StraightShooter

Hatfield played QB vs the Raiders. Ryle plays defense.

Cooper is rightfully favored, but I see a game going down to the wire. The only outcome that would shock me is a Highlands victory by 10+ points. Best wishes to both teams for a hotly contested game with good sportsmanship! Cooper - Highlands and X/T are the two top games in the Commonwealth Friday night.

Cupcake city.

Congrats to CovCath on the convincing win.

Congrats to Conner on the surprisingly easy win.

Congrats to Ryle on the excellent comeback win. It sure didn't look like that would be a likely outcome for most of the game. However, football is such an emotional roller coaster sport. CAL was coming off a surprising loss on the road to LCA was highly motivated and extremely well prepared. They played like the 3A state champs that I believe they will be. CAL is a very good football team. The Raiders were coming off the thrill of an OT barn burner win vs Highlands at home, took the road trip and did not have their usual high energy play for 39 minutes. Trailing 24-7 early in the 4Q, the Raiders flipped the switch and played lights out on both sides of the ball for the last 9 minutes. What a great high school football game. Raider players like Dillon Smith, Landon Lorms, and Jacob Savage are so fun to watch. CAL's Conner Hodge is outstanding as are a number of other Centurion players. Thanks to WDRB for a high quality broadcast. On to BYE!

Nice to see Conner pull the upset

CAL was well prepared, Ryle is getting outplayed

Hodge is an outstanding high school player.

Thanks for the great job you do of covering CAL football. Ryle has played two highly energized games in a row against 2 of the top 3 teams in 5A. The Raiders have stepped it up a notch this year against a solid schedule. They are well prepared for everything CAL will throw at them. Ryle has been turning it over a bit too much for my liking but they play a tough, physical brand of football. Savage vs. Hodge should be a great battle. Home field means something so it should be a close game. Looking for the Raiders to bring home the W.

Running clock. Highlands will be 9-1 or 8-2 for the regular season. I only see Cooper as a battle royale. Many running clocks the rest of the regular season for the Birds.

What great effort by an awesome young man and stud football player. Super photo by DD!

As Ryle fans, we were happy to see the fake punt call in the second half and a pass play on the first play of OT. Easy to second guess failures.

Thanks for correcting that. These old eyes can't tell a 3 from a 1 - lol!

That was one of the most enjoyable games I've watched at Ryle. Two solid and evenly matched teams. Ryle still needs to improve on ball security. Jacob Savage plays with such intensity and ferocity. What a joy to watch him play the game. Huge play by Landon Lorms to break on the first pass play of OT and snag a pick. Then, nobody was stopping Savage on his TD run to the pylon to end the game on first down. Congrats to the Raiders. Highlands is a tough football team.

Congrats to the Blue Colonels.

Congrats to Beechwood. Are Fryman and Erdman both out for an extended period? That is a shame if so. Hopefully they can get back later in the year since there are a lot of yawners for Beechwood after CovCath.

Thanks for the great game recap, Frank. You do nice work promoting Bluebird football. I look for a toss-up game that could go either way. Turnovers will be a key. Ryle needs to do a better job of eliminating turnovers. I believe that BG, Highlands or Cooper will win 5A this year. Should be another large crowd at CR Borland Sr. Stadium as we welcome an excellent opponent.

Good job on the easy win for CovCath. Congrats to the Colonels.

Congratulations to Cooper on breaking the 9-game losing streak. It really was a tale of 2 halves. There were some outstanding football players going at it tonight. I think Ryle had 5 turnovers but kept battling. On to Highlands.

The Clash at Cooper features two excellent teams in one of the top non-district games in NKY this year. Both teams come off easy wins but Ryle has been tested once this year in the season opener vs. CovCath. Against Conner, Raiders' Jr. QB Nate Verax was 12-13 with TD passes to Jacob Savage, Landon Lorms, and Jaden Galicia. The game is a toss-up and Cooper tries to break a 9-game losing streak that started with both a regular season and playoff loss to Ryle in 2016. Give us the underdog mantle again this year. Like last year, I'll take the Raiders again. This game goes down to the wire rather than either team imploding like the Jags did in the 4Q last year in Ryle's 28-10 victory.

Good job by the Raiders. I wasn't expecting a first half RC. On to Cooper.

Ryle invades Conner for a county rivalry game on Friday night. The Cougars went to Lexington and won handily over Paul L. Dunbar 42-15. Ryle hosted Covington Catholic and prevailed 30-14. Conner has played Ryle close in Hebron and Sr. QB Wyatt Hatfield is a good playmaker. I assume that Conner will be improved over 2023. The 2024 Raiders are improved over last year, too, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Jr. QB Nathan Verax will continue to get better each week as he adapts to varsity play. I believe the Raiders avoid a letdown and move to 2-0 on the season. What are your thoughts?

That was the largest crowd I have seen at Ryle in awhile. Great atmosphere for high school football. Thanks to CovCath for traveling well and it was nice to see so many kids there. On to Conner.

CovCath will be fine. Eddie is an outstanding coach and they will clean things up. They will not lose many games this year. Boyle Co is nails but I would not be surprised if CovCath is runner up again. Ryle is pretty good.