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Per the scoreboard...we will wait for @FrankNicodemus recap of the game. Looking forward to it as he always does a great job.

Per the scoreboard…if anyone has game details it would be appreciated.

Mason Ginn is back but still getting his legs under him from missing 4 weeks with a fractured toe. Clark Peterson played sparing minutes from his leg injury that he was cleared from on Tuesday. Should be a good game @FrankNicodemus…I might just have to make the trip to check it out.

Well…I’d say this was disappointing, but I was impressed with Beechwood. The Cougars had a very good chance to score in the first half off a crossed ball by Noble to the box that found the foot of Golikia Masoluka but his shot goes wide left from 7yards out. This scoring threat seemed to wake up the Tigers and they began to go on the hunt for a goal. The Tigers score off a set play and begin to celebrate, but the AR on the bleacher side calls over the center ref, have a discussion and the ref signals indirect direct kick for the Cougars…no goal. Second half the Cougars came out on the attack and seemed to be passing the ball better, but just never seemed to be able to break the back line of the Tigers for good looks on goal. The Cougar defense put themselves in some bad positions with silly fouls inside the 30 yard line, but the Tigers were not able to take advantage of the good field positioning to get a goal. As the half continued the Tigers seemed to press more and kept the attack on the Cougar backline. Conner had their best chance to score off a shot by Swaney from 40 yards out, the Tiger keeper was high on his line and had to back peddle and made a nice one handed hit on the ball which was just enough to push the ball out of danger and avoid the goal. The Tigers were in the box pressing late in the second half, a ball bounces to an open attacking Tiger who takes a great shot through the crowd and Trey Wagner is somehow able to see it, get on the ground for the save and secure the shutout and the tie for the Cougars. Again, I was impressed with Beechwood and their discipline on defense, they did not foul in bad areas and kept the Cougar attack in check. Beechwood has good size and as the season progresses I see them improving. The Cougars need to figure out how to get the ball in better attacking areas and find the back of the net.

The Colonels come into Hebron and leave with the win. Covington Catholic played a well-controlled game and took advantage of the Cougars mistakes and lack of control this game. The Colonels score in the first half off a nice set piece from around the 25-yard line to take a 1-0 lead. Conner had a hard time generating possession and getting clean shots on the goal. Cov Cath had a couple of other opportunities in the second half, one in particular with a 2 v 1 on the Conner defender but the attacking player pushes the ball wide right. Conner's two center backs did a nice job shutting down opportunities, but the offense struggled and never had any clean shots on goal. The opportunities for Conner to score came off free kicks and long balls from the back.

As the 2024 season kicks off on Monday here are the games in week 1 of Northern Kentucky: Monday Calvary Christian @ Campbell County Tuesday Beechwood @ Walton Verona Bishop Brossart @ Grant County Boone County @ St. Henry Covington Catholic @ Conner - Game of the Day. The Colonels visit the Cougars who will be looking for a statement win early in the season. Dixie Heights @ Ryle - 2nd choice for Game of the Day. Can the Red Colonels get a surprise win in Union verses the depleted Raiders who are missing their All-State striker and their All-Region center back? Holmes @ Williamstown Holy Cross (Covington) @ Villa Madonna Pendleton County @ Sayre Simon Kenton @ Newport Central Catholic Wednesday Paris @ Campbell County Pendleton County @ Covington Latin Thursday Bishop Brossart @ Dixie Heights - Game of the Day. The Mustangs impressed me at Soccerama with their play. Dixie will have their hands full with this one in my opinion. Can the Colonels wrangle the Mustangs and get a win? Bourbon County @ Holmes Campbell County @ Newport Central Catholic Conner @ Beechwood Grant County @ Holy Cross (Covington) Scott @ Paris South Oldham @ Covington Catholic St. Henry @ Cooper Villa Madonna @ Boone County Walton Verona @ Calvery Christian Williamstown @ Simon Kenton Friday Dixie Heights @ Fredrick Douglas - The Colonels had a full week in week 1! Ryle @ Paul Lawrence Dunbar - Friday night lights for the Raiders as they visit the Bulldogs in what should be a good Game of the Day. Saturday Bishop Brossart @ St. Henry Boone County @ Newport Central Catholic Dixie Heights @ Bryan Station - This will be the 4th game of the week for the Red Colonels...they will have played a fourth of their scheduled games after week 1, crazy! Cooper @ Boyle County Covington Latin @ Owen County Highlands @ Beechwood - Game of the Day. This game is intriguing to me as I feel the Tigers could maybe surprise the Bluebirds. Going back to 2015 the Tigers have not beaten the Bluebirds. @FrankNicodemus I know you won't agree with the outcome on this one with me...this may be more of me not wanting to eat the cake...lol Pendleton County @ Scott Ryle @ Tates Creek Sayre @ Walton Verona Trinity (Lousiville) @ Covington Catholic Villa Madonna @ Mason County Reminder to not post results or comments about completed games on this thread, completed games need to have their own thread. Feel free to comment though about predictions for each match or players to watch. Thanks

