Colonels vs. Royals, #3.

Friday is the third time that Covington Catholic and Mason County will face off against one another on the football field. The two teams are currently tied for second in the district, with Highlands completing a 3-0 sweep over 4A District 5 this past Friday by beating Mason County 42-6 in Maysville. The Royals beat Harrison County 35-7 in Cynthiana back on Oct 10, and the Colonels beat Harrison County 56-0 on Cov Cath's senior night this past Friday, leaving the Royals to host the Colonels this week to decide second and third place standings in the district.

Mason County is currently sitting on a 3-5 season record with wins over Fleming County, Boone County and Harrison County. The Royals started out the season with junior QB Camden Gregory behind center, but after Gregory suffered a season-ending thumb break in their Week 5 win over Boone County, sophomore Kyson Fox has stepped in at QB for the past 3 games and has gone 7-17 passing (42%) for 254 yards (84.6 ypg) and 4 touchdowns with 3 INTs. Mason County's offense has relied most on senior WR Micah Payne for its production, with 20 receptions for in 7 games played. Their two leading rushers out of the backfield are Joey Staggs and Leonard Avery this season, who have combined for 659 yards and 6 touchdowns. Last week the Royals offense ran into a virtual brick wall against Highlands, though, managing only 19 total offensive yards in the game (17 rushing, 2 passing). They will have to find a quick solution to that against the Colonel defense, which has been allowing only 50 yards more per game than Highlands against a difficult schedule that includes multiple shared opponents with the Birds. On defense the Royals have been allowing 284 yards per game, which is fairly respectable. However, with 34 touchdowns allowed on the season - even when you subtract out the 4 touchdowns Mason County has given up on turnovers and on special teams - that means opponents are only driving an average of 9.46 yards for each touchdown. That's some unfortunate math.

Cov Cath is heading into the final game of their regular season sitting on a 6-3 record, with losses to Ryle and Elder (OH) in Weeks 1 & 2, and then a hard-fought 31-28 loss to Highlands in Week 7. In the two weeks since their last loss, the Colonels beat Indiana 5A team Cathedral 17-10 on Oct 10 and then walloped Harrison County 56-0 on Friday night. Senior QB Cash Harney, a Mr. Football contender, has gone 89-137 passing (65%) for 1485 yards (165 ypg) and 10 touchdowns with 6 INTs this season, and he's rushed another 99 times for 755 yards (7.6 ypc) and 9 touchdowns. Harney is currently the top-ranked QB in 4A football for overall yards per game, with an average 249 yards per game between his rushing and passing. Senior RB Dylan Gaiser has added another 694 yards and 15 touchdowns on 91 carries (7.6 ypc) and has 17 receptions for 264 yards (15.5 ypc) and 3 touchdowns. The Colonel offense has 5 separate receivers with 200+ yards receiving, and their offense is clicking on a well-balanced scheme that has gained 1798 yards in the air this season and 1619 yards on the ground. On defense, sophomore LB Cash Myers' 56 solo tackles has him tied for first place overall in 4A football. He also leads the team with 81 overall tackles, with senior DB Logan Sanning also logging 39 solo tackles and 48 total tackles, and senior LB Brady Guard with 31 solo tackles and 47 total tackles.

What are your predictions for the game on Friday?

Series Record:

2023 Cov Catholic (Eviston) beat Mason County (Wynn) 50-0
2024 Cov Catholic (Eviston) beat Mason County (Wynn) 49-0

2 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Series Record:

2023 Cov Catholic (Eviston) beat Mason County (Wynn) 50-0
2024 Cov Catholic (Eviston) beat Mason County (Wynn) 49-0

I was looking back at the past two prediction/update threads from this series and found an interesting post from the first time Cov Cath and Mason County faced off. I figured I'd update it....
 

In nine of his eleven seasons as head coach at Cov Cath, Coach Eviston has had at least one game where the Colonels football team have faced a team for the first time in program history and the Colonels have gone 18-4 against first-time opponents in his tenure.

2015:
Covington Catholic vs. Sycamore, OH (42-7 Loss)
Covington Catholic vs. Scott County (56-35 Loss)
Covington Catholic vs. Anderson County (47-21 Win) *
Covington Catholic vs. Madison Southern (28-7 Win) *

2016:
Covington Catholic vs. Fairdale (63-7 Win) *
Covington Catholic vs. Doss (47-21 Win) *
Covington Catholic vs. Fern Creek (35-28 Loss) *

2017:
Covington Catholic vs. Kings, OH (35-14 Win)
Covington Catholic vs. Bishop Chatard, IN (30-7 Win)
Covington Catholic vs. Bullitt East (49-0 Win) *
Covington Catholic vs. Bullitt Central (49-7 Win) *
Covington Catholic vs. South Warren (43-7 Win) *

2018:
Covington Catholic vs. Henry Clay (41-0 Win)
Covington Catholic vs. Pulaski County (36-14 Win) *

2019:
Covington Catholic vs. Frederick Douglass (14-7 Win) *

2020:
No New Competitors

2021:
Covington Catholic vs. Belfry (42-13 Win)

2022:
Covington Catholic vs. Pikeville (27-19 Win)
Covington Catholic vs. Great Crossing (21-0 Win) *

2023:
Covington Catholic vs. Mason County (50-0 Win)
Covington Catholic vs. Boyle County (41-0 Loss) *

2024:
No New Competitors

2025:
Covington Catholic vs. Central (35-6 Win)
Covington Catholic vs. Cathedral, IN (17-10 Win)

* Playoffs

Cov Cath wins with a running clock.

