Dan Weber’s Just Sayin’: Local football leaders, TMU regrouping, October HOF class coming

N. KY. HAS EIGHT FOOTBALL TEAMS IN STATE’S TOP 50

Not a bad showing this week for Northern Kentucky in the Kentucky Sports Report’s ranking of high school football teams determined by the computerized Massey Ratings with two Top 10 teams and five in the Top 20. Unbeaten Class 5 A Cooper is No. 5 overall, Union rival Ryle (5-2) is No. 9. Class 5A Highlands (5-2) is No. 14, Class 4A Covington Catholic (5-2) is No. 17 and Beechwood (6-1) out of Class 2A is No. 20.

Boyle County, tops in 4A and an unbeaten 6-0 with a win over national Top 25 Cleveland St. Edward’s, is No. 1 with Class 6A Louisville Trinity No. 2.

Three other Northern Kentucky teams make the Top 50: Simon Kenton (3-3) is No. 32, Conner (5-2) is No. 36, and a 2-4 Dixie Heights team against a tough schedule is No. 45.

OCTOBER SEES 6 NEW NKSHOF MEMBERS NAMED

Just a quick reminder about next week’s Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame October induction at the Gardens of Park Hills, Wednesday, Oct. 16. Six new HOF members will be honored: Holy Cross basketballer John Fortner ; Lloyd Memorial’s Barry Long — football, baseball and volleyball; David Meier II , Covington Catholic/Thomas More/Notre Dame/Villa Madonna — baseball, football, coaching; Dixie Heights’ Darrell Newton — football, basketball, track, coaching; Daryl Landrum, NKU — golf, coaching; Dr. Robert Herbst , Dayton/Georgetown College — cross-country, basketball, coaching.

SAINTS BACK HOME HOPE TO GET BACK TO WINNING

After three straight wins with a pair of shutouts, Thomas More’s Saints will have to bounce back in a Great Midwest Athletic Conference home game Saturday at noon against Northwood after suffering their first GMAC loss of the year this past Saturday.

At 2-1 in the league and tied for third with a Tiffin team that crushed TMU, 51-10, and a Walsh team that TMU beat 44-21 a week earlier, the Saints (3-2, 2-1) face a Northwood team (3-2, 1-1) that is right behind TMU in the GMAC standings. Not much went right for TMU at Tiffin as the Saints fell behind, 24-3, at halftime and had no answer for a Tiffin team that outgained the Saints, 516 yards to 193. Quarterback Rae’Von Vaden led TMU in rushing with 43 yards and scored the lone TMU TD. Evan Brown led the receivers with 63 yards and Jevan Rivers had 10 tackles to lead the defense.

GMAC standings show Findlay (5-0) and Ashland (3-2) tied for the league lead at 3-0 in the conference. After Tiffin, TMU and Walsh tied for No. 3, Northwood leads the bottom half at 1-1 followed by Ohio Dominican (2-3, 1-2), Hillsdale (1-4, 0-2), Kentucky Wesleyan (1-4, 0-3) and Lake Erie (1-4, 0-3).

STATE FOOTBALL STAT LEADERS HERE

Not as many statewide leaders as the last time we looked but still some significant ones here. The number of strong opponents here in Northern Kentucky with the top teams scheduling one another across classes makes piling up big numbers a big chore.

• PASSING: Two of the top seven quarterbacks reside here: Simon Kenton’s Brady Lee is No. 2 with 138 of 229 (62.2 percent) for 1,862 yards and 16 TDs with 11 INTs. Cooper’s Cam O’Hara is No. 7 on 114 of 166 (64.8 percent) for 1,822 yards, 25 TDs against just one INT.

• RECEIVING: Three Top 11 receivers reside here. Simon Kenton’s Grayson Harris is No. 2 in the state with 62 catches for 871 yards, a 14.0 average per catch and seven TDs. Teammate Tysin Weaver is No. 7 in the state with 37 catches for 601 yards (16.2 average) and seven TDs with 100 yards a game average. Cooper’s Isaiah Johnson has 32 catches for 652 yards with 12 TDS in seven games – an average catch of 20.4 yards with 93 yards a game and 1.7 TDs a game.

• SCORING : No. 10 is Bellevue’s Jordan Pendleton with nine rushing TDs, one receiving, one kick return and two conversions.

• PATs: Beechwood’s Colson Lair is No. 2 with 40 of 41, a 5.7 average per game while CovCath’s Ryan Urti with 26 of 31 in five games, a 5.2 average, is No. 9.

• SACKS: Newport’s Jaylan Hartness with 9.5 in five games is No. 4.

• INTERCEPTIONS: Cooper’s Ryker Campbell is No. 10 with four in seven games. Lloyd Memorial’s Elijah Collins is 12th with six in four games.

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

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