Durham, Camels run past Thoroughbreds

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
ALEXANDRIA - The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds knew they needed to contain Tyler Durham, especially on the outside sweeps.
That did not happen Friday in NewCath's 42-16 loss to the Campbell County Camels. Durham rushed for 194 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns for an average 9.7 per touch and completed 9-of-15 passes for 163 yards and one touchdown in the win.
The Camels ran the spread-option attack like the previous opponent in Cincinnati McNicholas and it presented problems for the Thoroughbreds. The Campbell County running backs constantly ran past the NewCath tacklers to garner 302 yards rushing on 42 carries for an average of just under 7.2 a carry.
"Ït was a great job executing," said Eddie Eviston, NewCath head coach. "They took it to us. Hat's off to them."
Campbell County outgained NewCath, 465-319 in total offense. Camel junior running back Alex Howard added 90 yards rushing on 14 carries and a touchdown.
"This has been a rival for Campbell County for a long time and still is," said Stephen Lickert, second-year Camel head coach. "We wanted to make a statement because we believe that we're a 6A school and we should win these type of football games. We did that (Friday)."
On the other side, The Thoroughbreds could not get their running game going out of their spread offense. NewCath rushed for just 88 yards on 26 carries for an average of just below 3.4 yards a touch.
Campbell County held Thoroughbred senior standout tailback Dylan Hayes to just 57 yards on 13 carries mostly in the fourth quarter. Hayes did still make it into the end zone on a 3-yard run with 2:38 left in the game for his sixth rushing touchdown of the year and seventh overall.
The Thoroughbreds did better in the passing game. Quarterback Josh Cain completed 16-of-27 passes for 231 yards and one touchdown. Seven completions went to Mac Franzen for 138 yards. Noah Freppon and Dan Ruwe hauled in three each for 54 and 27 yards respectively.
"I know we can pass the ball," Eviston said. "We just have to execute. We had one big play and had three bad ones. That's the name of the game."
Cain also did a good job punting the ball. He had four for 176 averaging 44 yards a boot, including a 70-yarder in the first quarter.
Despite the score, NewCath stayed in the game until the fourth quarter. Trailing 21-0, NewCath forced Campbell County to punt and a high snap forced punter Grant Mahoney to step out of the end zone for a safety.
The Thoroughbreds took over at the Camel 45 after the free kick and NewCath scored quickly. Freppon had one-on-one coverage and took the pass from Cain down the right side for a 45-yard score to cut the Camel lead to 21-9 with 1:10 left in the third.
But Campbell County quickly turned the momentum. Durham cut left and back to the middle of the field for a 65-yard score. The Camels added two more touchdowns in the fourth to put the game away.
"We fell asleep for a couple plays,"Lickert said. "But we answered. It was really exciting."
The final six minutes of the first half hurt the Thoroughbreds. Trailing 7-0, NewCath drove to the Camel 31 but fumbled the ball to Cambpell County with 6:53 left in the quarter.
The Camels drove into Thoroughbred territory later in the quarter. On 3rd-and-10, Durham swept right and cut back to the left for a 30-yard score with 1:02 left in the first.

NewCath hopes to bounce back against Campbell County

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

A common trait of the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds is their ability to pick themselves up after a loss.

The proud football team finds itself in this situation when it heads to Alexandria on Friday for another non-district clash with the Campbell County Camels of Class 6A, District 6. Both teams are 1-1 overall.

The Thoroughbreds have not lost consecutive games since Eddie Eviston took over as head coach in 2010. NewCath is 25-5 during that time and 137-35 since the start of 2000. The Thoroughbreds came into 2012 tied for fifth in Kentucky with Louisville St. Xavier with 136 wins since 2000.

The last time they did lose consecutive games was Sept. 18 and 26, 2009 when Campbell County and Covington Catholic handed them 21-17 and 28-14 defeats respectively. Campbell County has been on NewCath’s schedule since 2007 and that was the Camels’ lone win in five games in the series.

The Thoroughbreds will face a team on the rise. The Camels finished 4-8 last year, starting off 0-5, but bounced back to go 3-1 in Class 6A, District 6 action to win their first district championship in 31 years. They lost at home to Lexington Lafayette, 20-7 in the second round of the playoffs.

Dual-threat quarterback Tyler Durham is a big reason for that turnaround. Durham ran for 217 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 140 yards and one touchdown in Campbell County’s 34-14 win at Milford (Ohio) on Friday.