C6H0-83

Cov Cath will continue to get better, but I will be pleasantly surprised if they pull this one out. LaSalle has one of their better teams in the last few years with several legit D1 recruits. They could be one of the top 6-7 teams in Greater Cincinnati and yet finish 3rd or 4th in their conference. Cov Cath will be better prepared for this one then they were for Ryle, but IMO LaSalle is a small step ahead of Ryle. They have that combination you hate to face, speed and size.

Offense looked more in sync, which allowed the defense to get a rest. Special teams gave Cov Cath great field position all night. Except for the penalties this was a very good game for Cov Cath. As I stated after the Ryle game, they are moving in the right direction and you will continue to see improvement. In all areas of their game.

Or does Cov Cath look good?

TOG-Any update on Ritter or other Cov Cath players that may have missed some of last weeks game?

I hate to say it, but after having seen Dixie (which beat Beechwood) and Ryle (which lost to HHS) play, this game should not be played. IMO Ryle would easily handle Dixie so logic would say HHS will cruise over Beechwood.

I was thinking the same thing. IF Cov Cath beats Lex Cath this week, how does that effect the rankings?

I remember this play and mentioned to the guy next to me that Connor is not flashy but does get the job done. But I do think he has bulked up some this year, he has to go 142-143 lbs now!

Any offensive stats for Lex Cath?

Your post is right on the money. Cov Cath did not play to their ability in this one, and I think most posters are at the same time giving Ryle alot of credit. Ryle is good and should continue to improve as the season progresses. But at the same time most Cov Cath followers felt this would be a closer contest. You basically had size and experience (Ryle) vs youth and potential (Cov Cath). For Cov Cath you only had 1-2 experienced returning skill position players, and the O line lost 3 starters from last year and 3 of 4 D line starters. So you had several players getting their first extensive varsity experience against two (or more) of the top players in N Ky, if not the State. I for one was very impressed by Ryle, and at the same time a little disappointed in the play of Cov Cath. But again maybe Ryle was so superior to make Cov Cath look as bad as they did?

It appeared Ryle's startes played until mid 4th Qtr. I noticed Elliott looking fatigued early on but unfortunately (for Cov Cath) Mullens was able to come in and not miss a beat. The last 2-3 scores looked like a mix of Ryle 1st & 2nd team O vs Cov Cath 2nd D. Also Cov Cath 2nd team O turned the ball over twice giving Ryle good field position.

I only caught the last 8-9 minutes of this game, but based on those minutes I was very un-impressed with Dixie. This goes for those players highly touted as well as those not. If Dixie doesn't find a way to play a whole game it will be a long year for them and I think some of the scholarships we have heard about will start to disappear. Again, based on those 8-9 minutes, NCC looked like a team confident in their ability and very much wanting the W.

As stated earlier, you can't expect to compete with a good team when your Defense is on the field for 95% of the game. Cov Cath was hanging with Ryle for the 1st half, but once Ritter went out the D seemed to lose something. They also started getting tired. Offense has to pick things up and sustain some drives in order for them to compete this year. It was first varsity start for a Soph QB and with time he will be OK. He had several nice passes dropped by his receivers. Special teams were probably lone bright spot for CCH tonight. On the Ryle side pretty impressed with the big 2 (Elliott and Hempel) but player that caught my eye was Mullens #18. From what I saw tonight he would be featured back on just about any other team.

Are you feeling Ryle is better, and Cov Cath is worse than last year? Last year was a 20 point Ryle win, in the first game of the new Cov Cath coaching staff. I realize Ryle has a few studs, but how much did they also lose from last year? IMO this will be a very close game.

Again-if you just look at W-L and the schedule they play it could be another 'middle of the road' year for Cov Cath. They finished 6-6 last year with a 6 point and 9 point loss to Lex Cath and LaSalle respectively. Both of those games were a play or two away from being a W and a 6-6 quickly becomes 8-4. If the 20 pt loss to Ryle in the first game, and 19 point to JC is getting their hat handed to them, then the 21 point win over Woodford wouldn't be a struggle. My point being they were competitive in all their games last year except for Highlands and Lou St X. Last years Seniors had 3 Head Coaches in their 4 years at Cov Cath, with stability and other things being done with the program, last year was a succes (regardless of W-L) and this year will build on that. The W's will follow.

Last year was a good year for Cov Cath in more ways than just W-L. A few plays away from picking up another 2 wins and program moving in a the right direction. IMO this year will improve on last year. Sounds like someone with an ax to grind or trying to stir the pot. Let it go.

Having played in HS and College, you don't realize how much you enjoy it until it is over. Yes there are days you want to be somewhere else, when you wish for the practice/season to be over. But when you take off that helmet for the last time and are able to look back on the big picture, I would have to say that the majority of guys who have ever played would agree that the enjoyable/not enjoyable scale is heavily tipped to the enjoyable side. When you add in the life long friendships made by spending so much time together for a common goal, imo it goes way beyond just Fun.

Very impressed with Buckler. Having not seen him play before, but reading about him one tends to take it with a grain of salt and wonder how good he really is because of the competition he faced most of the year. After watching him tonight there is no doubt he could play for any team in N Ky and be the main ball carrier. Also nice to see Simpson and Quanino(sp) of Boone County in person for the first time. I understand Simpson was not 100% but still showed some very nice moves. Defense was a little ahead of offense on both sides as there was good penetration by both D-lines, but that would be expected in this type of game. I was a little disappointed in the amount of missed tackles on both sides, but that could also be attributed to the higher skill level of ball carriers. Overall turned out to be a pretty good, evenly matched game.

Update? What time is Cov Cath-Bellevue now scheduled to start?

Does anyone know how close to on schedule the games are running today?

For the most part, the reason for the lack of a short passing game last year was not the scheme or the players. If you watch the films they did have receivers open across the middle or on intermediate routes most of the time. A big part of the reason they didn't utilize this more had to do with Erpenbecks preference for 1-the long ball 2-to run. Also, their 2 big name receivers both played mainly on the outside (Connelly & Robinson) and they are not the type of receivers to come across the middle but are better at working the sidelines and down the field. Part of the problem, and the benefit of the offense they run is there are so many options it is tough for a kid to grasp in just one year. I think if you have a QB that is not as prolific a runner as Erpenbeck you will see more short passes.

I would have to agree. I know scheduling can be a nightmare but I too would have liked to see Ky vs OH matchups in this instead of taking games already on the teams schedule and just moving the venue. With LaSalle and Cov Cath already scheduled, even if they could have taken that game and played it as part of this event I think it would draw more interest. I would love to see 3-4 N Ky teams play 3-4 comparable teams from OH as part of the Shootout.

Neil was #24. I would agree on your assessment of Garnick, he played with high intensity and was probably the biggest hitter of last years DBs. He was also the leader back there so Cov Cath will need someone else to step up in that role.

Very impressed with how Travis performed last year, but they probably lost the best one-on-one open field tackler in Neil Martin.

Yes

Not as much as him losing all that weight by eating just Subway...oh wait, wrong Jared::lol: