By:James Weber, jweber@communitypress.com (Cincinnati.com)
KENTON COUNTY – The Ninth Region will be as competitive as ever in boys soccer this season, and Covington Catholic leads the Kenton County contenders who will chase postseason glory.
"The region could be eight deep. There's going to be a lot of parity, and anybody could come out that, so what I think we're going to see is a lot of close games," Ryle coach Stephen Collins said. "Covington Catholic is maybe the favorite. Six or seven other teams will look pretty strong by the end of the season, and we hope we're one of them."
Cov Cath has several seniors returning including Patrick Ballow, Parker Kenney, Robert Lilly, Ben Pohlabein, Eric Schutzman, Kurt Stegman and Zach Stetter. Ballow had nine goals last year and had five assists. Junior Brice Day posted seven goals and a team-high eight assists as a sophomore. Junior Jacob Litzler led the team with 10 goals as a sophomore. Kenney anchors the defense.
"I think the team that gets out of the region will have an excellent chance to make the state final," Cov Cath coach Jeremy Robertson said. "But we all know anything can happen."
Stetter and junior Sam Romes return in goal. Romes played 17 games and Stetter nine.
Cov Cath was 12-7-3 against a brutal schedule, but ended the year with six-straight wins before losing in penalty kicks in the Ninth Region semifinals.