By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Conner High School plans to name its new synthetic turf field after Tom Stellman, a former head football coach and athletic director who retired in 2016.
Stellman was in charge of the Cougars football program for 17 seasons from 1990 to 2006. His teams compiled an 82-98 record and made seven trips to the state playoffs. He had two teams finish the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record in 2003 and 2004.
Tom Stellman
The starting quarterback on both of those successful teams happened to be the coach’s son, Trevor Stellman, who is now head football coach at Thomas More University.
Conner will officially dedicate the new field on Friday, Aug. 13. The ceremony will take place at 5 p.m., prior to the current football team’s scrimmage game. Former athletes, band members, students, boosters and parents are invited to share in the celebration.
In February of 2020, the Boone County Board of Education approved a project to replace the natural grass fields at Conner, Boone County and Cooper high schools with synthetic turf and upgrade the synthetic turf at Ryle High School. Estimated cost of the multi-school project at that time was $4.78 million.
Work began on all four fields after the 2020 football and soccer seasons were completed and they are all ready for the upcoming 2021 fall sports season. That means 16 public and private high schools in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties now have synthetic turf fields on campus or school-owned property.
Cooper golfer takes medalist honors in back-to-back tournaments
Cooper senior Rylan Wotherspoon, who finished first in the Mr. Kentucky Golf point standings last year, won playoffs for medalist honors in back-to-back tournaments this week.
At the Cooper Classic on Tuesday at Lassing Pointe, Wotherspoon won a playoff against Logan Shepherd of Mason County after they both finished 18 holes with a 1-over-par 72.
On Wednesday, Wotherspoon and Logan Liles of Lewis County both shot 4-under 67 to tie for first place in the OrthoCincy Invitational at A.J Jolly. Wotherspoon birdied the first playoff hole to come away with that medalist trophy.
In last year’s boys state tournament, Wotherspoon lost a playoff against Jay Nimmo of Marshall County after they both tied for first place with a two-round total of 3-under 141. If Wotherspoon had won that playoff, he would’ve become the first Northern Kentucky golfer to take the boys state title since 1982.
Wotherspoon did become the Northern Kentucky’s first winner of the Mr. Kentucky Golf award that has been presented since 2006. The University of Cincinnati recruit collected 1,075 points on the season and finished 30 points ahead of Nimmo, who was named Mr. Kentucky Golf in 2019.
Soccerama girls scrimmage games are final tune-up for season
Northern Kentucky girls high school soccer teams will play their final scrimmage games before the 2021 season begins during Soccerama on Saturday at Scott High School.
Ten games will be played on the adjacent soccer and football fields at Scott. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students for either the morning or afternoon session. All day passes will be $7 for adults and $5 for students.
The morning session games on the football field are Villa Madonna vs. Campbell County at 8 a.m. and St. Henry vs. Boone County at 10 a.m. The games on the soccer field are Dixie Heights vs. Notre Dame at 9 a.m. and Dayton vs. Ludlow at 11 a.m.
The afternoon session games on the soccer field are: Brossart vs. Fleming County, 2 p.m.; Conner vs. Newport Central Catholic, 4 p.m.; Holy Cross vs. Cooper, 6 p.m. The games on the football field are: Walton-Verona vs. Pendleton County, 3 p.m.; Ryle vs. Highlands, 5 p.m.; Scott vs. Beechwood, 7 p.m.
High school soccer season for boys and girls begins Monday. Last year, Highlands, Brossart and Simon Kenton were among the 16 region champions that competed in the girls state tournament. The only local team in the boys state tournament was the Ryle Raiders, who made it to the semifinals.