Here is the brackets for this year’s JV tournament. If I remember correctly Simon Kenton won last year. All games are at Town & Country I really wish the coaches association could figure out how to find a better venue, these fields are to small for JV level players and the turf at T&C is poor quality.

Here is the bracket for this years tournament. Ryle is defending back to back champions. Can someone come in this year and take the crown from Ryle?

Here is the bracket for this years tournament. Ryle is defending back to back champions. Can someone come in this year and take the crown from Ryle? All games are played at Town & Country

Final match results: Highlands 3 Dixie 2. @FrankNicodemus not sure if you have any further insights for us. I wasn’t able to attend but I am interested in play of the game.

Saturday results: Villa Madonna 1 Holy Cross 1 Carroll County 3 Pendleton County 2 Scott 7 Walton 0 St. Henry 5 Grant County 0 Campbell County 2 SK 1 Connner 2 Bishop Brossart 2 I’ll give the recap for the Conner game. Just a little background…these programs for some odd reason really don’t like each other. Brossart scores first off a cross from the right side for an easy finish on the far post. Conner immediately comes back with a ball to Grady Noble who beats the defense and somehow gets one past the keeper on a very difficult angle. Nobel scores again on a breakaway with “a lazer of a shot” (quote from the young announcer up in the booth). Brossart player receives a red card (1st half) from a double yellow so the Mustangs have to play the remainder of the game down a player. Both Conner and Brossart played hard which was good to see and Brossart get the tying goal off a free kick from the 20 yard line with less than 3 minutes left in regulation . Arguably, the best shot of Soccerama came from Bishop Brossart. Reminder that Dixie Heights and Highlands play Monday.

Beechwood 2 Boone Co 0…didn’t see this game so can’t give you any insights. Ryle 5 Cov Cath 1….the best soccer programs over the last few years put on the biggest disappointing game of the day. Cov Cath sits their Varsity players the whole game (except for the keeper) and play what looked to be JV/Freshman players. I get not wanting to have injuries, but geez….play your guys at least 20 minutes. Ryle looked like they mixed in some starters with reserves and then played mostly JV players for the game. Not worth the $5 admission for the night cap game.

Looks like the weather impacted the games for Thursday... Cooper 0 NCC 0 game called at half is my understanding. Highlands/Dixie moved to Monday. We'll see how Friday goes...Boone vs Beechwood and the game of the week Cov Cath vs Ryle.

Conner will have a number of players out with injuries…it has been a rough July for the Cougars. Mason Ginn is still out, Clark Peterson out, Owen Swaney is out for this weekend is my understanding, and senior Golikia Masoluka is out. I see Coach Walker playing a mixture of players to see who can help off the bench. I’m just hoping Conner comes out with no more injuries after this one

The game times have been changed for tonight. First game starts at 5:30 and the second game has now been moved up to 7:15.

Conner had the following results: Daviess County 5 Conner 1 Coach Walker went deep to the bench and played the reserves most of the 2nd half. Conner was also missing one of their defensive leaders Mason Ginn who missed the entire weekend nursing an injury. GRC 2 Conner 1 Conner played better and Coach Walker shortened the bench. GRC got a gimmie off a misplay by the Conner keeper and scored the winner off a corner. Conner 2 Lafayette 1 Short bench and the Cougars were locked in. Trey Wagner played the whole game and had a number of good saves to secure the win for the Cougars. Brayden Thornton scores a PK and senior G Masoluka scores the go ahead goal. In my opinion the coaching staff got to see some of the options they will have this year off the bench. I think the Lafayette game will help the coaching staff mold the identity of this team moving forward. Next up for the Cougars will be Soccerama vs Bishop Brossart.

