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Prep Sports Notebook: Holy Cross, Bishop Brossart football teams will finally have a place to call home


By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Two Northern Kentucky high school football teams that have scheduled home games at neighboring schools since their programs started made major announcements this week.

Holy Cross finalized an agreement to play home games at Thomas More University for 30 years and Bishop Brossart expects to begin hosting games at its new Mustang Athletic Complex sometime in September.

Holy Cross football coach Bruce Kozerski said having a home field at Thomas More University will “create new excitement in the program.”

“Our students-athletes, coaches and fans are excited to finally have a field to call home,” said Holy Cross athletic director Anne Julian. “This is a huge step forward for our school and football program, and we can’t thank the administrators at Thomas More enough for giving us this opportunity.”

Holy Cross had to schedule home games at various sites on different days and times over the last 21 years, mostly using the fields at Holmes and Scott high schools. This season, the Indians will be able to play all five of their home games on Friday nights at BB&T Field on the Thomas More campus.

“After 21 seasons, the program has taken the next step toward stability,” said Holy Cross coach Bruce Kozerski. “We can begin new traditions, entertain our loyal fan base and create new excitement in the program.”

Brossart will open the season Aug. 23 with a home game against Dayton at Campbell County Middle School. The Mustangs will then have two away games, followed by three straight home games on Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Oct. 4.

“We hope to be playing football and soccer at the MAC (Mustang Athletic Complex) sometime in September, but we don’t have a date for the opening yet,” said Brossart athletic director Kevin Bundy. “When complete, the MAC will have lights and we will play our home football games on Friday nights.”

Brossart started its varsity football program in 2007 and has played most of its home games at Campbell County Middle School through the years.

The new athletic complex, located on property less than a mile from the high school, will have an artificial grass field for football and soccer and an eight-lane track. Baseball and softball fields will be added in the next phase of the projected $5.2 million project.

Work has been going on at two other high school football fields this summer. New artificial grass was installed at the Walton-Verona complex. Lloyd is in the process of building a new press box and installing new lights.

Boone County hires head coach who has spent 11 years in system

Nathan Browning is taking charge of the Boone County boys basketball program after climbing the coaching ladder for the last 11 years.

Browning coached eighth-grade, freshmen and junior varsity boys basketball teams in the school system before being selected to replace Greg McQueary, who retired as Boone County’s head coach after 15 seasons.

Nathan Browning

For the last three years, Browning was a varsity assistant and junior varsity head coach on McQueary’s staff.

“I am very excited to work with this group of young men who are hungry and ready to work hard,” Browning said. “I consider myself blessed to have the opportunity to lead my alma mater and help get these great young men back to the regional tournament again.” 

The last time Boone County made it to the 9th Region tournament was 2015. Over the last four years, the Rebels have had only one winning season.

“Last season, we went 7-23, but we were competitive in most games,” Browning said. “We lost two of our top three scorers, but we return some great kids who have been putting in all kinds of time in the gym to improve and get better.”

Browning was head coach of the Boone County boys soccer program from 2010-2014. The Rebels were regional champions in 2012 and made it to the state semifinals.  He started coaching eighth-grade boys basketball at Ockerman Junior High School in  2008 and became Boone County’s freshman coach in 2013. He moved up to varsity assistant in 2016.

Boone County is one of five Northern Kentucky high schools that will have a new boys head basketball coach next season. The others are Dayton (Ron Kinmon), Newport Central Catholic (Ron Dawn), Ryle (Keaton Belcher) and Walton-Verona (Mike Hester).

All-state golfers preparing for 2019 season that begins next week

High school golf season begins next week with Cooper sophomore Rylan Wotherspoon and Highlands junior Justin Gabbard among the returning boys all-state players in Kentucky.

Both of them were named second-team all-state by the Kentucky Golf Coaches Association last year based on points earned in regular season invitational events and post-season tournaments.

Wotherspoon tied for fourth in the Region 7 tournament and placed 14th in the state tournament to finish with 550 points. Gabbard was the Region 8 medalist and placed 36th in the state tournament to give him 470 points.

The only local girl who earned all-state honors last year was Ryle senior Olivia Dipaolo. She was recruited by Lipscomb University after being named first-team all-state for the second consecutive year.


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