Colonels_Wear_Blue

So circling back to review the time line of what's been going on at Newport Stadium: Oct 8, 2021 Newport played their most recent home football game at Newport Stadium. Nov 12, 2021 Newport Central Catholic played their most recent home football game at Newport Stadium. Apr 11, 2022 (Approx.) Newport Stadium, grandstand and pressbox failed state inspections and were condemned. Oct 12, 2022 Newport Board of Education voted unanimously to fund the demolition of the existing Newport Stadium and the installation of a new 1,500-seat grandstand and pressbox. May 8, 2023 Demolition of Newport Stadium begins. (See Thread: Will Newport have any home games in 2023?) May 15, 2023 Newport releases their 2023 football schedule, announcing that their first home game since Oct 8, 2021 will be played against Lloyd Memorial on Sep 22, 2023. Jul 19, 2023 Newport BOE is notified by the contractor installing the new grandstand and pressbox at Newport Stadium that there is a 2 month delay on the project. Project delivery is pushed to the end of October, 2023. Newport's football team was scheduled to play their final home game of the regular season on October 12th against Bellevue, thus likely wiping out a second full season of home football games. Nov 4, 2023 After finishing second in 1A District 3, Newport's football team is awarded home field advantage for their first-round game of the 1A playoffs. Their game against Covington Holy Cross is hosted at Highlands due to stadium incompletion. Feb 11, 2023 Following the completion of grandstand and pressbox construction, rumors begin circulating that flood zone regulations at Newport Stadium are preventing the construction of restrooms, locker rooms and a concession stand at the stadium. (See Thread: Will Newport have any home games in 2024?)

Looking at the schedules that have been released, I'm seeing the following games for Newport thus far: Aug 23 at Carroll County Aug 30 at Holmes Oct 4 at Lloyd Memorial Oct 11 vs. Newport Central Catholic They have had a continuing series against Holmes for quite a few year. Prior to all the stadium issues at Newport, the last time Newport played Holmes at home was in 2020. Then they played them at Holmes in 2021, and then for the past two seasons they have played the game at Holmes out of necessity...but that would more than likely put them back at Newport if things were going as planned at the stadium. So that may or may not mean that they aren't anticipating Newport Stadium being ready by August 30th. Newport Catholic's schedule lists all of their home games as "at Newport Central Catholic," so we don't necessarily know where they are playing all of those. But their October 11th game against Newport is listed as being at Newport.

The Breds finished their regular season with a 6-4 record last year. They were awarded a forfeit win in the first round of the playoffs after Trimble County didn't have enough healthy players to field a team, then they beat Dayton in the second round, and lost to a very solid Campbellsville team in the 1A quarterfinals. The offense loses their top QB Kolton Smith to graduation, but Louie Collopy had a strong showing as second man up. Their top offensive producer, Demetrick Welch, is also lost to graduation. He led the team in rushing with 1125 yards and 22 touchdowns, and was their number two receiver with 18 receptions for 239 yards and 3 touchdowns. Kaleb Cole finished the season second in rushing yards and will be back as a senior in 2024, and top receiver Charlie Ford will also return as a senior. On defense they return three of their top five tacklers from last season in LB Kaleb Cole, LB Landon Kraft, and DL Gabe Lyons who will all be back as seniors.

Aug 23 vs. Lloyd Memorial Aug 30 at Walton-Verona Sep 6 at Scott Sep 13 vs. Conner Sep 20 vs. Campbell County Sep 27 vs. Raceland Oct 4 - BYE Oct 11 at Newport (District) Oct 18 at Dayton (District) Oct 25 vs. Bellevue (District) Nov 1 vs. Holmes

Last season the Wildcats were 0-10, with three different opponents on their non-district schedule. They have swapped a Week 0 game against Bracken County for a game with Manchester (OH), Week 2 against Newport has been swapped for Bellevue, and Week 3 against Owen County has been swapped for Gallatin County. Pendleton County will also notably have Jaeggar Graham at the helm as head football coach, following Kyle Pettit's two year tenure as skipper.

