NKYSports.com Blog

NKYSports.com Golf Outing

2009-02-24T13:09:00.003-05:00

We are planning our first annual golf outing this coming summer for NKYSports.com. The golf outing will be played at Royal Oak Country Club, located on the east side of Cincinnati. More details to come. If you have any interest in participating in the outing please contact Ben Bleser.

Best Ballers in NKY

2008-12-24T10:00:00.003-05:00

From QueenCityHigh.Rivals.com

8. Luke Maile- F- CovCath- 6'3" 200lbs SR - Maile had said that he was not going to play basketball this year to focus on baseball (committed to UK), but at the beginning of practices a few weeks ago Maile decided he wanted to come back and his coach and fellow seniors allowed him to. Maile provides the Colonels with size and athleticism that can't be found elsewhere in the program, who without Maile might have been an afterthought in the Ninth Region this year. Maile will have to work on bringing this team together and playing within the team concept; something he has been known for struggling with.

I like this list, but I think Maile should be a little higher. He's a great athlete and very fun to watch. You won't be surprised to see who #1 is.

Hug Your Kids!

2008-11-10T12:05:00.002-05:00

This past week, my two step children (ages 11 & 13) lost their father to a sudden death at the very young age of 41. I usually use this forum to discuss sports and the like, but this time I'm using it to send another message. Hug your kids and tell them you love them! Not tomorrow or next week . . today . . every day! You never know when your life will end, and most of us take everyday life for granted. Go to their ball games, events, etc. and show them your support, encourage them and show them how much they mean to you.

Thank you for spending the time to read this.

2008-09 Grade School Basketball Tournaments

2008-10-29T15:25:00.006-04:00

I'm trying to compile a list of all the Northern Kentucky grade school basketball tournaments. If you have any to add please email me at ben@nkysports.com.

Silver Grove HS Tournament
When: 1st and 2nd Weekends of November
Contact: John Ruck - jruck2754@yahoo.com

Campbell County MS Tournament
When: November
Contact: Karen Henderson - camelbasketball@zoomtown.com

St. Henry Grade School Tournament
When: November
Contact: Jeff Grayson - jgrayson@vintage-vfi.com

NKU Women's Basketball Tournament
When: Thanksgiving Weekend
Contact:

St. Catherine Grade School Tournament
When: Early December

Dayton HS Tournament
When: Mid-December
Contact: Tom Dilts tld@fuse.net

St. Mary Grade School Tournament
When: End of December

St. Thomas Grade School Tournament
When: January

St. Joe Cold Spring Tournament
When: January

St. Therese Grade School Tournament
When: February

St. Peter & Paul Grade School Tournament
When: February

Holy Trinity Grade School Tournament
When: Early March

Great Rivalries

2008-09-23T12:35:00.004-04:00

Ryan Ernst breaks down the great rivalries in the area. This is in lieu of the Highlands-CovCath bout coming up this weekend.

Beechwood vs. Newport Central Catholic, football

It seems almost impossible for these two squads to play a bad game against each other. Six of their last eight meetings have been decided by one touchdown or less.

Boone's Quainoo Is Making Heads Turn

2008-09-16T22:38:00.005-04:00

And Quainoo did get better as the game went on turning those 44 carries into 330 yards and three touchdowns in Boone County's 28-18 win.

"It is not about records or anything like that, it was just what you have to do to win the game. We gave the ball to Cory (Farris) 40-some times in a playoff game before. It just kind of depends on the way things are going in the game, but certainly we didn't go into the game anticipating handing him the ball 44 times," Thompson said.

When I saw the story about this kid I was taken back. Are you serious? 44 carries and 330 yards, plus 3 TD's. Now that's a star in the making. Wow!

A Late Bloomer Waits

2008-09-04T11:51:00.003-04:00

John Erardi- Enquirer/ NKY.com

"It was rough at first," Eten recalls. "The coaches were just starting to install the offense when I was told that not only couldn't I practice, I had to go home. I couldn't stay at the university. ... I'm making up for it now, but it definitely hurt me at the time."

A very well written article by Erardi. The most important piece of information in the article is to make sure if you're a HS senior or prospective college athlete that you double check your transcript and be aware problems may arise during the transfer phase.

Josh Conner Out 4-6 Weeks

2008-08-23T13:05:00.002-04:00

Josh Conner, the starting running back from Highlands HS broke his tibia (part of the leg) bone last night in a scrimmage against Louisville Male. The senior running back recoreded 20 rush TD's and 1,189 yards running last year for the 'Birds. He is expected to miss 4-6 week. Hopefully, Josh has a quick and successful recovery.

Eten Cleared To Play For Morehead St.