Evan Dennison reporting on X that Brice Denigan is not playing this year. This is major news out of Union.

Boone County is going to surprise teams. They took Ryle to the very end last year and had a bunch of young players who got a lot of varsity minutes. I could be wrong...but they are my choice for the "Didn't see that coming" team this year.

This is from Kentucky High School Soccer (@KYHS_S) off X. Couple of Northern Kentucky names on here.

As the high school season is set to begin, I thought I would take a shot at looking at each team and who some of the top players are for each. FYI, the records shown are against NKY competition only. I know these are not the actual records for the last year. Beechwood (5-6-2) 35th District The Tigers had one of the biggest junior classes for the 2023 and can possible return 11 of them for the 2024 season. Beechwood has their leading scorer return in Breadon Trejo who had 13 goals for the season. The month of August may be a look into how the season will go for the Tigers as they play Conner, Highlands, Cov Cath, and Lafayette. Could this be the year the Tigers make it back to the regionals? Boone County (5-9-1) 33rd District The Rebels will be returning on of the best mid-fielders in the 9th Region (in my opinion) ...Parker Byland. Boone County also has a large junior class and can return up to 11 players for the 2024 season. This is the group will now be going into their 2nd year with Coach Trenkamp and I'm going to suggest that they have a winning record this year and will be a tough out in the tough 33rd District. Conner (7-4-1) 33rd District I've already given my thoughts on Conner in one of my other threads...but this could be a special year for the Cougars. Conner returns 6 starters from last year's team and in my homer opinion...will have one of the best defenses in the 9th Region. Conner will be looking to advance out of the tough 33rd District and look to play deep into October. Cooper (4-5-3) 33rd District Cooper enter the year under the reigns of first year coach Dennis Wainscott. The Jaguars return Mattox Pembeerton (11 goals) and Liam Haswell to anchor the defense. Cooper will be a tough team to beat and will battle to advance out of the 33rd District. Covington Catholic (7-1-2) 35th District I don't see Cov Cath having any problems in the 35th. They return Auggie Eilerman who allowed 0.8 goals per game. The Colonels will also have their 3 year starter in Andrew Roland back. Jack Fleck returns to pace the offense with his 11 goals from last year. Cov Cath will be looking to return to the mountain top in the 9th Region. Dixie Heights (5-4-1) 34th District Trevor Bolte will be asked to do a lot for the Red Colonels this year. Dixie had one of the better sophomore classes that now will be juniors and will be looking to grow as a team in preparation for a run in the 9th Region tournament. Dixie shouldn't have any problems getting out of the 34th District. Highlands (8-3-1) 36th District The Bluebirds will look to re-load for 2024. Harrison Gamble (15 goals) will lead the offense as the Bluebirds look for a new defensive leader as Adarsh Khullar is no longer there to anchor the defense. As the new state of the art facility is being worked on, the Bluebirds will play at NKU for their home games. The Bluebirds will of course make it to the regions as the 36th only has two teams (which is absurd in my opinion). Holmes (2-8-0) 35th District The Bulldogs will scrap and fight for wins in 2024. I don't see the Bulldogs making a lot of noise in the 35th. Holy Cross (7-7-1) The Indians will be looking on ways to score with Nico Voight taking his 28 goals scored with him in graduation. The Indians will be looking to battle for the runner-up position in the 35th. Newport Central Catholic (12-3-0) The 9th Region runner-up from 2023 will look for ways to replace the 10 Seniors who graduated last year and the man in the box Mason McCloskey who allowed 0.5 goals per game. I might be going out on a limb here...but I see the Thoroughbreds stumbling this year from their derby run of 2023. Ryle (11-0-0) 33rd District The back-to-back 9th Region champions will look to remain on the top of the mountain. Ryle lost some special players from last year but they return Bryce Denigan who paced the offense with 25 goals. Chris Maraduaga will anchor the defense as the Raiders look for a new man in the box to replace Landon Barth. With the numbers Ryle has and the Freshman class who will now be sophomores...the Raiders will be looking forward to October. St. Henry (2-10-0) 34th District The Crusaders will look to improve in the win column for 2024. I didn't get a chance to see them play last year so I'm not sure of players to watch for them (sorry). Villa Madonna (1-6-1) 34th District The Vikings return Ivan Potapenko...if Ivan played for a bigger school more people would know about him. Villa Madonna will again battle St. Henry for the runner-up position in the 34th District. All in all, I feel the region has 4 teams who can win it this year. Ryle should be ranked #1 in the region until someone knocks them off their perch. Cov Cath will be tough as always, Dixie will be there, and I believe Conner will battle for it also. Here is my bias opinion for ranking the 2024 pre-season. 1. Ryle 2. Covington Catholic 3. Conner 4. Dixie Heights 5. Boone County 6. Highlands 7. Cooper 8. Beechwood 9. St. Henry 10. Newport Central Catholic 11. Holy Cross 12. Villa Madonna 13. Holmes

