last season. I love watching how spry he and and Dylan are when they run. Donovan Bradshaw had a couple of nice catches. No doubt they're working with him to be a little more elusive after the catch, but having a player with his height and solid hands is never anything but a check in the plus column. I was a little surprised that we didn't see more pass attempts to tight ends on the Colonel side of the ball, but I'd expect to see that develop a little more with the season. Logan Sanning probably had the best defensive game from anyone I saw on the Cov Cath side of things, and he did really well on the offensive side too. Cash Myers and Jackson Payne were everywhere as well. It looked like Ryle's offense was designed to keep the play away from Pitzer, so his stats aren't necessarily going to show much, but that's a heck of a performance all the same...whether or not it translates into numbers on paper. The Colonels line can definitely clean some things up with 4 false start penalties tonight.

Penalties are almost always a problem for teams early on in the season. Ryle was flagged 5 times tonight, including the declined ineligible man downfield after they had a fire play on the botched PAT snap. By my count they gave up 38 yards with penalties. Cov Cath was flagged 7 times, including a declined 4Q holding call on 3rd down that forced them to punt. By my count they gave up 37 yards with penalties.

Here's hoping both teams continue to improve and stay healthy to make deep playoff runs in their respective classes and represent the northern part of the state well.

A few thoughts from the game:

- It felt like playing Elder a week before playing Elder. Big on the lines, good on special teams, didn’t beat themselves, a lot of good players up and down the roster, etc. 

- Losing the turnover battle by 3, having a bunch of penalties and getting outplayed in the kicking game is a good way to make sure you lose. 

- The size difference on the line of scrimmage was notable. I felt bad for our RT who is not a lineman but stuck there. 

- Cov Cath offense is really compressed right now. There’s really no threat vertically or in the drop back game unfortunately. 

- Cash and Gaiser have a ton of juice and made some great plays tonight. They’ll put up a ton of production this year. 

- Is Brandon Smith number 19? Yeah that’s going to be a real player. Size and movement skills! 
 

1 minute ago, CCHFC said:

Is Brandon Smith number 19? Yeah that’s going to be a real player. Size and movement skills!

Yes. He was wearing the jersey he had from the scrimmage tonight in pregame, but I believe the coaches made him switch to #19 for gametime to match the roster.

Nothing about the game changed my mind that Ryle and CovCath are top 10 teams in the state overall. I'm sure both teams will continue to improve. CovCath's gauntlet 2-game start sees them at The Pit at Elder next week. I'm thinking that will be a good game. The Spirit that never Dies guys will have a great season.

25 minutes ago, CCHFC said:

A few thoughts from the game:

- It felt like playing Elder a week before playing Elder. Big on the lines, good on special teams, didn’t beat themselves, a lot of good players up and down the roster, etc. 

- Losing the turnover battle by 3, having a bunch of penalties and getting outplayed in the kicking game is a good way to make sure you lose. 

- The size difference on the line of scrimmage was notable. I felt bad for our RT who is not a lineman but stuck there. 

- Cov Cath offense is really compressed right now. There’s really no threat vertically or in the drop back game unfortunately. 

- Cash and Gaiser have a ton of juice and made some great plays tonight. They’ll put up a ton of production this year. 

- Is Brandon Smith number 19? Yeah that’s going to be a real player. Size and movement skills! 
 

Hard to win ball games when you give up 150+ rushing yards on the ground. Got another huge test next week against Elder. OL and DL are a lot bigger than Ryle and they have way more speed. 

Ended up being a really good crowd for the game, by the way.

Shoutout to Dameyn Anness who looked amazing while not playing 100%. He has a great feel for the RB position. Patient runner who attacks the hole and moves the pile with his power. He’s going to be huge down the stretch for Ryle on both sides of the ball!

18 minutes ago, JuanHenry1997 said:

Hard to win ball games when you give up 150+ rushing yards on the ground. Got another huge test next week against Elder. OL and DL are a lot bigger than Ryle and they have way more speed. 

It’ll be a double digit loss. Elder held their (admittedly not great at all) opponent to -4 total yards tonight while their quarterback sat most of the second half. I’m guessing it will look much like tonight just a bit uglier.

9 hours ago, NeuroColonel said:

It’ll be a double digit loss. Elder held their (admittedly not great at all) opponent to -4 total yards tonight while their quarterback sat most of the second half. I’m guessing it will look much like tonight just a bit uglier.

In another thread, TP94 posted that Elder's opponent last night was rated about the same as Simon Kenton. Elder would easily beat SK, and CovCath will have a fun night vs SK, too. I assume Elder wins, but it won't be easy.

The relative lack of size on the line of scrimmage is going to be a major issue against at least Elder, Highlands and Cathedral. Having said that, I still think Cov Cath has a shot to win 4A if things break right.