2024 Prep Football Previews: NewCath’s strong core of returning seniors looking to make deeper run in playoffs

By Chad Hensley
NKyTribune sports reporter

With a strong core of senior leadership returning, no one will be surprised if the Newport Central Catholic football team makes it back to the region finals in the Class 1A playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.

Improving on their 1-4 record in the last five finals is what the Thoroughbreds need to do this season, and they have six starters on offense and eight on defense striving to attain that goal.

“We are a senior dominated team,” said NewCath coach Stephen Lickert. “Our seniors are phenomenal leaders and willing to do whatever it takes to win. They don’t care who gets the credit or scores touchdowns, they just want to win. We have high expectations for our team as a whole and have worked really hard in the offseason to be able to take the next step and win a title.”

That unselfishness is what led junior Emmanuel Miles to get the call as starting quarterback. Louie Collopy assumed that position last season after senior quarterback Kolton Smith was injured. But coach Lickert said using Collopy as a wide receiver and running back will suit the offense better.

“Louie Collopy is an athlete,” Lickert said. “He can do it all. He finished the season as our quarterback but will play wide receiver and running back on offense and safety on defense this fall. Emmanuel Miles has had a great summer, is athletic and can make all the throws. He will do a great job distributing the ball to our many athletic skill kids.”

One of those skill position players is senior running back Kaleb Cole, the team’s leading returning rusher from last season with 341 yards on 43 carries and three touchdowns in nine games. He missed a couple games due to injury.

Back as the team’s leading receiver from last season is senior Charlie Ford, who had 17 receptions for 325 yards and six touchdowns in a very balanced offense that wouldn’t allow the opposition to key on just one player.

“Charlie Ford is a speedster,” Lickert said. “When he gets out in the open, he will be tough to catch. He runs great routes on offense and is a great cover guy on defense. Kaleb Cole is a big, strong, physical player and will be tough to tackle.”

Other key pieces to the offense will be a solid group of linemen that includes seniors Gabe Lyons and Mason Baas, juniors Will Sandfoss and Ben Colwell and sophomore Noah Kohler. Colwell is the only varsity newcomer. Kohler is returning from an injury riddled freshman season that limited him to six starts.

Defensively, NewCath has six of the top eight tacklers on last year’s team returning. The list includes Lyons up front, linebackers Cole and Landon Kraft and defensive backs Ford, Collopy and Chris Meyer.

The Thoroughbreds allowed 21.1 points per game last season, but they gave up 179 of 254 points during a 2-4 start that included five games against opponents in higher classes. They outscored their three district opponents by a 121-28 margin and then went on to make the region finals once again.

NewCath finished with an 8-5 record. The returning players want to improve on that and make a deeper run in the playoffs.

“We need to do three things: stay healthy, get a big win in the early part of the season against the larger teams on our schedule and put to use the hard work that was done in the weight room in the offseason,” Lickert said.

The Thoroughbreds’ first five opponents are the same as last year. Winning some of those games would improve their Ratings Percentage Index score that’s used to seed teams for the playoffs.

Lickert considers RPI a “flawed system” from the standpoint that losing to a 6A team counts the same as losing to a 1A team. But no matter how the early portion of the season turns out, he is excited about what his team could do come playoff time.

“This will be a really fun team to watch,” Lickert said. “We just need to stay healthy and we should have every chance to compete in late November and December.”

NEWPORT CENTRAL CATHOLIC THOROUGHBREDS
2023 SEASON: 8-5 record, lost in third round of Class 1A playoffs.
STARTERS RETURNING: 6 offense, 8 defense.
DISTRICT: Class 1A, District 3 with Bellevue, Dayton, Newport.
HEAD COACH: Steve Lickert (51-25 in six seasons at NewCath, 125-108 in 20 seasons overall).

2024 SCHEDULE
Aug. 23 – vs. Lloyd at CovCath, 7 p.m.
Aug. 30 – at Walton-Verona, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 6 – at Scott, 7 p.m.
Sept. 13 – vs. Conner at CovCath, 7 p.m.
Sept. 20 – vs. Campbell County at Dixie Heights, 7 p.m.
Sept. 27 – vs. Raceland at CovCath, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 11 – at Newport, 7 p.m.
Oct. 18 – at Dayton, 7 p.m.
Oct. 24 – vs. Bellevue at Dixie Heights, 7 p.m.
Nov. 1 – vs. Holmes at CovCath, 7 p.m.

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