Aug 23 vs. Manchester (OH) Aug 30 vs. Dayton Sep 6 at Bellevue Sep 14 at Gallatin County Sep 20 at Nicholas County Sep 27 vs. Ludlow Oct 4 - BYE Oct 11 at Lloyd Memorial (District) Oct 18 at Bourbon County (District) Oct 25 vs. Lexington Catholic (District) Nov 1 vs. Bishop Brossart

Here's some additional reading on this subject:

I haven't seen anything from Pikeville yet.

Bowling Green 5A:

Boyle County 4A:

Trinity 6A:

Christian Academy Louisville 3A:

DuBois benefits from the fact that they will not have their first graduating class until next May. As such, they return all starters, including quarterbacks Delshawn Hatchett (senior) and Brian Dickerson, Jr (sophomore). Dickerson was promising last year as a freshman. Maresse Naves (senior) and Santee Brock (junior) were leading running backs last year, and Jaden Mostiller (senior) and Maresse Naves (senior) led in pass receptions. Naves led the team in offensive yards gained with 276 yds rushing and 103 yds receiving with 1 touchdown, and Mostiller led the team in scoring with 20 receptions for 267 yards and 3 touchdowns. On defense, their top 5 tacklers were LB/S Santee Brock (junior), LB Jordan Dickerson (junior), LB Corde Boller (junior), LB Adrian Lee (senior), and DB Diontae Bennett (junior). Santee led in solo tackles by a long-shot, with 42 solo tackles. Diontae Bennett was in a distant second spot with 16 solo tackles.

2023 Results (2-8): Aug 18 at Thomas Nelson (Loss) 14-6 Aug 26 at Atherton (Loss) 54-12 Sep 1 at Woodford County (Loss) 43-6 Sep 9 at Seneca (Loss) 34-0 Sep 15 - BYE Sep 22 at Fort Knox (Win) 18-12 Sep 29 vs. Fern Creek (Loss) 37-0 Oct 6 at Washington County (Loss) 44-12 Oct 13 at Lexington Christian Academy (Loss) 51-0 Oct 20 at Shawnee (Win) 23-6 Oct 27 at Central (Loss) 30-0

Aug 23 - Thomas Nelson Aug 30 at Atherton Sep 6 - Southern Sep 13 at Seneca Sep 20 - BYE Sep 27 - Fort Knox Oct 4 at Fern Creek Oct 11 - Washington County (District) Oct 18 vs. Lexington Christian Academy (District) Oct 25 - Shawnee (District) Nov 1 at Central The schedule graphic doesn't list locations, and DuBois still doesn't have their own home stadium to host games. I went through and cross-checked against the schedules that have been previously released. The games listed above with locations are all confirmed with their opponents' schedules. Not sure where DuBois will be hosting Lexington Christian on October 18th, but that's what LCA's schedule says is happening. The only change from last season's schedule is dropping Woodford County in Week 3 and picking up Southern. Good move on the part of DuBois.

Just listened to a podcast interview with Coach Odom. A few highlights: St. Henry will be fielding middle school teams comprised of students from grades 6-8 next year. They currently have 82 players signed up across the three grade levels. Per Couch Odom, "Our eighth grade is loaded." St. Henry was invited to compete on the middle school level in the GCYL over in Cincinnati, but since they weren't yet sure what their roster numbers would look like on the middle school level they declined the invitation and will be competing only in NKY. Intent is to have an all-8th grade team, an all-7th grade team, and then a "JV" middle school team that will be made up of 6th and 7th graders. About 24 incoming freshman are currently practicing with the program. 5+ incoming freshman are over 6'2". There are currently 2 freshman games scheduled for the 2024 season, and they are hoping to get at least 4 more freshman games scheduled. They are looking at getting Cincinnati teams (mentioned McNicholas, Purcell, and Roger Bacon) to play freshman-only games since they aren't able to work into the existing NKY freshman league at current. There are currently 8 assistant coaches on staff for the freshman/JV teams. Marty & Michael Malone, Dave Campbell, and Ron Davis are the four names he mentioned as assistants. Terry Durstock was mentioned previously in this thread as an assistant but was not mentioned by name in the podcast. I heard some rumors recently that Durstock has decided to stay at Scott HS, but I have no idea whether or not that's true. The coaching staff doesn't currently have any set offensive format they are planning to run, and will instead be designing their offense to suit the players they have on their roster. St. Henry currently has 10 JV games scheduled for 2024. McNicholas (OH) was the only one mentioned by name.

