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CovCath falls in 4A title game

Covington Catholic Colonels 2023 KHSAA Class 4A Runner-Up

It was a tough night for the Covington Catholic Colonels at Kroger Field on Friday night in the KHSAA Class 4A state title game between the Colonels and the Boyle County Rebels. The Colonels were not able to gather any rhythm on either side of the ball, leading to a tough 41-0 loss.

For Boyle County, the win garnered the Rebels their 12th state championship, and fourth in a row. This was Covington Catholic’s first appearance in the Class 4A title game after being in Class 5A for several years.

“There’s no sugar coating anything, they beat us in all three phases tonight,” Covington Catholic Head Coach Eddie Eviston said. “We tip our hat to them. They’re a great football team. We ran into a buzzsaw tonight.”

The game began to look like it could be a defensive battle early in the first quarter. Boyle County drove deep in the Covington Catholic territory on its first drive. Facing a 4th-and-8 on the Colonels 21-yard line, the Rebels attempted to convert the first down, but were stopped short by the stout Covington Catholic defense.

However, it was still Boyle County that got on the board first. After being plagued by penalties early on the drive, the Rebels put together a slew of big plays, which was capped off by a 13-yard run by running back Montavin Quisenberry. The failed extra point gave Boyle County a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Unfortunately, it went from bad to worst for the Colonels on the next Boyle County drive. On a crucial third down, Willie Rodriguez made a big tackle to once again force a Rebel fourth down. This time, the Rebels were able to convert on a massive Quisenberry run down to the Covington Catholic 35-yard line. After another Quisenberry run to the Colonels one-yard line, Avery Bodner punched it in to give the Rebels a 13-0 lead three minutes into the second quarter.

Coach Eviston noted the struggles for the defense to get off the field early in the game plagued the team the rest of the way.

“Obviously, any time you’re in a game like this, you have to start out strong,” Eviston said. “We kept getting ourselves behind the eight ball on offense. We put our defense in bad positions. Special teams put our defense in bad positions.”

On the ensuing Colonels drive, quarterback Evan Pitzer was intercepted by Boyle County’s Austin Bodner, who returned the ball to the Colonels 27-yard line. While Covington Catholic’s defense was able to stop the Boyle County offense, a pooch punt gave the Colonels the ball back on their own seven-yard line.

The struggles continued, however, for the Covington Catholic offense. A near-safety was avoided when Pitzer was tackled on the one-yard line. That led to a Colonels punt in the back of their own end zone, which was returned by Quisenberry for a 39-yard Rebels touchdown.

The punt return for touchdown gave Boyle County a 20-0 lead going into halftime.

The Rebels kept up the momentum into the second half. After forcing a Covington Catholic punt to start the half, Avery Bodner ran the ball into the end zone from nine yards out to extend the Boyle County lead on their first offensive drive of the half.

Fourth down conversions were hard to come by for the Colonels. After another turnover on downs on the ensuing Colonels offensive possession, Boyle County capitalized by converting a fourth down conversion of their own. The conversion led to another Boyle County touchdown when quarterback Sage Dawson ran nine yards into the end zone.

The Rebels kept the rolling going in the fourth quarter. The Rebels converted a 4th-and-3 nearly midway through the final quarter and capped the drive off with a 32-yard pass from Dawson to Geordon Brown. The set off the running clock to the end of the game with a 41-0 final.

Covington Catholic finished the game with only 64 yards of total offense – 28 on the ground and 36 through the air. The Colonels struggled on third and fourth down conversions, going 0-for-9 and 0-for-4 respectively.

Boyle County gained 413 yards of total offense, led by 282 yards on the ground. Montavin Quisenberry led Rebel rushers with 93 yards and a touchdown, while Avery Bodner added 76 yards and two touchdowns.

The final score wasn’t the ideal storybook ending for the group of 23 seniors at Covington Catholic, who received big praise from their coach postgame.

“Very exceptional group of seniors, very exceptional group of young men,” Eviston said. “These guys really took on this challenge and rose to the occasion. Obviously, it didn’t work out the way they wanted but I’m really proud of them for getting us here.”

Covington Catholic finished the season 14-1 while Boyle County capped off their undefeated 15-0 season.

 

SCORING BY QUARTERS

Boyle County 6-14-14-7-41

Covington Catholic 0-0-0-0-0

 

SCORING PLAYS

BC: Montavin Quisenberry 13-yard run (Carr kick failed)

BC: Avery Bodner 1-yard run (Carr kick)

BC: Montavin Quisenberry 39-yard punt return (Carr kick)

BC: Avery Bodner 9-yard un (Carr kick)

BC: Sage Dawson 9-yard run (Carr kick)

BC: Sage Dawson 32-yard pass to Geordon Brown (Carr kick)

 

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