Colonels dominant again in state finals
- Updated: December 3, 2017
Lexington, KY – The Covington Catholic Colonels defeated the Madison Southern Eagles 49-13 Saturday night at Kroger Field to win the 5A Russell Athletic Commonwealth Gridiron Bowl.
The Victory gave Covington Catholic it’s seventh state championship and it’s first since 2006.
Once again the Colonels rode their explosive offense to the win as they scored touchdowns on seven of their nine possessions and for the eighth consecutive game they scored at least 43 points.
Like always the offense was led by senior quarterback AJ Mayer who ran for 71 yards and three touchdowns while throwing for 337 yards and three more touchdowns.
“It’s a great feeling when you don’t even have to work for it, you’re quarterback puts it right on the money and all you have to do is catch it, if you’re open he’ll hit you,” said senior receiver Luke Lenihan.
Lenihan had 101 yards receiving and a score and added 11 yards and a score on the ground.
Covington Catholic jumped out to a 13-0 lead before Madison Southern found it’s way on offense, but once they did the Eagles put together back to back scoring drives to keep the game somewhat close for a while.
Senior quarterback Landen Stacy led Madison Southern with 137 yards rushing and added 111 yards passing.
The Colonels would eventually shore up the defense and while they allowed the Eagles to gain 341 total yards in the game, two third quarter stops on fourth down in their own territory and interceptions by Lenihan and junior defensive back Andrew Shelton secured the decisive win.
Covington Catholic’s defense had many key contributors, but none better than senior linebacker Kameron Butler.
Butler had a game high 11.5 tackles, including two tackles for a loss and one sack.
“Credit to our coaches making second half adjustments, me and my teammates are all hungry and trying to get to the ball we have a multitude of players that can make plays at any given moment,” said Butler.
With the undefeated season wrapped up and an average score of 45-8 through those 15 games there is some conversation about this being the best team in the 50 years of Colonel football and one of the best in Northern Kentucky history.
“I’m not a football historian I just know that we’ve got a great football team and when people talk about that these kids deserve that, if it’s true or not I don’t know,” said head coach Eddie Eviston.
For the players the excitement of achieving their ultimate goal and being considered as one of the best teams Northern Kentucky has seen was just setting in.
“It feels great absolutely awesome, it’s a great honor for all of us.” said Butler.
“It feels awesome especially when we had all the fans and all the alumni were there and great support from the Covington Catholic community,” said Lenihan.
Covington Catholic 13-21-15-0-49
Madison Southern 7-6-0-0-13
C: Mayer 2 run (Gronotte kick)
C: Lenihan 25 pass from Mayer (kick failed)
M: Livingood 2 run (Willis kick)
C: Mayer 14 run (Gronotte kick)
M: Livingood 3 run (kick failed)
C: Mayer 6 run (Gronotte kick)
C: Lenihan 1 run (Gronotte kick)
C: McGinness 44 pass from Mayer (Gronotte kick)
C: McGinness 60 pass from Mayer (Schuh 2pt run)
RECORDS: Covington Catholic (15-0); Madison Southern (11-4)
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