Covington Catholic (6-5) vs. Lexington Catholic (10-1) November 15, 2002

Covington Catholic has five losses but this number is very misleading.  Covington Catholic played an extremely difficult early season schedule which included losses to Ohio powers Moeller and St. Francis DeSales and strong Kentucky football programs Highlands and Dixie Heights.  QB Grant Groneck has passed for 1264 yards this season and his favorite target is WR Bryan Piper.  The ground game is led by RB John Hennessey.  Covington Catholic has a star in the secondary in DB John Lario, who has 68 tackles and six interceptions this season. 

Coach Bob Sphires' Knights hope to avenge a 31-14 loss that Covington Catholic handed them in last year's 3A regional finals.  Lexington Catholic is led this year by QB Jacob Doss who has passed for 2500 yards and 36 touchdowns.  WRs John Logan and Matt Beavin have pass receptions for 1023 and 957 yards respectively. 

Lexington Catholic kicker Tripp Eckerline booted a 40 yard field goal with 14 seconds remaining in the game to edge Covington Catholic 29-27.  Lexington Catholic trailed 27-26 with 3:24 remaining on the clock when they took over on their 33 yard line.  There were several key plays in the winning drive.  The first occurred on a fourth-and-six from the Lexington Catholic 37 and Jacob Doss, unable to find an open receiver, ran up the middle and drived to the 43 barely making the first down.  The second big play came with just under a minute remaining on the clock.  Doss attempted to pass from the Covington Catholic 37 and defensive pass intereference was called, giving the Knights a first down at the 22.  On the next play, a Covington Catholic defender dropped what looked like a drive-ending interception.  Lexington Catholic then ran up the middle to set the stage for Eckerline's heriocs.

The game began like it was going to be a long evening of offensive fireworks.  Both teams traded TDs in the first quarter with the score being tied 14-14 after the end of the first quarter.  Lexington Catholic took a 20-14 lead at the half on a two yard pass from Doss to Matt Beavin.  Covington Catholic took a 27-26 lead with 7:29 remaining in the game on a three yard pass from Kyle Callahan to Wesley Collins.  Tripp Eckerline was set to attempt a 49 yard field goal attempt with 4:19 remaining but a bad snap forced Eckerline to attempt a pass which fell incomplete.  Lexington Catholic held on defense, forced Covington Catholic to punt, and took over on their own 33 to start what became the game-winning drive. 

Lexington Catholic was led tonight by QB Jacob Doss, who completed 11 of 22 passes for 158 yards and two scoring strikes.  Matt Beavin caught three passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns.  Sean Schomp carried the ball 17 times for 121 yards and a 78 yard TD run.  Kevin Lattner and Jarrell Snowden led the defense with 10 and nine tackles respectively.  Lexington Catholic held a 388-340 edge in total offense.  Covington Catholic was led tonight by QB Grant Groneck, who completed 14 of 26 passes for 183 yards and one TD pass.  Brian Quinn caught five passes for 43 yards and Brian Piper had three receptions for 99 yards.  John Hennessey carried the ball 17 times for 55 yards and a score.  The Covington Catholic defense was led by Eric McHenry with eight solo and one assisted tackle. 

Scoring Summary

Lexington Catholic

29

Covington Catholic

27

School	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Covington Catholic	14	0	7	6	27
Lexington Catholic	14	6	6	3	29

CC	- Nick Sheffield 30 yard pass from Grant Groneck (Neal Kreke kick)
LC	- Sean Schomp 78 yard run (Tripp Eckerline kick)
CC	- Eric McKenry 3 yard run (Kreke kick)
LC	- Matt Beavin 60 yard pass from Jacob Doss (Eckerline kick)
LC	- Beavin 2 yard pass from Doss (run fails)
CC	- John Hennessey 2 yard run (Kreke kick)
LC	- Beavin 89 yard kickoff return (run fails)
CC	- Wesley Collins 3 yard pass from Kyle Callahan (run fails)
LC	- Eckerline 40 yard field goal

 

Selected Statistics
 

Covington Catholic						Lexington Catholic
Rushing	No.	Yds.	Avg.	Long		Rushing	No.	Yds.	Avg.	Long
John Hennessey	17	55	3.2	11		Sean Schomp	17	121	7.1	78
Wesley Collins	8	26	3.2	6		Joe Heink	6	43	7.2	14
Eric McHenry	2	4	2.0	3		Jacob Doss	8	23	2.9	8
Derek Roedig	1	4	4.0	4		Phillip Martin	2	21	10.5	21
Kyle Callahan	2	3	1.5	8		Brandon Logan	3	20	6.7	11
Grant Groneck	1	-11	-11.0	0		Aleks Smith	1	2	2.0	2
Passing	A-C-I	Yds.	TD	Long		Passing	A-C-I	Yds.	TD	Long
Grant Groneck	26-14-2	183	1	48		Jacob Doss	22-11-0	158	2	60
Kyle Callahan	9-4-1	76	1	47		Tripp Eckerline	1-0-0	0	0	0
John Hennessey	1-0-0	0	0	0
Receiving	No.	Yds.	TD	Long		Receiving	No.	Yds.	TD	Long
Brian Quinn	5	43	0	12		Phillip Martin	4	61	0	29
Brian Piper	3	99	0	48		Tyler Hinkel	4	23	0	9
Nick Sheffield	3	48	1	30		Matt Beavin	3	74	2	60
Derek Roedig	3	34	0	23
Wesley Collins	2	25	1	22
John Hennessey	1	10	0	10
Jeff Drees	1	0	0	0

Acknowledgements

A special thanks to the WL Stats crew for providing the comprehensive statistics for tonight's game. 

Other Games of Interest

Class A Playoffs

Class 2A Playoffs

Class 3A Playoffs

Class 4A Playoffs