2008-08-22T11:14:00.008-04:00

Three days into summer workouts at Morehead St. University, incoming Freshman TE Ryan Eten was notified by his coaches at MSU he was not an eligible player per the NCAA clearinghouse and had to go home until things got sorted out.

Another Morehead St. Freshman and Northern Kentucky native DT Alex Koski (Dixie Heights) was also deemed ineligible as well. The reasoning for Eten's three week dismissal. One high school class credit not transferring over to the NCAA. A minor, but costly error on the part of CCHS. Eten and Koski had to miss their whole training camp.

Eten got the go-ahead this week to begin practicing. Koski was still waiting for word to start.

The NCAA certainly didn't do them any favors.

The Eagles start their season next Saturday, August 30th against S. Virginia.

Northern Kentucky Week 1 Schedule

2008-08-20T22:49:00.004-04:00

The season kicks off next weekend and here is the slate.

A few games of interest include:

Beechwood Tigers vs. Dixie Heights Colonels @ Beechwood

Noel Rash's Tigers take on a gritty Dixie Heights team who could be a sleeper this year in Northern Kentucky. Dixie is young, after they lost key players last year including QB Joey Bricking and RB Marty Molony. However, Dixie brings back some strong senior leadership with LB Cody Godsey and RB Connor Brock.

NewCath Throughbreds vs. Simon Kenton Pioneers @ Newport High School

The 'Breds will begin their season facing a tough Pioneer team who went through some growing pains last year at the QB position. Their QB Patrick Bustle will look to keep working under center this season along side a breakout candidate in Jr. RB Miles Simpson. Simpson is expected to be a center piece to the Pioneer offense. If anyone has a lot of eyes on him this season, it's Miles Simpson.

NewCath brings back one of my favorite players to watch in QB Rob Kues. Kues led the 'Breds to a second place finish in the state tournament after losing to a tough Ft. Campbell team in Louisville. Kues has a couple offensive weapons returning as well, including Sr. RB Mark Kelly.

Another key player to watch out for is Mario Escalante at Safety. Escalante's hawk-like ability to get a bead on the football is second to none and he'll be a candidate for defensive player of the year.

Hopefully if you're a Northern Kentucky High School Football fan you can whet your appetite with one of these great matchups.

More to come...

NKY Football Pre-Season Top 10

2008-08-18T22:18:00.004-04:00

Here are the pre-season rankings for the upcoming 2008-2009 season.

Highlands is your #1 team to start the year and I'm pretty sure they will remain there throughout the season. They've got a potential Mr. Football candidate in RB Josh Connor, one of the best OL in the state in Adam Dempsey, and a cast of several other great players like Austin Collinsworth.

Ryan Ernst notes that Highlands plays Colerain in the second week of the season, it'll be an ultimate test for the 'Birds among many other this season.

Beechwood Standout Commits to Central Michigan

2008-08-09T11:00:00.002-04:00

According to www.hskentucky.scout.com, the Chippewas received a verbal commitment from offensive linemen Dominic Mainello of Fort Mitchell (Ky.) Beechwood High School.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Mainello said the Chippewas offered him a scholarship June 8 following a one-day camp he attended at CMU. He said CMU is recruiting him to play guard or defensive tackle.

Notes On Dixie Heights

2008-08-07T22:35:00.004-04:00

From Ryan Ernst:

A lot of competition out on the field today. Seems like the coaching staff is still trying to figure out what it's working with. If one guy screwed up, another guy went in.

Dixie isn't nearly as big as it normally is.

If there's one guy in Northern Kentucky I'm really excited about seeing as an every-down back, it's Dixie senior Connor Brock. He's one of the fastest players in the area. And after being used as a slot back last year, he'll have to learn how to run between the tackles. But he should be fun to watch in the open field.

I talked to Brock after practice. Seemed like a good kid. Humble. When I asked him how fast he was, he kind of danced around the topic, obviously not wanting to brag. "Well," I said. "Is anyone on the team faster than you?" "Um," he said. "Well, uh, no."

Spritzky got a little help today at practice from his 4-year-old daughter, who stood next to her dad during various drills. Just made for an interesting image.

Spritzky is not a yeller. More of a teacher. It always amazes me how many head coaches are like that. I'll bet if you went to every high school practice in Northern Kentucky, you'd have a tough time figuring out which man is the head coach at quite a few. Defensive coordinators, they're the yellers.

Ryan Wilson will be the starter at quarterback. He's part of a very good junior class at Dixie. He's not huge (5-11) and he doesn't appear to have a huge arm, but he seems pretty athletic.

Former NKY football players at University of Louisville

2008-08-06T22:15:00.006-04:00

The University of Louisville has been trying to make it more of a point to recruit the NKY/Cincy area. As the cardinals currently have two players from the NKY area and seven from the Cincinnati area. The first of the local standouts would be Newport Central Catholic graduate Zach Kiernan. He enters this season at defensive end, and looks very impressive on paper at 6'6" and 281 pounds. The biggest hurdle for Kiernan will be overcoming a season ending knee injury last season that has earned him a bright yellow (non contact) jersey and huge brace to start practice.