Pike County Central is now the one remaining job to be filled. Football season kicks off 16 weeks from tomorrow.

As mentioned above this was the 45th time the NKY Coaches Association have given out this award with the NFL Foundation, and Evan makes the 13th winner of the award from Covington Catholic. 1988/89 - Paul Hladon - Covington Catholic - Princeton 1989/90 - Brian Williams - Covington Catholic - Columbia 1992/93 - Chad Cogswell – Covington Catholic – Northern Kentucky 1998/99 - Tom Beechem – Covington Catholic – Dayton 2008/09 - Patrick Van Sant – Covington Catholic – Georgetown 2010/11 - Troy Timmerman – Covington Catholic - Air Force 2013/14 - Sam Burchell – Covington Catholic – Cincinnati 2016/17 - Hunter Ziegelmeyer – Covington Catholic – Dartmouth 2018/19 - Jack Coldiron - Covington Catholic - Miami (OH) 2019/20 - Michael Mayer - Covington Catholic - Notre Dame 2020/21 - Ben Dickhaus - Covington Catholic – Cincinnati 2022/23 - Aiden Jones - Covington Catholic - West Point 2023/2024 - Evan Pitzer - Covington Catholic - DePauw University

Yessir! Tate is a chip off the 'ol block in a lot of ways. His dad Justin was a fantastic athlete at Cov Cath and was a whip in the classroom too. Got into the University of Notre Dame for his academic prowess and ended up walking onto the football team for a year or two. Congratulations Tate!!

1979/80 Jon Sutkamp - Bellevue 1980/81 Charlie Sutkamp - Bellevue 1981/82 Jeff Meyer - Campbell County 1982/83 Greg Kunkel - Lloyd Memorial 1983/84 Mike Jordan - Newport Central Catholic 1984/85 Greg Kremer - Newport Central Catholic 1985/86 Brian Veatch - Bellevue 1986/87 Frank Jacob - Newport Central Catholic 1987/88 Rob Whitten - Beechwood 1988/89 Paul Hladon - Covington Catholic - Princeton 1989/90 Brian Williams - Covington Catholic - Columbia 1990/91 Rick Lehmkuhl - Newport Central Catholic 1991/92 Craig Wilmhoff - Beechwood – Eastern Kentucky 1992/93 Chad Cogswell – Covington Catholic – Northern Kentucky 1993/94 Rob Sandfoss – Newport Central Catholic – Kentucky Wesleyan 1994/95 Jeremy Burns – Campbell County – Valparaiso 1995/96 Cameron Demmerle – Beechwood – Centre Seneca Gray – Holmes – Kentucky State 1996/97 Eddie Eviston – Newport Central Catholic – Georgetown 1997/98 Scott Kuhnhein – Highlands – Ohio State 1998/99 Tom Beechem – Covington Catholic – Dayton 1999/00 Matt Atkins – Newport – Thomas More 2000/01 Brent Grover – Highlands – Purdue 2001/02 Rob Smith – Highlands – Tennessee 2002/03 Brandent Englemon – Holmes – Michigan 2003/04 Jeff Wera – Beechwood – William and Mary 2004/05 Trevor Stellman – Conner – Thomas More 2005/06 Lance Durbin – Conner – Cincinnati 2006/07 Scott Gray – Ryle – Marshall 2007/08 Cory Farris – Boone County – Kentucky 2008/09 Patrick Van Sant – Covington Catholic – Georgetown 2009/10 Tate Nichols – Ryle – Notre Dame 2010/11 Troy Timmerman – Covington Catholic - Air Force 2011/12 Patrick Towles – Highlands – Kentucky 2012/13 Donovan McCoy – Highlands – Kentucky 2013/14 Sam Burchell – Covington Catholic – Cincinnati Andrew Way – Connor – Dayton 2014/15 Ryan Woolf – Ryle – Georgetown 2015/16 Brett Slusher – Beechwood – Kentucky 2016/17 Hunter Ziegelmeyer – Covington Catholic – Dartmouth 2017/18 Jake Chisholm – Ryle – Dayton 2018/19 Jack Coldiron - Covington Catholic - Miami (OH) 2019/20 Michael Mayer - Covington Catholic - Notre Dame 2020/21 Ben Dickhaus - Covington Catholic – Cincinnati 2021/22 Gabe Savage - Ryle - West Point 2022/23 Aiden Jones - Covington Catholic - West Point 2023/2024 Evan Pitzer - Covington Catholic - DePauw University

