NKyTribune
Northern Kentucky's Newspaper
By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Northern Kentucky will have seven high school football teams playing in region title games on Friday and three of them will be facing the same opponent as last season.
The rematches include Newport Central Catholic at Campbellsville in Class 1A, Martin County at Beechwood in Class 2A and Pulaski Southwestern at Cooper in Class 5A. Last year, NewCath’s season ended in the region final while Cooper and Beechwood advanced to state semifinals.
“The kids are excited and we’re excited,” NewCath head coach Stephen Lickert said of returning to Campbellsville after last year’s 28-23 loss. “We’re excited to get an opportunity to kind of redeem ourselves a year later, a year stronger, a year older and a year better.”
In the current Class 1A RPI rankings, Campbellsville (10-2) is No. 3 and NewCath (9-3) is No. 5. So the Thoroughbreds need to pull off an upset to make Friday’s three-hour road trip worthwhile and reach the final four in the playoff bracket.
Campbellsville won its first eight games before losing close ones to Kentucky Country Day (20-18) and Hart County (21-14) in the final two weeks of the regular season. The Eagles got back on track by winning their first two playoff games by large margins.
Junior quarterback Kace Eastridge has played a major role in Campbellsville’s success once again this season. In addition to passing for 1,761 yards and 15 touchdowns, he leads the Eagles in rushing with 1,108 yards and scoring with 128 points (18 touchdowns, 10 two-point conversions).
NewCath’s defense wasn’t able to contain Eastridge during last year’s game. He completed 12 of 21 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns to offset two interceptions. He also rushed for 90 yards and scored a touchdown.
“He’s a stud,” Lickert said of Eastridge. “We have a little better idea of what he’s all about and we have to limit his possessions. If he gets the ball near the end of the game and down six, he’s going to lead them down the field to score. We’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
The Thoroughbreds got 200 of their 270 yards on the ground against Campbellsville last year. Rushing became the team’s main weapon after a season-ending injury to senior quarterback Kolton Smith in the seventh game.
Smith’s replacement has done quite well this season. In his first 12 games as a varsity starter, NewCath junior Emmanuel Miles has passed for 1,329 yards and 19 touchdowns. That has kept opponents from loading the box against the run and enabled the Thoroughbreds to average 175 rushing yards per game.
“We do have far more balance,” Lickert said. “We were able to run the ball on (Campbellsville) last year, but at some point they were able to stop the run and we weren’t able to execute our passing game well enough to keep them honest.”
The workhorse in NewCath’s backfield is senior Kaleb Cole with 121 carries for 965 yards and 22 touchdowns. Eddie Blevins and Louie Collopy have combined totals of 85 carries, 804 yards and 13 TDs. Cole is also the team-leader in tackles with 74 and he has returned two interceptions for touchdowns.
“We do feel like we’re in better shape offensively this year and we’re older on defense, truthfully.” Lickert said. “We’re just a much older, more mature team. Our guys understand what we’re getting ourselves into and where we’re going and everything. Last year, it was all new to them because we’d never been to Campbellsville before.”
A livestream broadcast of the NewCath at Campbellsville playoff game will be available at wtcoradio.com, according to the Eagles’ website.
CLASS 1A
Newport (9-2) at Kentucky Country Day (9-2), 7 p.m.
Newport Central Catholic (9-3) at Campbellsville (10-2), 7 p.m.
CLASS 2A
Martin County (9-3) at Beechwood (11-1), 7 p.m.
CLASS 4A
Covington Catholic (10-2) at Boyle County (12-0), 7 p.m.
CLASS 5A
Pulaski Southwestern (7-5) at Cooper (12-0), 7 p.m.
Pulaski County (8-4) at Highlands (10-2), 7 p.m.
CLASS 6A
Central Hardin (4-8) at Ryle (12-2), 7 p.m.
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