Dan Weber Just Sayin’: Maybe next year, TMU sports history, high school football leaders

You can see them from here — right “across the river,” as we like to say in Northern Kentucky — Paycor Stadium and Great American Ball Park. Sure, we have the good luck on this side of the river not to have to subsidize the Bengals and Reds like the unfortunate Hamilton County taxpayers who have been forced to ante up over so many years in dealing with our two big-time pro sports franchises.

But stop at a Kroger’s on a Sunday and realize you’re the only one there not wearing orange and black and you understand how these two franchises – closer to Northern Kentucky than most of Southwest Ohio and Southeast Indiana – are our teams.

And all you can do right now is hope that – unlike the Reds, whose unwillingness to spend the kind of money to be competitive despite one of the rarest and rawest as well as most undeveloped young talents in baseball history in Elly De La Cruz – the Bengals, who get 95 percent of their stadium upkeep paid by the taxpayers, will find a way to sign Ja’Marr Chase. Joe Burrow, no matter how much you pay him, can’t complete passes to himself.

As for the two nearest big-time college football programs – UK and UC – maybe next year.

So how about investing your rooting interests around here – OK, keep that Bengals’ gear for Sundays and that Reds’ stuff for next year – into your local high school programs as well as NKU and Thomas More. They can use it. And it’ll be much more fun.

And remember this when you think about the Bengals: Bishop Brossart and Covington Catholic football programs both had indoor workout facilities before the taxpayer-subsidized Bengals did.

TMU’S GREAT ATHLETIC HISTORY HERE

Thanks to Dr. Ray Hebert, history professor at TMU, New Hampshire native and an award-winning Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame guy, you can relive the special moments of the Saints’ sports history – and the people who made it happen — in his 96-page book published this year: Student-Athletes and Athletic Programs at Thomas More University: Post World War II to 2023.

The book is a compilation of Hebert’s Our Rich History columns that were published in the Northern Kentucky Tribune as an extended series.

On the cover alone, to name just a few: the NBA’s Larry Staverman, NCAA Women’s Basketball Player of the Year Sydney Moss, basketball coaches and AD’s Jim Weyer and Jim Connor, and one of Connor’s two pupils who went on to win Rookie of the Year honors in professional sports – David Justice. Inside you can catch up on the stories of basketball coach Charlie Wolf, who went on from TMU – then Villa Madonna – to coach two NBA teams – the Cincinnati Royals and the Detroit Pistons.

Or maybe you’d like to review the history of a Saints’ football program that produced the likes of a Noel Rash, one of the all-time great Kentucky high school coaches for his tenure at Beechwood High School. Or a Saints’ women’s program that produced three national titles in basketball.

A great story told by a great storyteller. The book is available at the Thomas More Bookstore for $19.99.

STATEWIDE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL LEADERS HERE

After three weeks of high school football, we have the first statewide stat leaders and for Northern Kentucky, it’s a broad story with players and teams from a dozen programs here rising to the top end of the all-class leaderboards. Now at this early stage of the season, it’s often more of a statement about how tough a team’s schedule has been – and there are plenty of teams around here this year who can make life difficult for opponents.

Here goes, the tops among state leaders locally. For the entire list, check out: 2024 Football – Statewide Stat Leaders | Kentucky High School Athletic Association ( khsaa.org ).

• Individual rushing: Dixie Heights Armani Gregg, No. 18 with 432 yards, a 144-yards-a-game average (8.6 a carry on 50 attempts). Right behind at No. 19 is Beechwood’s Chase Flaherty (431 yards, 144 a game, 6.1 average on 71 attempts).

• Individual passing: Simon Kenton’s Brady Lee is No. 3 on 61 of 106 passing (57.4 percent) for 904 yards (301 average) with 6 TD, 7 INT. At No. 10 is Cooper’s Cam O’Hara with 50 of 75 passing (66.7 percent) for 736 total yards (245 average) and nine TD against no INT.

• Individual receiving: Simon Kenton’s Grayson Harris is No. 3 with 29 catches for 494 yards (165.0 average), a 17.0 average, producing two TD. The Cooper duo of Isaiah Johnson and Jaiden Combs are Nos. 33-34 with 13 catches apiece for an almost identical 236 yards (for Johnson, 18.2 average) and Combs (234 yards, 18.0 average) with Johnson totaling four TD, Combs three.

• Individual scoring: Newport Central Catholic’s Louie Collopy is 26th in scoring with 47 points, a 15.7 average.

• PATs: NewCath’s Collopy again is at the top here for PATs with 15 (5.0 average) – good for a tie for the Nos. 9-15 spots in the state. Bishop Brossart’s Max Runge and Beechwood’s Colson Lair also have 15 apiece.

• Individual field goals: Conner’s Andrew Herron and Highlands’ Logan Nickelman are at the top here with three field goals (a 1.0 average) apiece.

• Individual tackles: Dayton’s Elias Lopez Torres, with 23 in two games (11.5 average) leads the way here at No. 31 in the state.

• Individual sacks: Newport’s Jalan Hartness is No. 2 with an amazing 5.5 a game.

• Individual interceptions: Lloyd Memorial’s Elijah Collins’ two in three games is good for No. 22.

• Team scoring: NewCath is No. 13 with 43.7 points a game. Bishop Brossart’s 427 points a game is No. 17.

• Team scoring defense: It’s Cooper at No. 11 (6.7 points average allowed) and Newport at No. 14 (7.0 points allowed).

• Team scoring margin: Brossart again here, No. 11 at 32.0 points margin, right ahead of No. 12 NewCath’s 30.3.

• Team rushing: Dixie Heights is No. 12 with 890 yards (a 297 average).

• Team rushing defense: Allowing just 45 yards in two games (22.5 average), Newport’s Wildcats are No. 6 in the state.

• Team passing: Simon Kenton is No. 4 here with 904 yards (a 301 average) in three games. Cooper is No. 13 with a 251-yard average (754 total).

• Team pass defense: NewCath No. 6 here allowing just 38 yards a game (114 total). Lloyd Memorial’s 139 total (46 a game) is good for No. 14.

• Team sacks: Newport’s 7.5 (3.8  game) is good for No. 5. Ryle’s nine (3.0 a game) have the Raiders at No. 13.

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

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