Beating ‘that team over there’ isn’t always easy, as Beechwood discovers at CovCath

By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter

Exactly what you’d expect from two teams separated by just a few miles on the Dixie Highway.

Of course, there would be one of those giant banners made by Beechwood’s 30 cheerleaders for the visiting Tigers to run around Covington Catholic’s Dennis Griffin Stadium: “Can’t be beaten by the school down the street,” it read.

Here’s the problem in a rivalry game: sometimes people can write a banner/check that their team, even the undefeated Beechwood team, can’t cash.

Such was the case in this game, as the rapidly improving Colonels took inspiration from their chest-painted, plaid-skirted (as close as they could get to kilts) Colonel Crazies on “Braveheart Night” for a 49-28 victory that saw CovCath pile up 624 yards of total offense, 561 of which came on the ground.

“We thought we were big and physical,” Beechwood Coach Jay Volker said of his now 4-1 Class 2A Tigers after their first loss, “but not as big and physical as CovCath.”

Not even close. Not against a Class 4A CovCath team that has now won three in a row after opening with two losses to tough Ryle and Highlands.

“We were dominated, dominated up front,” Volker said, “and we couldn’t tackle.”

“We weren’t sure where we were,” CovCath coach Eddie Eviston said before this game, “and we’re still not there.”

But they are coming.

Although there was a point when CovCath wasn’t quite sure where it stood in this game after taking a 14-0 lead, Beechwood was able to score three times in 6:13 – twice at the end of the first half, once on the first drive of the second – for a 21-20 lead, its only lead of the game.

Was this the moment CovCath would figure out who it was, to start the second half? Eviston had no doubts. “Keep coming at us,” he told his colonels. And they did.

“We didn’t hit the panic button,” Eviston said, “we were able to turn the momentum around pretty quickly.” Like scoring the next 29 points in a row.

Only sophomore Nathan Pabst’s incredible kickoff return performance — a final 89-yard TD with 1:21 left in the game, on top of a 96-yard score to end the first half — kept the Tigers from getting into serious trouble with speedsters Tyler Fryman out with a broken collarbone and Luke Erdman with an AC sprain.

“Even with those two guys, we probably won’t win,” Volker said, so thoroughly did CovCath dominate up front. And in the two most important skill positions.

Skyline Chile Crosstown Shootout MVP Dylan Gaiser had 208 yards on the ground on 14 carries (an average of 14.9 yards) with a long run of 68 yards, another 19 in the air, and two TDs — one on the first snap of the fourth quarter, a 21-yard sweep that simply outpaced Beechwood defenders.

“It was my way of playing,” the young Ludlow resident said, “I just try to go as fast as I can… you don’t really think about it,” but playing that way “took some getting used to,” Gaiser said.

As for Harney, also a junior, he admitted — as someone on the Beechwood sideline wondered if he wasn’t “that quarterback that played for us two years ago” — that he was. “That’s me,” he said of his five-game stint as a freshman starter when Clay Hayden, a year ahead of him, was injured.

“I played backup,” Harney said with a big grin. “I hated being a backup … I kind of had a chip on my shoulder” before he transferred to CovCath a year ago. And now, after completing 8 of 13 for 84 yards and two TDs and catching 138 rushes on 17 carries (an 8.1 average) with a long gain of 60, he’s notched a win over his old team as the starting quarterback.

“Every game I’m getting a little more confident,” Harney said of a rushing attack that allows him to make some quarterback-draw-style plays where he waits, reads the blockers and the defense’s rush and then runs. “I can’t wait to see him in five weeks,” Eviston said. “He’s a guy that likes to compete.”

And he’s growing into the position as he showed when he “picked up the safeties” and knew the play was there on that 19-yard easy TD pass to a wide open Gaiser, just like Gaiser.

But they weren’t alone. Big sophomore running back Owen Pitzer scored two TDs, as did senior Andrew Bessler.

For Beechwood, QB Hayden was 11 of 22 for 156 yards, two TDs and one INT. Tailback Chase Flaherty rushed 16 times for 59 yards and caught four passes for 49 yards and a pair of TDs. Beechwood punter James Cusick averaged 54.0 yards on three-punts with a long of 64 yards.

Tate Kruer was again CovCath’s leading tackler with nine, the most of the game.

Both teams play in district play next week, with CovCath taking on Holmes (0-5), which it defeated 182-12 on Thursday, and Beechwood taking on Gallatin County (1-3) on Friday.

FOOTNOTE: A particularly sweet moment before the meet came as the capacity crowd was asked to honor the memories of two state championship coaches who passed away this fall—one from each school. Beechwood’s Mike Yeagle, who passed away earlier in the fall, won eight state championships in football and made the Tigers an enduring Kentucky powerhouse, and Andy Hagedorn, who passed away Sept. 7, won three state swimming titles in his 13 years at CovCath before teaching and coaching at Rockhurst HS in Kansas City for 35 years in his 54 years as a teacher and coach.

Score per quarter

BEECH WOOD 0 14 7 7—28

COVCATH 14 6 8 21–49

COVCATH: Bessler 7 run (PAT) Urti kicks well
COVCATH: Pitzer 2 run (PAT) Urti kicks well
BEECHWOOD: Flaherty 7 pass from Hayden (PAT Lair kicks well)
COVCATH: Pitzer 7 run (Urti PAT failed)
BEECHWOOD: Pabst 96 Kickoff return (PAT) Lair kick good
BEECHWOOD: Flaherty 16 pass from Hayden (PAT} Lair kicks well
COVCATH: Gaiser 19 pass from Harney (2-point PAT) Harney run
COVCATH: Gaiser 21 run (PAT) Urti kicks well
COVCATH: Guard 6 pass from Harney (PAT} Urti takes a good shot
COVCATH: Bessler 20 run (PAT} Urti kicks well
BEECHWOOD: Pabst 89 kickoff return (PAT) Lair kicks good

TEAM TOTALS

Tigers Colonels
First downs
12 27
Third Down Efficiency
4-9-44% 4-8-50%
Fourth Down Efficiency
0-1-0% 3-4-75%
Rushing Att-Yards-Gem
17-65-3.8 45-561-12.5
Passing Att-Yards-Gem
22-156-14.2 13-63-9.0
Apply Cmpt-Att-Int-%
11-22-1-50% 8-13-0-62%
To Off Yards
212 624
Pockets-Yards
0-0 1-9
Penalty yards
2-11 1-5
Fumbles-Lost
0-0 1-0
Time of Poss
25:39 31:29

Contact Dan Weber at [email protected]Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.