CCHFC

The 2 major concerns for Cov Cath here are: Shaky special teams - we're constantly giving up points on PATs, giving up long returns and our top 2 returners are injured (Mac Cogswell - out and Brandon Smith - looks like he's playing at maybe 60%) so we don't even have juice in the return game. Run defense away from Jonny Lind. Jonny is a stud, but Beechwood abused running away from him and it probably won't be better against Highlands.

Not sure if there were/will be eligibility issues with his transfer, but Moe's sophomore QB is big time. Edit: I watched his St. X stuff and this looks like a future NFLer. The ball pops, but still looks skinny with a 6'3 frame to fill out and add more velo. Also a good athlete, but doesn't rely on it and gets through progressions in his first start against a Specht defense. Geez. HudlSt. Xavier High SchoolSt. Xavier High School

17 TDs for Kiyan Miller in his first 6 games as a sophomore is pretty incredible.

That's a massive blow for their title hopes. That guy is a major issue for high school secondaries.

Getting cooked on defense by Elder and Beechwood is going to happen to almost every team. Tyler Fryman and Nathan Pabst touching the ball almost 50 times is a better combo than maybe anyone in the state plus you add an ACC QB to the mix distributing it. That's a big problem unless the OL is overwhelmed and committing a bunch of penalties, which Beechwood was not and did not do. Kaden Estep plus a huge OL plus a G6 receiver at Elder is going to score over 30 on everyone they play as long as the weather cooperates. They're number 1 in Ohio for a reason. We'll see how it looks vs Highlands and Cathedral, but I think it's more of elite local talent carving them up than the unit being bad.

I also think that the QB play plus coach is good enough to make it work with just about whoever is out there playing WR. Brandon Smith looks like he's at maybe 60% with his knee injury, the other top WR is out - Mac Cogswell, one of your really good TEs is out - Spencer Clukey, the other is too inconsistent right now and I still think CCH is going to put up a lot of points on just about every team they play.

Hate to see injuries - Spencer Clukey got rolled up on pretty bad in the endzone vs Beechwood - but this opens up some opportunity for a couple really good sophomores. Parker Payne on defense as a nickel/sam - was right there on mph with Jamir Kirtley this summer and was all over the field for the freshman team last year on defense. Carson Grainger on offense as a TE - really smooth big bodied pass catcher.

What do Pabst's college prospects look like?

- Congrats to Emmett Queen, Coach Rash and the rest of Beechwood team and fans. - I thought the BW offensive staff did a great job picking at a scab in the run game. Anything towards Jonny Lind did not go well, but they gashed running away from him. Tough combo dealing with that Queen being pretty efficient underneath throwing the ball. - For as fast as Tyler Fryman and Nathan Pabst are, I love the way they finish runs. Sticking their shoulder through the defenders chest and pumping their legs generates extra yards per carry. Fryman in the wildcat in short yardage is a cheat code. - I thought Dylan Courtney was exceptional and deserved better from his receivers. He had some absolute lasers today and his creation ability was outstanding. - It was talked about in other threads, but I felt the lack of depth for Cov Cath started to show when a few starters went out.

Right I should have worded my first post better. The team next year should be outstanding plus is getting bumped up to 5A. While it will still be hard, I think I'd rather have to beat Scott Co/ BG/Owensboro/Franklin Co. than Boyle/CAL/Highlands/Corbin. Even in 28 as long as they can pull 2-3 contributors out of the current freshman class and find a QB (Maybe current sophomore Charlie Hull waiting his turn to be a quality 1 year starter), the team will be very good.

The freshman team in 2025. Current sophomores.

The freshman Colonels were in the championship last year while their best player was busy making 50+ tackles and forcing multiple turnovers on varsity. I think the current sophomore group is very good with a bunch of future college players. If the class next year is bad, then I'd start to worry.

Top of my head six guys start both ways for CCH, including WR/S Brandon Smith who may still be injured, so that would drop it to five if he's out. A few others rotate in both sides. While Cov Cath is not a big enough school to two platoon, getting more guys involved would certainly help with numbers. To use a basketball term, I felt like the rotation was really tight last year and a few talented players didn't see much time -ex. WR/DB Mac Cogswell, TE/LB Spencer Clukey, WR/DB Jason Fedor. All three of these guys have had some really good production this year. Not using Clukey in particular vs Boyle County in the playoffs was mind-blowing. We had some 155 pound senior DB getting bulldozed trying to set the edge vs legit talent while an athletic 6'4 230 pounder is on the sideline. A good way to give up 500 yards rushing and lose.

I agree. Clay Hayden is sub 6 foot and kindly a below average athlete and still would up at a really good D2 program - AKA he was a total high school stud.

I have been so impressed by Kiyan Miller. For a 200+ pound sophomore back, he has really good feet and good hands to help out in the passing game too.

I think these guys are looking at another 10-0 regular season. Maybe Moeller can get them, but I think that is unlikely.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Emmett and Fryman play and Beechwood should have a good chance in 2A this year. Having said that, I think Cov Cath wins by a few scores. Too big and physical upfront and at the TE/LB/RB spots.

When none of the big public schools are up, it gets bleak pretty quickly in nky. CCH/Highlands is a coin toss for 1/2. Both of them are probably 2-4 scores better than Beechwood. BW has at least early 3rd qtr running clocks on everyone else.

Hey @Colonels_Wear_Blue do you know what the unofficial single season sack record is for the good guys? It's not listed on the Cov Cath website but I think Jonny Lind is going to make a run at that this year.

Accidentally calling 3x1 stick into the boundary with a field vertical vs off coverage the first play of the game last week was certainly not inspiring.

Also - whenever we can get Dylan Courtney to play on time in structure, the offense is going to put up a lot of points vs. everyone. Maybe it happens this year, or maybe it's in 27, but his out of structure play is outstanding. Even against teams like Elder, athletically he stands out.

SK isn't good, but really nice to see Jamir Kirtley coming on. He's going to be a dynamite player his junior and senior year. Brandon Smith had a knee sleeve on last night on the sideline and didn't play. Hopefully something minor and he's back by Highlands in October. Cathedral by Cincy St. X last night, so that will be some big time competition later in the season as well. I think X is down but that's still a big win. We'll need everyone ready to go for that one.

I believe they were winless in the 8th grade league last year. That is very hard to do since Cov Cath draws from a bunch of different schools while playing only one specific grade school or maybe a combined team. Even down years for Cov Cath they're around 500. Years where they are up they're competing to win the league.

I try not to care about rankings but Ryle above Cov Cath is certainly a bold call! For the non-followers, the Colonels won the game between the two by 44 points two weeks ago.

Is Brandon Smith expected to miss much time? Likely not beating Highlands or Cathedral without him.