Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
A rivalry
game is probably what these two teams needed coming off losses Friday.
The Newport
Central Catholic Thoroughbreds and Campbell County Camels meet for the 38th
time in Alexandria in a battle of 1-1 squads. NewCath lost to Cooper, 31-22 in
the Skyline Crosstown Showdown and Campbell County lost at Highlands, 50-8.
The
Thoroughbreds lead the all-time series, 26-11, but would love to quickly put
away the tough memories from last year’s 42-16 defeat in what turned out to be
their worst loss of the season. Campbell County quarterback Tyler Durham ran
roughshod on the banged-up Thoroughbreds to the tune of 219 yards on 18 carries
with two touchdowns against a NewCath defense missing injured linebackers Brady
Thacker and Jack Sutkamp.
That loss
turned out to be the second of three straight defeats. But NewCath rebounded to
win their fifth state championship while Campbell County won the Class 6A,
District 6 championship for the second straight year before losing 29-21 to
Simon Kenton in the second round of the playoffs.
Durham
graduated. But new Camel quarterback Avery Wood has shown some promise in
Campbell County’s spread offense. Wood has rushed for 94 yards on 20 carries
for an average of 4.7 touch and completed 23-of-49 passes for 240 yards and a
touchdown. Camel County has rushed for 545 yards and passed for 350 and have
allowed 381 yards rushing and 473 passing.
“We have to play tough, responsibility defense,” said Dan Wagner, NewCath head coach. “You can’t try to do too much and take care
of your job. This is why we play these teams. It’s the only way we’re going to
get better.”
Wood’s top
targets have been Nate Hess and Jake Zabonick. Hess has 10 catches for 131
yards and a touchdown with Zabonick grabbing eight balls for 73 yards. Wood
completed a lot of short five to 10-yard passes to Zabonick near the sidelines
against Highlands.
Alex Howard
leads Campbell County in the rushing department. Howard has 140 yards rushing
on 25 carries with two touchdowns for an average of 5.6 yards per touch.
“We spent a lot of time Saturday with our kids
reviewing the film and learning from the mistakes we made,” said Stephen Lickert, Campbell County head coach of
the Highlands game. “Our kids are
intently focused on correcting our mistakes. Our kids are used to having short
memories and not dwelling on the past.”
The
Thoroughbred 4-4 defense knows it needs to tighten up against the run as teams
have rushed for 498 yards against them. Ashland’s Quentin Baker ran for 236
yards and Cooper’s Avery Bricking ran for 125.
The
Thoroughbreds are rotating in a lot of players on the defensive line. But there
is some youth and inexperience on the defensive side for NewCath. Opponents
have passed for 261 yards against the Thoroughbreds.
“We just need to make plays,” Wagner said. “We’re
missing tackles. Kids come through unblocked and we don’t make the play. We’ll
go back to working hard containing and tackling. We have a lot of work to do
defensively.”
Sutkamp
leads NewCath with 32 tackles defensively and Stephen Brooks ranks second with
20. Kole Zenni and Brandon Gray have recovered two fumbles each for NewCath.
The
Thoroughbreds have run the ball for 378 yards and passed for 191 yards
offensively. Quarterback Mac Franzen and running back Jacob Smith lead the way
with 137 and 102 yards rushing respectively. Franzen found a lot of real estate
against Ashland in the middle of the field.
“Franzen is an impressive athlete who can beat you
with his arm and his legs,” Lickert
said. “We must be very disciplined in
doing our jobs and making sure we contain him.”
Franzen has
completed 11-of-22 passes for 191 yards. Tommy Donnelly, Smith and Michael
Runyon have three catches each for 75, 52 and 36 yards respectively.
Campbell
County showed some vulnerabilities defensively in its 3-3 stack defense against
Highlands. The Bluebirds gashed the Camels for 399 yards of total offense,
including 318 through the air.
Senior
defensive lineman Patrick Berkemeyer leads the Camel defense. He recorded the
lone sack for Campbell County in the loss at Highlands.
The Camels
have a new home stadium this year by the high school just outside of
Alexandria. Last year’s game took place at the Pyramid at the Campbell County
Middle School. Game time is 7 p.m.
Meek not on Roster:
Would-be
senior defensive lineman Ross Meek did not return this year for the
Thoroughbreds. Meek finished second on the team last year with 103 tackles.
Wagner did
not elaborate on the situation. He just pointed out that Meek is no longer with
the team, but pretty much everyone else returned.
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