The second local player suiting up for the cardinals is true freshman and preferred walk-on Drew Davis. Davis graduated from Beechwood high school and lead the Tigers to a state title last season. Davis is listed on the roster at 6'1" 275 and will be playing the defensive line at Louisville. Last year Davis weighted in at 238, so its a true sign of his dedication to see him put on almost 40 pounds this past off season. I think both of these players will have great career's in Louisville.

On a side note former Covington Catholic standout Mike Donoghue is still apart of the team after last years career ending injury. Donoghue, a former offensive lineman on the University of Louisville football team, was diagnosed with congenital spinal stenosis, making it too risky for him to ever play football again. Donoghue has since taken a job as a student assistant coach for U of L.

Heres a good story about Mike making the transition from player to student coach.

http://media.www.louisvillecardinal.com/media/storage/paper964/news/2007/10/30/Sports/From-Gridiron.To.The.Sideline-3065558.shtml

I'll be working on interviews with all three of these players in the near future, and will also have college updates of other former local standouts.

Rowe Reaches 200

2008-04-23T12:34:00.001-04:00

Brossart Varsity Coach Bob Rowe picked up his 200th win yesterday as his Mustangs defeated Bellevue 4-2. Rowe is the winningest coach in Brossart history with a 200-152-1 record overall in eleven season.

Sorrell and Henderson to Square Off Against Indiana

2008-04-23T12:33:00.002-04:00

Corey Sorrell and Arrez Henderson both played their way on to the Kentucky All-Star team that will play against Indiana in the annual basketball series taking place on June 13th in Indianapolis and June 15th in Louisville. Last year two of Arrez's former teammates, Austin Hill and Greg Rice both made the team representing Northern Kentucky.

NewCath Headed to State for All A Classic

2008-04-22T08:49:00.002-04:00

Newport Catholic defeated Brossart 5-3 in the All A Classic Sectional advancing them to State for the All A. Jeramie Connor pitched all 7 innings for the Breds to get the win. NewCath will face Owensboro Catholic on May 3 for their next game in the tournament.

Click here for the NKY.com Article

Holmes Makes it to State Championship Game

2008-03-24T09:33:00.003-04:00

*** SWEET 16 UPDATE ***
Holmes loses in the Championship game to Mason County 57-48. Congratulations to the Holmes Bulldogs for making such a great run in the Kentucky State Sweet 16 Basketball Tournament.

*** SWEET 16 UPDATE ***
Holmes defeats LexCath 57-50 to advance to the Kentucky State Sweet 16 Championship game being played Saturday night at 8:00 PM.

Tornado Delays UK's Tournament Game

2008-03-15T22:05:00.006-04:00

And it may have cost them an NCAA tournament bid . . . some people think that b/c of Kentuckys's RPI of around 60, the Cats needed at least one SEC Tournament win to solidify a NCAA tournament bid. Well, they did not get that win as they lost in OT to Georgia 60-56. But, under the circumstances will this game be overlooked by the selection committee?

Consider this . . Georgia played Thursday night and was supposed to play again against UK the following night. Well, that doesn't happen b/c of the inclement weather in Atlanta. So, Georgia gets some extra rest and Kentucky, the only SEC team NOT to play in the tournament yet has to wait until Saturday afternoon to break a sweat in the tournament. It seems like everything that could go wrong for Kentucky this past weekend did go wrong . . 1) Their first tournament game gets postponed due to the tornado activity in Atlanta 2) The game gets moved to Saturday afternoon at Georgia Tech where only select people can attend the game, meaning the estimated 16,000 Kentucky fans would not be able to watch and cheer on the Cats at the game (and imagine how frustating this was to UK fans, not able to watch any UK games in person for this tournament) 3) They start the game off against Georgia very badly as it seemed like the previous night's events really affected them and were down by 12 at one point 4) After battling back and sending the game into OT a freshman from Georgia, Swansey, drains a three pointer with 1.2 second left to give the Bulldogs a one point lead (he had 5 points in the game, all in OT) and 5) Kentucky runs the typical base line play where they try to get the defender to charge, they execute it perfectly (Bradley does) and the ref swallows his whistle!!

So, now the Cats will have to wait until Selection Sunday to see if they make it to the Big Dance! I personally think they deserve a bid despite the Georgia loss, they were 12-4 in the conference and 10-2 in their last 12 games (before the GA loss). I know they had a loss to Gardner-Webb but how long ago was that, and some people keep bringing up that they lost to San Diego, but for those who do not know, San Diego won the WCC by beating Gonzaga, so San Diego is a good team. Kentucky was depleted earlier in the year with injuries, they started getting healty, and then started winning games. They've beat Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, Arkansas and almost beat Miss St on the road.

