By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
BOWLING
GREEN – Neither team deserved less than a gold trophy after this
edge-of-your-seat Kentucky Class 2A football state championship game.
The Newport
Central Catholic Thoroughbreds found themselves on the short end of all three
games decided by eight points or fewer during the regular season. But they came
through with a 30-26 victory over the Caldwell County Tigers on Saturday at
Western Kentucky University’s Houchens/L.T. Smith Stadium.
The
Thoroughbreds (11-4) scored the game-winning touchdown with 26 seconds left.
Quarterback Josh Cain faked a dive to Dylan Hayes, dropped back a few steps and
threw a 4-yard score to a wide-open Tyler Lyon in the middle of the end zone.
Cain then tried to score the two-point conversion on a draw, but Caldwell
County (11-4) stopped him.
“It’s not one person that wins the game. But if I drop
that, what do we do right now,” Lyon
said. “They have certain guys they’re
keying on. If you get someone they’re not paying attention to, you can sneak by
them.”
The NewCath
defense still had to hold off the Tigers to end the game. Caldwell County
quarterback Elijah Sindelar completed a 30-yard pass to Martez Sivels to midfield
after Sivels returned the kickoff to the Tiger 25 and the Tigers received a
delay-of-game penalty. After Sindelar spiked the ball, he dropped back to pass.
But NewCath linebacker Jack Sutkamp sacked him at the Tiger 35 and time
expired.
This marked
the second state championship for the Thoroughbreds in three seasons under head
coach Eddie Eviston. NewCath improved to 35-8 in those three seasons.
“Caldwell County is a young team,” Eviston said. “I
give them a lot of credit. They took it to us. It was great to see our kids
fight through all that adversity. They were hungry. This game sums up our
season.”
NewCath
overcame a 1-3 start to win the state championship. The Thoroughbreds own 12
double-digit win seasons since 2000.
This game
was almost as even as it could be. Both teams ran 66 offensive plays averaging
about 6.1 a play. NewCath outgained Caldwell County, 405-404 in total offense.
The Thoroughbreds rushed for 162 and passed for 243 and the Tigers ran for 146
and passed for 258.
Hayes again
led all rushers with 27 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns for an average
of 3.9 a carry. Cain completed 14-of-23 passes for 243 yards, two touchdowns
and two interceptions. Thoroughbred wide receiver Mac Franzen finished with
four catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.
The
Thoroughbreds wanted to contain the Tigers’ offensive leaders. They held Jaylen
Boyd to 92 yards rushing on 21 carries for an average of 4.4 yards a carry.
But
Sindelar completed 21-of-29 passes for 258 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Sivels finished with 10 catches for 123 yards and a score.
The
Thoroughbreds attempted to convert six on fourth down in the contest because
their defense struggled. They made it 3-of-6 times and 6-of-13 on third down.
The Tigers made 1-of-3 on fourth down and 3-of-9 on third.
The one
failure on fourth down gave Caldwell County the ball at the NewCath 15 after
the Thoroughbreds failed to convert a 4th-and-1 run. But the Tigers earned just
a Brett Seymore 24-yard field goal to take a 23-21 lead with 1:40 left in the third.
“I’m an idiot there,” Eviston joked. “We
figured we’d try to sneak one and it didn’t work. Fortunately, the defense held
them to three. Our kids kept fighting.”
NewCath
took the lead back when Nathan Grosser made a 24-yard field goal with 6:50 left
in the final stanza. But Caldwell County drove down the field and took the lead
on a Seymore 19-yard field goal with 2:30 left in the game. But before the
field goal on 3rd-and-goal from the Thoroughbred 2, Boyd tried to dive into the
end zone and Sutkamp and Ross Meek met him in the air for no gain.
“I had to watch wherever (Boyd) went,” Sutkamp said. “I
realize now that was probably a bigger play than (the game-ending sack). You
have to run straight, read your guards and fill (the space).”
NewCath
then received the ball at its own 40 after Seymore kicked the ball out of
bounds. Two plays later, Cain threw a nice pass to Franzen for a 54-yard gain
to the Caldwell County 4.
“Before the play, (Franzen) said he’d run a deep post
and go as far as he could,” Cain
said. “I looked and saw he was open so I
chucked it downfield. It wasn’t supposed to be a long play. I thought someone
was going to come knock it down. I didn’t think he was going to catch it.”
The
Thoroughbreds ran two running plays before Cain threw the game-winner to Lyon.
NewCath did not score a touchdown in the second half until that point.
NewCath did
sack Sindelar three times. Sutkamp and Lyon had one each with Quinn Anost and
Elliott Rust combining for the other. Noah Freppon and Dan Ruwe recorded
interceptions in the second half in Thoroughbred terriory. Ruwe’s pick came at
the NewCath 6 in the third and Freppon’s came at the NewCath 21.
“I was waiting on (balls) the whole game,” Ruwe said. “Thankfully
when I got my chance, I capitalized. The coaches drew up some good defensive
schemes and we ended up pulling it out.”
The
Thoroughbred defense also came up huge in the first quarter. NewCath fumbled
the ball to Caldwell County at its 22. But on 4th-and-14, Boyd ran to the left
sideline before Kalvin Moore stopped him just short of the first down.
The
Thoroughbreds took the ball down the field and scored when Hayes plunged in
from two yards out. But the Tigers responded when Sindelar hit Boyd for a
17-yard touchdown. NewCath still led 7-6 after Seymore missed the extra-point
attempt.
The
Thoroughbreds then scored when Cain found Franzen in the left side of the end
zone from 13 yards out. That came on 4th-and-7 at the Caldwell County 13.
But the
Tigers responded with a long drive and tried the game at 14 with 8:25 left in
the first half. Sindelar found Sivils for a 15-yard touchdown and Dee Cain
scored on the two-point conversion run.
Both teams
came up short on 4th-down on their next possessions. NewCath drove to the Tiger
15, but Jacob Burke intercepted Cain in the end zone on 4th-and-11 from the
Caldwell County 16.
The Tigers
drove to the 37 after Sindelar completed a 1-yard screen pass to Boyd that Rust
stopped. Sindelar tried to go around the left on a fake punt on 4th-and-2 but
Anost stopped him at the 38.
The
Thoroughbreds then scored when Hayes ran in from two yards out. Nathan Grosser
hit his third of three extra-point attempts to give NewCath a 21-14 lead with
10 seconds left in the half.
The Tigers
cut that margin to 21-20 just 1:34 into the half. Sindelar broke around right
and scored on a 23-yard touchdown run.
NewCath
graduates 15 seniors from the team. They are Cain, Freppon, Ruwe, Hayes, Rust,
Anost, Grosser, Pete Collopy, Tyler Duke, Mason Myers, Jake Haas, Brady
Thacker, Steve Schneider, Doug Meadows and Jimmy Raleigh.
The
Thoroughbreds improved to 5-6 in championship games. They finished 2A state
runner-up in 2007 and 2008 after winning consecutive Class A titles in 2005 and
2006.