A little late to the party with this one, as the ceremony was held back on February 29th, but Evan Pitzer was named the winner of the most recent winner of the Northern Kentucky Brian Williams "That's My Boy Award" at the The Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the National Football Foundation 57th Annual Scholar-Athlete Banquet. The NFL Foundation has held the local awards banquet for 57 consecutive years now, and for 45 years the Southwestern Ohio Football Coaches Association and the the Northern Kentucky Football Coaches Association have each been awarding separate awards at the banquet. The award acknowledges excellence in leadership on the football field, in the classroom, and as a citizen, and is considered on a local level to be one of the most prestigious football awards given out each year. The NKY award was renamed beginning in 2001 to honor Brian Williams, a Covington Catholic graduate and the 1989 recipient of the award. Brian was a three sport star and a star in the classroom at Covington Catholic High School. He had an accumulative grade point average of 4.0 and was a three year varsity letterman in football on two state championship teams. Brian was team captain his senior year and was also First Team All-State as a tight end. He was a two-time silver medalist in the discus throw at the Kentucky State Championships and was also a First Team All Conference Basketball player in Northern Kentucky. Brian continued his football career at Columbia University in New York City where he was a starter at tight end for four years. After graduation Brian began working as a bond trader at Canton-Fitzgerald whose offices were on the top floors of The World Trade Center, where he died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Evan Pitzer has committed to play football at DePauw University for head coach Brett Dietz, a 2000 graduate of Covington Catholic. This past season Pitzer was first-team All-NKFCA and the NKFCA 4A Player of the Year, and he was one of four finalists for the Northern Kentucky "That's My Boy" award. Brody Benke of Highlands, Jack Lonaker of Cooper, and Beni Mwamba of Dixie Heights were the other three finalists. Congratulations Evan!

2023 Regular Schedule: Aug 18 vs. Graves County (Win) 42-7 Aug 25 vs. Hopkinsville (Win) 59-6 Sep 1 at Paducah Tilghman (Loss) 35-28 Sep 8 vs. McCracken County (Win) 48-14 Sep 22 at Henderson County (Win) 38-24 Sep 29 at Caldwell County (Win) 63-7 Oct 6 - OPEN Oct 13 vs. Crittenden County (Win) 46-6 Oct 20 vs. Murray (Win) 49-14 Oct 27 at Christian County (Win) 72-8 Nov 3 - OPEN I've been able to confirm these games thus far for the 2024 season: Aug 23 at Graves County Aug 30 at Hopkinsville Sep 6 vs. Paducah Tilghman Sep 13 at McCracken County Sep 27 vs. Henderson County Oct 18 at Crittenden County (District) Oct 25 at Murray (District) The 2024 schedule will also include their district game against Caldwell County. If they leave things the same as last season, that game will be falling on October 4th at Mayfield.

From Coach Lopez on Twitter: Went with an Old School Classic with a New School touch on the back!! I must admit that I’m a fan!! 🐅🐅🐅🐅

After Christian County Schools' bumbling with the construction of the new consolidated school was yet again delayed, Hoptown will have end up with a second "final" football season. This year Coach Dustin Lopez will be at the helm for the Tigers after being promoted to head coach in February. 2024 Schedule: Aug 9 at Russellville (Scrimmage) Aug 16 vs. South Warren (Scrimmage) Aug 23 at Greenwood (Backyard Brawl) Aug 30 vs. Mayfield Sep 6 vs. Christian County Sep 13 at Clarksville (TN) Sep 20 vs. Paducah Tilghman (District) Sep 27 vs. Warren East (District) Oct 4 at Calloway County (District) Oct 11 - BYE Oct 18 at Logan County (District) Oct 23 at Allen County-Scottsville (District) Nov 1 vs. Pleasure Ridge Park