By: Marc Hardin , prepsports@enquirer.com
Mercer County's Brandon Ballard and CovCath's Stephen Schutt each try to head the ball during their match Tuesday.(Photo: Jim Osborn for The Enquirer
The chase for a second straight high school state tournament championship is on for the Covington Catholic soccer team, a 3-0 first-round winner over Mercer County on Tuesday at Dixie Heights.
"This is really exciting," senior striker Griffin Lamb said.
"It sends a message to the rest of the state that we're back, and we're here to stay."
Lamb, Stephen Schutt and Nathan Deimling scored for Covington Catholic, the first repeat Ninth Region champion since 2010. Schutt's unassisted goal midway through the first half began the scoring.
Deimling made it 2-0 with an assist from Lamb in the first eight minutes of the second half.
Tommy Bradley assisted on Lamb's team-leading 31st goal with 6:27 to play.
Schutt and Lamb started last year.
"We lost 18 seniors, so this is amazing," said Lamb, who also leads the Colonels with 16 assists.
"We won our first state championship at CovCath last year, but we want to show that it wasn't a fluke."
The defending Kentucky champ is back in the elite eight despite a virtually rebuilt lineup with just three returning starters.
The Colonels are the only Northern Kentucky team to win a state crown, and they want more.
Their coach said that will require better form going forward
"It wasn't the prettiest play, but it's a win," said coach Jeremy Robertson, who guided CovCath to its 20th consecutive district title and 18th regional crown.
"There's only eight teams left and we're one of them.
"And we know we can do better."
The Colonels, 20-5-2 and rated sixth in the statewide Maher Rankings, are catching fire at the right time.
They extended their late-season winning streak to seven and won for the 12th time in 13 games.
CovCath advanced to a Saturday state quarterfinal at a time to be announced against Seventh Region champion Louisville Collegiate, a 5-0 Tuesday winner over Butler at Assumption Green.
Seventh-ranked Mercer County (21-3-2) is finished, ending a statement season.
The offensive juggernaut from the 12th Region outscored opponents 106-19, but CovCath's defense proved to be a handful.
The Colonels have outscored opponents, 101-20, with 15 shutouts, 10 in the last 12 matches.
Junior goalkeeper Thomas Cody played the first 75 minutes of Tuesday's blanking with excellent help from defenders John Dietz, Dominic Russo, Patrick Seibert and Michael Vogt.
Danny Matos played the final five minutes in goal.
Vogt is the only one in the back defensive group who started last season.
Matos started the schedule in between the post, but yielded to Cody after being sidelined by a concussion.
"It's always nice to not give up a goal," Cody said.
"I thought the defense played great tonight."