A total of 17 football state championships were represented Saturday when six-time winner Covington Catholic collided with the 11-time champion Beechwood Tigers, who were playing up in class on the road in front of a packed stadium at Wooten Field.
"What a great atmosphere with two teams with a lot of tradition and a huge following at their schools, where you're expected to win every game," CovCath coach Dave Wirth said.
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With their body-painted supporters in full-throated support in the overflowing student section, the Class 4A Colonels knocked the small-school Tigers from the ranks of the unbeaten with a tense 40-28 victory.
Beechwood, ranked third in the Northern Kentucky coaches' poll and second in the Class A state rankings, dropped to 3-1 after defeating three opponents playing in bigger-school classes.
"I just lost a game 40-28 and I'm miserable," said Beechwood coach Noel Rash, who has guided the Tigers to a pair of state crowns.
The difference for CovCath (4-1), ranked second in the Northern Kentucky coaches' poll and third statewide in Class 4A, was its overall depth, and power along the offensive line, which was able to get tremendous push against the Tigers many of whom play both offense and defense.
"They have a lot of guys who play both ways and I think we wore them down," said Colonels tailback Gabe Gray who scored four touchdowns. He had the go-ahead score on a 9-yard scamper to help give CovCath a 27-21 lead with 7:35 remaining in the third quarter. That began a run of 20 unanswered points for CovCath which built a 40-21 lead with 6:13 to play.
Running behind massive blockers who were clearing sizable gaps, Gray rushed 29 times for 279 yards. The Colonels amassed 356 yards on the ground on a whopping 8.9 per carry. They totaled 519 yards, 321 after halftime. The Tigers finished with 330 total yards.
"We had all those huge linemen just running guys 15 and 20 yards down field," coach Wirth said of CovCath seniors Max Halpin, Jake Henderson, Tim Connaughton and Bradley Way, whose average weight is 270 pounds. "The physicality on the front line, us vs. them, there was just a lot of banging and a lot of helmet cracking."
CovCath was content to run because Beechwood's secondary was holding the Colonels' fleet of receivers in check with tight coverage. Quarterback Blake Bir finished 12-of-25 passing for 163 yards with a first-quarter touchdown to Michael Best. Bir threw an interception to Beechwood defensive back Cameron Vocke, who rushed for 132 yards to go with his 73 receiving yards on offense.
Vocke also had an 80-yard fumble advance for a third-quarter touchdown. He corralled a loose ball on a kickoff return following Gray's second touchdown and tied the score 20-all with 10:36 to go in the third quarter. Joey Nussbaum's extra-point kick gave the Tigers a 21-20 lead.
A defensive hero for CovCath was cornerback Brady Reese who had a first-half interception and a second-half forced fumble and fumble recovery on a completed pass to Vocke that traveled inside the Colonels 10 yard line.
C-Best 2 pass from Bir (Talkers kick)B-Erdman 5 run (J. Nussbaum kick)C-Gray 1 run (kick failed)B-Erdman 3 run (J. Nussbaum kick)C-Gray 1 run (Talkers kick)B-Vocke 80 rumble return (J. Nussbaum kick) C-Gray 9 run (Talkers kick) C-Gray 7 run (run failed) C-Beatrice 20 run (Talkers kick) B-Brennen 26 pass from Davis (J. Nussbaum kick)
Records: CovCath 4-1, Beechwood 3-1.
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