Track meet with Royals runners always getting silver.  RC by 2nd qtr.

I haven't ever seen anyone calculate Harney and Gaiser's yards per carry until I read this. Harney's a beast to hold back when he runs but he's been visibly favoring his ankle every single morning I've seen him walking into school this fall. Was glad he only had one rush attempt against Harrison on Friday and hopefully they keep him limited this week too. Gaiser is getting the same yards per carry and when we've got guys like Pitzer, Thornton and Miller who all do real well running it we need to be focusing on developing better running options. It's criminal how seldom EE has put two RB's in his offensive backfield in the last decade.

3 hours ago, The Oracle said:

I haven't ever seen anyone calculate Harney and Gaiser's yards per carry until I read this. Harney's a beast to hold back when he runs but he's been visibly favoring his ankle every single morning I've seen him walking into school this fall. Was glad he only had one rush attempt against Harrison on Friday and hopefully they keep him limited this week too. Gaiser is getting the same yards per carry and when we've got guys like Pitzer, Thornton and Miller who all do real well running it we need to be focusing on developing better running options. It's criminal how seldom EE has put two RB's in his offensive backfield in the last decade.

I had to go back and look up who you meant by Thornton. Jace Thornton, sophomore. He wasn't on the freshman roster last year for Cov Cath. I missed the game this past Friday, but it looks like he ran it twice for 39 yards and 1 touchdown against Harrison County and had 4 tackles in the game as well. Jace also shows up in the stats as playing against Elder (0 carries, 1 tackle), Simon Kenton (0 carries, 0 tackles), Dixie (2 carries, 1 tackle), Beechwood (0 carries, 2 tackles), Central (0 carries, 1 tackle), Highlands (0 carries, 1 tackle), and Cathedral (0 carries, 0 tackles). Looks like he flew in under my radar somehow or other, though. Did he not play football last year, or did he transfer in as a sophomore this year?

On 10/20/2025 at 9:45 PM, The Oracle said:

I haven't ever seen anyone calculate Harney and Gaiser's yards per carry until I read this. Harney's a beast to hold back when he runs but he's been visibly favoring his ankle every single morning I've seen him walking into school this fall. Was glad he only had one rush attempt against Harrison on Friday and hopefully they keep him limited this week too. Gaiser is getting the same yards per carry and when we've got guys like Pitzer, Thornton and Miller who all do real well running it we need to be focusing on developing better running options. It's criminal how seldom EE has put two RB's in his offensive backfield in the last decade.

I don't think Harney has had his same burst since the long TD run vs Beechwood. Hopefully that is able to get back close to 100% by the time the Johnson Central game comes. 

If the team ends up winning a ring, Harney and Gaiser with the ball in their hands in space will be the main reason why. He's got to get back close to 100% to rip off 4 in a row in the playoffs against very quality competition.   

I believe! 

This game will remind you of the Dixie game after the 1st Q. Off topic, but can we go back to these helmets? 

 

From Cov Cath Football Alumni on social media:

It's gameday, baby!! All You Colonels...tonight we head down to Mason County to finish out the regular season and flip the switch to playoff mode. Come cheer the Colonels onward to victory!

#RollColonels #WASTWND #Team59

? Covington Catholic vs. Mason County
? Mason County Royal Stadium
? 7:30pm Kickoff
? colonel-athletic-network.mixlr.com/

Forecast looks to be partly cloudy and right around 50° at kickoff. Last game of the regular season for the Colonels and we're finally playing in football weather.

On 10/21/2025 at 1:40 AM, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

I had to go back and look up who you meant by Thornton. Jace Thornton, sophomore. He wasn't on the freshman roster last year for Cov Cath. I missed the game this past Friday, but it looks like he ran it twice for 39 yards and 1 touchdown against Harrison County and had 4 tackles in the game as well. Jace also shows up in the stats as playing against Elder (0 carries, 1 tackle), Simon Kenton (0 carries, 0 tackles), Dixie (2 carries, 1 tackle), Beechwood (0 carries, 2 tackles), Central (0 carries, 1 tackle), Highlands (0 carries, 1 tackle), and Cathedral (0 carries, 0 tackles). Looks like he flew in under my radar somehow or other, though. Did he not play football last year, or did he transfer in as a sophomore this year?

Jace came to CCH as a frosh. I'm not clear on his football bona fides before this year - CYF in middle school maybe? If no previous experience, and persuaded to come out this year, he's a real find. He's been a demon on JV special teams with a real nose for the ball. I believe he's shown enough there to earn the touches he's gotten on the varsity level.

He flew across my radar running varsity track for Villa Madonna as an 8th grader, where he was one of the best sprinters/horizontal jumpers in the state in the '28 class. He ran/jumped varsity on the Colonels' indoor and outdoor track state title teams as a freshman. 

Track-wise, he's maybe the fastest footballer in 4A amongst sophs. He's football quick too, twitchy like, with good mobility.

He's got a bright future in both sports imo.

Cov Cath to receive the opening kickoff.

Charlie Reeves takes the kickoff for the Colonels and returns it to the house. Big man running for a TD.