Cov Cath players celebrate their first-ever state championship and the first boys soccer title in Northern Kentucky history. Covington Catholic 3, Henry Clay 0. Boys soccer KHSAA state final. Nov. 7, 2015. Dunbar High School. Lexington KY. James Weber/Community Recorder, James Weber/The Community Recorder.
LEXINGTON - The Covington Catholic Crazies had an unprecedented reason to go crazy Saturday night.
The Colonels student section often comes out in force to cheer on their classmates in even the most meaningless of contests. Given a chance to watch a historic moment for all of Northern Kentucky, they embraced the moment with their fellow Colonels, high-fiving and hugging after the game as they cheered loud enough for the horses at nearby Keeneland racetrack to hear.
There was a lot to go crazy over, as Covington Catholic defeated Henry Clay 3-0 at Dunbar High School to win not only the school's first boys soccer championship, but the first for any Northern Kentucky school. The area had been 0-8 in boys soccer finals, with four of those coming in the previous nine seasons.
"It's going to set a bar for all the NKY teams," said Cov Cath senior Bryce Day, who was named the tournament most valuable player. "Hopefully we can get more teams to win state championships and hopefully we can get another one."
The Colonels finished with a 24-2-2 record, setting a school record for wins. They finished with other school records in goals scored (109) and shutouts (16) after blanking a potent Blue Devils team that had notched 94 goals for the season and had only been shut out once previously during the year.
"They are 10-15 minutes away from here and we doubled their numbers in students," said senior Jacob Litzler. "We drove an hour and 15 minutes. Our support all year has been amazing."
The Colonels outshot the Blue Devils 12-11, 12-6 after a frenzied flurry of Henry Clay opportunities in the first 10 minutes. On one sequence, Henry Clay had two close-in opportunities after rebounds but the Colonels were able to block them away.
"It was guys getting into the flow of the game," said Cov Cath head coach Jeremy Robertson. "I don't think we were expecting them to have that much speed. Once we figured that out, we figured out what to do. The guys did great. We're looking forward to enjoying this for a while."
The Colonels countered quickly, scoring on their first main scoring opportunity when junior Griffin Lamb passed to senior Jacob Litzler, who scored 14 minutes into the contest. Eighteen minutes later, Litzler passed to Lamb for a goal in close, and it was 2-0 at halftime.
"The first 10 minutes, Henry Clay came out with some steam. WE composed ourselves as the game went on," Robertson said. "We started to get opportunities. We had two great looks and they made great finishes. I don't think Henry Clay has seen such speed in the offensive third until us."
Litzler finished the season with a team-high 25 goals and 15 assists, and Lamb finished with 18 scores and 13 helpers. Lamb also scored the team's third goal late in the game.
"The beginning of the year, we struggled a little bit because it was our first year playing together," Litzler said. "Now we know exactly where each other is going to be. On my goal, he knew I was going to be there and he played a great ball to me. On his goal, he made a great play. He has quick feet and he made a great play with the ball."
Goalkeeper Sam Romes and defense Ben Darpel were named all-tournament in addition to Day.
"The biggest thing for us is to stay organized," Robertson said. "Darpel has great speed in the back so we were able to shut down and counter their speed."