By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Ryle golfer Olivia DiPaolo poses with her team’s third-place trophy after the state tournament.
The Ryle girls’ golf team ended a highly successful season by placing third in the state tournament last weekend and added the trophy to ones it received for winning local conference and regional championships.
The Raiders’ posted a 662 team total in the 36-hole state tournament played Friday and Saturday at Bowling Green Country Club. Louisville Sacred Heart won the team title with a 617 score, followed by Scott County at 653.
This is the first time Ryle has finished among the top three in the girls’ state golf tournament. Last year, the Raiders were sixth in the final team standings.
Ryan Bender of Sacred Heart took medalist honors with a two-day total of 148 that was one stroke better than teammate Taylor Edlin and Sarah Hinton of Elizabethtown. Two local golfers — Olivia DiPaolo of Ryle and Madison Smith of Cooper — tied for eighth place with 156 totals.
Golfers acquired points playing in 18-hole tournaments during the season to decide all-state rankings. With the points awarded for the state tournament, Smith finished seventh with 625 points and DiPaolo placed ninth with 620 points to both earn first-team all-state honors.
Ryle senior Brooklynn DiPaolo was named second-team all-state, placing 19th with 390 points. The other golfers on the Ryle team were Caitlyn Richardson, Sophia DiPaolo and Kaitlyn Skaggs.
Football teammates have both surpassed 1,200-yard mark
Campbell County is the only football team in Northern Kentucky that has a 1,200-yard rusher and 1,200-yard passer in the offensive backfield with three weeks still left in the regular season.
Alex Dowds
In a 54-27 win over Conner on Friday, Campbell County senior running back Alex Dowds netted a career-high 384 yards to raise his season rushing total to 1,275 yards. He had touchdown runs of 97, 81, 34 and 27 yards in that game that accounted for most of his 384 total.
Senior quarterback Austin Hoeh also had a good night, completing 12 of 25 passes for 131 yards to give him 1,290 total passing yards this season. He threw one touchdown pass and scored on two short runs.
According to statistics posted on the khsaa.org website, Dowds and Hoeh have accounted for most of the Camels’ 3,003 total yards in seven games. They’ve also scored 23 of the team’s 24 rushing touchdowns.
Campbell County (5-2) will play its first Class 6A district seeding game this Friday against a 6-0 Simon Kenton team that also has a potent offense led by senior quarterback Matt Shearer, one of the state’s leading passers with 1,527 yards and 22 touchdowns. He’s also the Pioneers’ second leading rusher with 439 yards and nine TDs.
Soccer teams that made playoff runs last year look good again
With the post-season playoffs in high school soccer beginning this week, two local teams that made strong bids for state titles last year are looking like strong contenders once again.
The Simon Kenton girls’ soccer team that made it to the state semifinals last year won its last seven regular-season matches and takes an 11-6-3 record into this week’s 32nd District tournament.
Covington Catholic, last year’s state runner-up in boys’ soccer, finished the regular season with a 10-6-4 record. But all six of the Colonels’ losses were to out-of-state teams and they went 5-0-2 against 9th Region opponents.
The area’s hottest team is the Dixie Heights girls. After starting the season with an 0-3-2 record, the Colonels have gone 13-1-1 with 10 shutouts in their last 15 matches.
On the boys’ side, Calvary Christian won five straight matches to bump its record to 16-2-1 going into the playoffs. But the Cougars face a tough test in their 37th District opener against Campbell County. When the two teams met during the regular season, Calvary Christian escaped with a 2-1 victory in overtime.
