By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
When there’s 1:28 left on the clock and your football team needs to go 80 yards to score a touchdown, it’s good to have a confident senior veteran like Paul Kremer at quarterback.
Kremer completed 5 of 7 passes for 80 yards during a frantic last-ditch scoring drive that gave Newport Central Central a 17-14 win over Beechwood on Friday night in Fort Mitchell.
NewCath wide receiver Cody Mueller makes a leaping catch on a 54-yard pass that set up his team’s winning touchdown. (Photo by Dale Dawn)
After Kramer completed a 54-yard bomb to wide receiver Cody Mueller that put the ball at the 1-yard line, an illegal motion penalty moved NewCath back five yards. Two plays later, Kramer zipped a 6-yard pass to tight end Tanner Daunt cutting across the end zone for the winning touchdown with 24 seconds remaining.
“There was never a doubt in anyone’s mind (on our team) that we were going to score on that last drive,” Kremer said. “I’m a person who never feels there’s too much pressure and I trust all my guys. A couple times I was just throwing the ball up and letting our receivers make plays. And that’s what it’s all about.”
The Thoroughbreds snapped a five-game losing streak against the Tigers with the dramatic victory. Both teams switched classes this season with Beechwood (5-5) moving up to Class 2A and NewCath (8-2) dropping to Class 1A, so the smaller school actually got the win once again.
Final statistics showed NewCath with a 246-237 advantage in total yards. The Thoroughbreds needed a strong second half to come out on top in that category after getting just 48 yards on 16 plays in the first half.
“Beechwood had a great game plan,” Lickert said. “The best way for us not to score is by keeping our offense off the field. They drove the ball and drove the ball on us in the first half and we couldn’t get in any rhythm (on offense). Once we were able to do that in the second half we made plays.”
Beechwood went 74 yards on the game’s opening possession, but turned the ball over on a fumble at the 2-yard line. After a pass interception ended the Tigers’ second possession, they put together an 87-yard scoring drive to take a 7-0 lead.
Junior quarterback Cameron Hergott completed three passes for 31 yards and picked up 15 yards on a third-down play during that drive. He capped it off by scoring on a 1-yard push across the goal line.
NewCath quarterback Paul Kremer gets off a pass before Beechwood linebacker Mitchell Courts gets to him. (Photo by Dale Dawn)
NewCath’s only points in the first half came on a 40-yard field goal by Sam Lavin as time expired. A 10-yard penalty against Beechwood put him in postion to make the kick that trimmed the home team’s lead to 7-3 at halftime.
The Thoroughbreds scored on their first possession of the second half to jump ahead, 10-7. Kremer finished it off with a 4-yard run into the end zone.
But Beechwood answered with a touchdown drive of its own and regained the lead, 14-10, on a 5-yard TD pass from Hergott to sophomore Brady Moore.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Tigers moved the ball to the 15-yard line and attempted a field goal that tailed off to the left. That gave NewCath the ball at the 20-yard line with 1:28 remaining and set the stage for Kremer’s game-winning passes.
“We just made some clutch plays at the end, and I can’t say enough about Paul,” coach Lickert said. “He’s been our leader the last two years and he came out and played championship caliber football when we needed him the most.”
After going 0-for-3 on pass attempts in the first half, Kremer completed 12 of 22 for 198 yards in the second half. He was also NewCath’s leading rusher with 30 yards on 12 carries.
Hergott accounted for 131 of Beechwood’s 237 yards. He completed 10 of 22 passes for 83 yards and rushed for 48 yards on 10 carries. After getting 90 of his all-purpose yards in the first half, he was limited to 41 in the second half.
“Our defense has been doing that all year,” Kremer said. “Every single time we needed them to step up, they did that. But Beechwood is a really good team and I know their quarterback is really good, so for our defense to do that (Friday) was incredible.”
BEECHWOOD 0 7 7 0 – 14
NEWCATH 0 3 7 7 – 17
B — Hergott 1 run (Graman kick)
NC — Lavin 40 FG
NC — Kremer 4 run (Lavin kick)
B — Moore 5 pass from Hergott (Graman kick)
NC — Daunt 6 pass from Kremer (Lavin kick)
RECORDS: NewCath 8-2, Beechwood 5-5
High school football scoreboard
Friday’s games
Newport Central Catholic 17, Beechwood 14
Holmes 53, Bellevue 6
Dixie Heights 43, Scott 20
Brossart 20, Pendleton County 14
Carroll County 42, Dayton 0
Campbell County 26, Boone County 6
George Rogers Clark 38, Conner 34
Ludlow 26, Holy Cross 25
Elizabethtown 39, Lloyd 12
Little Miami (Ohio) 48, Simon Kenton 35
Louisville Holy Cross 41, Walton-Verona 21
District playoff pairings
First-round games to be played Friday, Oct. 8
Class 1A, District 4
Dayton at Newport Central Catholic; Bellevue at Ludlow.
Class 1A, District 5
Bracken County at Nicholas County; Paris at Brossart.
Class 2A, District 5
Gallatin County at Walton-Verona; Owen County at Carroll County.
Class 2A, District 6
Holy Cross at Beechwood; Newport at Lloyd.
Class 4A, District 6
Harrison County at Holmes; Rowan County at Scott.
Class 5A, District 5
Cooper at Covington Catholic; Highlands at Conner.
Class 6A, District 6
Campbell County at Simon Kenton; Dixie Heights at Ryle.
