Beechwood junior quarterback Brayden Burch, No. 10, tries to elude a tackler during Friday’s game against Holy Cross. (Photo by Mary Lynn Lampke)
The NKyTribune will be providing focused coverage of NKY high school football throughout the season, thanks to support from St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine. See all of our pre-season features on each of NKY’s 21 high school football teams and follow our coverage, including roundups each week at Northern Kentucky High School Football.
By Evan Merrill
NKy Tribune contributor
Beechwood got back on track after it’s first loss of the season last week by defeating Holy Cross, 40-33, in a hard-fought football game on Friday at Covington Catholic’s field.
Offensively, the Tigers were led by first-year quarterback Brayden Burch, who completed 16 of 29 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns. Senior running back Aiden Justice was also a key factor with 161 yards receiving, 113 rushing and three TDs.
Holy Cross running back Derrick Barnes fights for more yardage as Beechwood defenders try to bring him down. (Photo by Mary Lynn Lampke)
“For Burch to come into this thing, with this being his fifth start at Beechwood, on this stage, to play the way he did, it’s awesome,” coach Noel Rash said. “Aiden, we’ve always known he could do that. He’s had big-play capability since he was 7-years-old. So we knew for Burch to step up in those situations, to not just make those plays, but take control of our offense, that’s what was really the best.”
The victory gives Beechwood a 19-0 record against Holy Cross since 1999. That’s a staggering number against a team that won the 2011 Class 2A state title under head coach Bruce Kozerski.
“We beat them by 43 the year they won it all,” Rash said. “It feels good because Bruce and his staff do a good job. They have hard-nosed kids there, so obviously it feels good. But it’s a year-to-year thing. You have to worry about the moment. I’m worried about each play, let alone the past. If you start looking at that stuff I think you start to lose your focus. But now that the game’s over and you can reflect, certainly it feels great.”
The Beechwood defense that was allowing just 104 rushing yards coming into Friday’s game, gave up 349 against Holy Cross. The Tigers had a tough time dealing with Derrick Barnes, who rushed for 246 yards, and Xavier Abernathy, who picked up 98. Each of them also scored two touchdowns.
“They’re big, maybe 500 pounds combined,” Burch said of the Holy Cross running backs. “It’s just hard. Our defense worked hard to bring them down. We were out-sized by them, but we played bigger. I’m proud of our defense and offense.”
The Tigers’ offense came out firing on all cylinders in the second quarter – putting up 27 of their 40 points. But they struggled to score in the second half – managing only six points for the remainder of the game.
“First half, they were just trying to blitz their linebackers,” Burch said. “We would just use one of our quick guys, Aiden Justice. They were going man-to-man and we thought Aiden was the fastest guy out there, so we were going to use his speed to our advantage. I just threw it up and let him make a play.”
The Tigers feature 12 seniors, but two of them did not play Friday. That put a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of some underclassmen.
“So for the young guys to find a way to win (Friday), especially with the explosiveness of their offense, I’m very pleased with that aspect,” Rash said. “There are other aspects I’m not pleased with.”
Despite the offensive success, the Tigers still have a lot to work on with a group of linemen who have limited varsity experience.
“Our short passing game is going to have to work as our short run game as our line continues to improve because they’re a very young line,” Burch said.” I think Week 10 our O-line is going to be fine. They’re going to be sophomores but play as juniors and seniors.”
HOLY CROSS 6 13 7 7 — 33
BEECHWOOD 7 27 0 6 — 40
B – Castleman 3 yard (Mescher kick)
HC – Williams 22 pass from Couch (kick failed)
B – Justice 41 pass from Burch (kick blocked)
HC – Barnes 64 run (Finnell kick)
B – Davis 25 run (conversion failed)
B – Justice 21 pass from Burch (conversion good)
HC – Barnes 89 run (kick missed)
B – Castleman 63 pass from Burch (Mescher kick)
HC – Abernathy 38 run (Finnell kick)
B – Justice 18 run (conversion failed)
HC – Abernathy 2 run (Finnell kick)
RECORDS: Beechwood 4-1, Holy Cross 3-2
