Tough-defending Lloyd hands Newport its first lost of season on rainy night in Erlanger

By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter

On paper, it was the game of the night Thursday, maybe in all of Kentucky. Unbeaten Class A Newport (4-0) at 3A toughie Lloyd Memorial (4-1), on a four-game win streak with each team No. 3 in the state in their respective football classes.

Only one problem: This game was not played on paper, it was played on the nearly new turf at Lloyd’s historic Cecil Dees Field in a cool drizzle that started in pregame and lasted right up to the very end.

And as much as Northern Kentucky’s moderate drought needed the rain, Newport’s wild-snapping Wildcats did not. Certainly didn’t need the 39-7 pounding they took from the Juggernauts on a soggy Homecoming Night in Erlanger.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” veteran Coach Paul Wiggins, back for his first year at his alma mater, was telling his Newport team that was absolutely not prepared for such a one-sided outcome. Working every lesson he’d learned in turning Bishop Brossart into a strong, solid program, Wiggins continued: “You’re still undefeated in district play . . . it’s OK . . . we’re going to get better . . . it’s OK . . . it’s how we react to it.”

Lloyd Coach Kyle Niederman didn’t have the same postgame challenge. Was he happy at his Juggernauts’ big win? “Yes and no,” he said. “We played a little bit sloppy. But then we won 39-7 and that team came in unbeaten.”

So how unhappy could he be? But Newport? That was a different story. The Wildcats left with their coach’s encouraging words to stay together, to use next week’s bye week to get better and to stop blaming one another.

Blame a Lloyd defense with an all-senior secondary that allowed the front seven to go all-out making life really uncomfortable for Newport senior quarterback Kyle Lee.

“We did not want him to beat us,” Niederman said simply of the defensive gameplan.

Hard to do that when you’re mostly running for your life. For the game, that Lloyd defense limited a Newport team averaging 225 yards a game – and 29.8 points – to just 105 yards (44 rushing, 61 passing) and one TD.

Rodzion Thompson’s first-quarter five-yard run for a brief 7-6 lead was the lone bright spot for the Newport offense. Lee managed just six-of-13 passing for 56 yards. Between them, Lee and Thompson managed just 36 yards rushing on 17 carries.
“We put all the pressure on them,” Niederman said of his all-senior secondary, allowing the rest of the Juggs to take care of business knowing the secondary can take care of itself and they could run to the football.

The result: the Wildcats faced fourth-and-27, fourth-and-39, fourth-and-15 and fourth-and-21 while having to punt from their own 15-, 14-, four- and 16-yard lines. Not a formula for success – in the rain and with a number of iffy long snaps, the first of which was fumbled into the end zone where Lloyd’s Yuri Collins fell on it for the game’s first touchdown.

Two Newport punt snaps were fumbled, two others went for seven and 13 yards. It was not a special night for the Wildcat special teams.

One of Niederman’s aforementioned secondary guys, strong safety Tyler Copeland – call him T.Y. – also put in a more than solid night on offense, as the 6-foot-1, 204-pound running back powered in for three touchdowns where it made more sense to run it than to throw the ball all around.

“We had to switch the gameplan with the rain,” Copeland said of what was going to be a pass-heavy night. Quarterback Kaleb Evans even ran one in – on a 12-yard scramble on what was supposed to be a pass – before he threw for his only TD – an eight-yarder to senior Elijah Collins.

Balance and togetherness characterize his team, Niederman says. “They’re all thick as thieves – a really neat group.”

“We’re super close,” Copeland says. And they’re getting better. “A lot better,” he says attributing that opening loss to Newport Central Catholic as the result of “mental mistakes.”

Now the gameplan is “to just fly around and have fun,” he says. As they did on this night in the rain.

Both teams move on to bye weeks next week before starting district play the following week with Lloyd hosting Pendleton County (2-3) Thursday, Oct. 10, and Newport hosting archrival NewCath (3-2), Friday Oct 11.

SCORING SUMMARY

NEWPORT 7 0 0 0—7
LLOYD MEM. 12 6 7 14—39
LLOYD: Yuri Collins fumble recovery TD (PAT kick failed)
NEWPORT: Thompson 5 run (Reynoso PAT kick good)
LLOYD: Copeland 11 run (PAT kick failed)
LLOYD: Copeland 3 run (PAT kick failed)
LLOYD: Evans 12 run (Miller PAT kick good)
LLOYD: Elijah Collins 8 pass from Evans (Miller PAT kick good)
LLOYD: Copeland 4 run (Miller PAT kick good)

Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com . Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.

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