Here are all three divisions of the 2024 Boys Bluegrass State Games. NKY has 6 teams in Boys Varsity A, 6 teams in Boys Varsity B, and 6 teams in Boys Varsity C.

Conner is going down to Bluegrass.

I knew you’d come through with the goods Frank! Thanks for posting. Now we can start looking at games and maybe get some discussion going about the 2024 season that is approaching quickly.

Ryle “With a spirit that will not die”.

We are about 75 days away from the start of the 2024 season. Looking at the Conner Cougars this year, it could be a special season for the Cougars. Returning starters: Seniors Trey Wagner - most experienced returning varsity player and will be the man in the box. Wagner will be the #1 keeper going into the season for the Cougars and will be looking to solidify himself as one of the best in Region 9. Brayden Thornton - the scrappy holding midfielder will be looking to continue his raise as a player to watch in Region 9. Thornton will play aggressive and hard for 90 minutes and if asked would do another 90 if needed. The motor on this young man last longer than the Energizer Bunny! Juniors Grady Noble - had a solid sophomore season but is stronger and faster than last year. Noble finds ways to score and has had a really nice club season leading his club in goals scored. Kellen Faulkner - returning center back who has speed and understands the game. Faulkner will be a defensive player to watch in Region 9. Mason Ginn - the other center back for the Cougars. Ginn has good vision of the field, can attack, pass, and control the ball. Will be asked to be the leader of the defense. Sophomore Dallas Marshall - the young attacking midfielder has gained strength and speed. Good control of the ball and is able to find players in scoring position with his passes. Dallas could be a key contributor to the Cougars attack. Other players to watch: Senior - Owen Mayhew….I believe his game will take a lot of teams by surprise. Not much is known about him but by the end of the year I think a lot of teams will know who he is. Junior - Benji Araujo….saw varsity minutes as a freshman and sophomore, look for him to be an attacking outside back. Junior - Owen Swaney….physical fast midfielder who will be asked to help secure the midfield. Junior - Clark Peterson….attacking winger with good speed and can score goals. Junior - Beckham Mullins…keeper who has had a great club season and should see varsity minutes and will be pushing Wagner for minutes. Junior - Colin Davey….outside back who is a solid defender who can move up on the attack and score with both feet. Junior - Brayden Cranfield….has been working on his game. Ask any JV coach from the 2023 season about Cranfield and they will tell you he will surprise you with his game. The 33rd District will be another grind this year. All 4 teams have the ability to be top 5 all year long. A look at the schedule for the Cougars. (subject to change) July 19-20….KY Bluegrass Games Aug 3 at Soccerama vs Bishop Brossart Aug 13 vs Cov Cath Aug 15 vs Beechwood Aug 20 vs Highlands Aug 22 vs GRC Aug 24 vs Scott Aug 27 vs Simon Kenton Aug 29 vs Ryle (District 33 game) Aug 31 vs LaSalle (OH) Sep 3 vs Lawrenceburg (IN) Sep 5 vs NCC Sep 10 vs Boone Co. (District 33 game) Sep 12 vs Bishop Brossart Sep 14 vs Campbell Co Sep 17 vs Holy Cross (Covington) Sep 19 vs Cooper (District 33 game) Sep 21 at Bruin Classic Sep 26 vs Dixie Heights Sep 28 vs Christian Academy of Louisville Oct 1 vs St Henry Oct 3 vs Grant Co