As for what happened in Atlanta Saturday night . . unbelievable!! Many have talked about how the OT game b/w Miss St. and Alabama may have saved lives!! If that game had gotten over at the regular time, you would have had some fans leaving and who knows what could have happened. If you have not seen the video coverage of what happened check out the video link below. It's pretty amazing that no one was hurt during this event!!

Oh, and one more thing, the referee reponsible for not making the charging call should never be allowed to work a tournament game again! I know it's at the end of the game, and I know the play is all the way from the basket, but it's a foul, call it . . even all the ESPN analysts have been saying the same thing.

Tornado Hits the Georgia Dome during the SEC Tournament

9th Region Semi-Final Holmes 70 Dixie 42

2008-03-11T21:53:00.001-04:00

Game was over in the 2nd quarter. Jamal Riley hit four 3-pointers for the Holmes Bulldogs. Up next is CovCath for the 9th Region Championship and a chance to visit the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.

9th Region Semi-Finals CovCath 63 St. Henry 44

2008-03-11T20:05:00.003-04:00

CovCath pulls away at about the 5 minute mark in the 4th quarter. The Colonels jumped out to a 15-4 lead and never relinquished it. The Crusaders pulled to within 5 points at one point in the 2nd quarter. CovCath was just too much for St. Henry tonight. CovCath now awaits the winner of Dixie/Holmes.

Congrats to Conner and Simon Kenton!

2008-03-11T15:18:00.001-04:00

The Conner (9th Region) and Simon Kenton (8th Region) girls' basketball teams won their respective Regions to move onto the Kentucky Sweet 16 State Basketball Tournament.

Conner defeated Notre Dame Academy 79-64 to advance while Simon Kenton beat Anderson County 48-44.

Congratulations to the teams and good luck down state!

Regional Tournaments Pushed Back

2008-03-10T10:49:00.002-04:00

Since Northern Kentucky got pounded with about 12" of snow over the weekend, it has caused all the tournaments (boys and girls) to be pushed back. The girls played their Semi-Final games on Sunday and their Championship games will be played tonight, March 10, each at 7:00 PM. This is for the 8th, 9th and 10th Regions.

For the boys, the Semi-Final games have been pushed back to tomorrow, Tuesday March 11, for the 8th, 9th and 10th Regions while their Championship games will be played on Wednesday, March 12.

CovCath Survives Highlands

2008-03-06T14:09:00.002-05:00

This was the first time I'd seen either team in action and even though CovCath looked like the better team tonight, I believe if Highlands would have played some defense and showed some intensity they could have won.

The first half was pretty even, both teams hit some shots, both were a little sloppy on the passing, and it was even 20-20. The second half started badly for Highlands as CovCath had an early 7-0 run, which the Bluebirds couldn't respond to. With CovCath up 22-20, CovCath missed a jumper and with 2 Highlands' players going for the rebound, the ball gets knocked right to a CovCath player for an easy layup. Right afterwards, Nic Simpson gets picked on the press, the CovCath player goes in for the score and Simpson commits the foul. 27-20 CovCath, and they never looked back.

Greg McGraw of Highlands was the only reason Highlands still kept the game close. He made shots from all over the court, had a few steals and several assists. McGras finished with 25 pointes. The Highlands defense gave up way too many easy baskets. There did not seem to be any intensity of the Bluebirds' side, especially on defense. For CovCath, Luke Maile played a great game finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds. It did not seem like Highlands had any answers to Maile.

Highlands pulled to within 4 points with about 30 seconds left but CovCath scored on an easy layup with about 19 seconds to make it 58-52.

Final
CovCath 60
Highlands 56

Villa Madonna Almost Pulls Upset

2008-03-06T14:01:00.003-05:00

I was expecting another 20+ point victory for the Crusaders, but to the surprise of myself and many others, the Blue Lightning of Villa Madonna not only made a game of this, they could have really won the game! Villa Madonna was leading by 9 points at one point in the 3rd Quarter and they kept on hitting shots. St. Henry chipped away at the lead slowly in the 4th quarter. Villa Madonna had several chances in regulation to take the lead towards the end of the game but could not capitalize.

A few observations about this game: 1) St. Henry did not come ready to play -- I've seen them play on 2 other occassions and they scrapped, they did not scrap tonight and if they want to beat CovCath they better pick their instensity up a lot! 2) Villa Madonna looked very poised and did not look like a 20 point underdog, they hit several 3 pointers and if they could have handled St. Henry's pressure in the last quarter they would have won this game!

Final / OT
St. Henry 59
Villa Madonna 56