By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
The Newport
Central Catholic Thoroughbreds football team would love for nothing more than
to pick up a win or two these next two weeks, especially before district play
begins.
The
Thoroughbreds (1-2) felt like one got away in Friday’s 21-20 loss at Campbell
County. They missed an extra-point attempt with less than four minutes left in
the loss.
But they
are in for a huge challenge in Independence on Friday against the Simon Kenton
Pioneers at 7 p.m. This marks the second of three consecutive games against
teams from Class 6A, District 6 of Northern Kentucky. NewCath Head Coach Dan
Wagner has continued the tradition of facing bigger schools before district
play begins.
“That means a lot to us,” Wagner said. “The
Cooper game (a 31-22 loss in the second game of the year) is a perfect example.
We know it was a game we were in position to win, but we kind of let it get
away. We learned some things about ourselves that we would not get from a
blowout win.”
Simon
Kenton enters the game undefeated just like last year’s contest. The Pioneers
opened the year with wins over 2012 Class 4A runner-up Collins (23-21),
Covington Holy Cross (48-0) and Conner (42-35).
Simone
Kenton escaped Newport with a 28-20 win in last year’s game. NewCath drove
inside the Pioneer 20 in the game’s final minutes but lost a fumble allowing on
the potential game-tying drive.
Simon
Kenton comes into the game with a depth advantage. The Pioneers do not play
guys on both offense and defense.
“This allows us to play fast,” said Jeff Marksberry, Simon Kenton Head Coach. “We are able to sub people in and keep
people fresh. We have been able to get opponents tired.”
The
Thoroughbreds know they must tighten things up defensively against the Pioneer
Spread offense led by three-year, dual-threat starting senior quarterback
Brenan Kuntz. Kuntz has completed 35-of-46 passes for 439 yards, four
touchdowns and one interception and rushed for 256 yards on 36 carries and two
touchdowns. Kuntz completed 17-of-30 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns
in the win last year.
Kuntz likes
to fake or hand the ball off to Dillion Powell in the read option behind a big offensive
line. Powell has 45 rushes for 250 yards and five touchdowns. Grant Wassom
leads all Pioneer receivers with 13 catches for 183 yards and three touchdowns
and Logan Winkler has 10 catches for 101 yards.
“We are working on responsibility football,” Wagner said. “If
we do our job and get in the right spots, we will take our chances of slowing
him down a little. We have to keep working hard and pay attention to the little
things.”
Defensively,
three individuals have rushed for more than 100 yards against NewCath. Campbell
County quarterback Avery Wood carried the ball 32 times for 154 yards and three
touchdowns.
“We have a lot of fast guys on the (defensive) line so
we should be able to keep (Kuntz) contained,” said Tyler Lyon, NewCath senior tight end/defensive end. “Campbell County kept running the
quarterback up the middle so we have something to fix there. That’s what killed
us. They definitely controlled the clock.”
Opponents
have scored 78 points against the Thoroughbreds and put up 1085 yards of total
offense. That includes 738 on the ground.
The
Thoroughbreds will face a Pioneer 3-4 or 3-5 defensive scheme. Conner
quarterback and University of Kentucky commit Drew Barker had success against
the Pioneers last week completing 27-of-44 passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns.
The Pioneers have put up 1,077 yards of total offense and allowed 809. That
includes 539 passing yards.
Junior
linebackers Chris Hicks and Barry Deaton lead the Pioneer defense with 25 and
20 tackles respectively. Simon Kenton has recovered two fumbles and intercepted
one pass defensively.
NewCath’s
Spread offense is led by quarterback Mac Franzen. Franzen has completed
25-of-41 passes for 335 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 152 yards on
46 carries. Sophomore Jacob Smith along with seniors Kalvin Moore and Jack
Sutkamp have shared the load in the backfield this year. Moore and Sutkamp also
lead the NewCath defense.
“Those three guys (Franzen, Smith, Sutkamp) are great
runners,” Marksberry said. “We have to make solid tackles against
them.”
NewCath
leads the all-time series against the Pioneers, 10-3. The Thoroughbreds won the
2011 meeting, 24-14.
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