Beechwood football an enviable and unmatched record of sustained on-field excellence!
Some teams would be worried about being reclassified into a higher classification of competition. Some teams would be concerned their having been the team to beat at the 1A level might not translate to success at the 2A classification. The Beechwood High School Tigers are anything but one of those teams.
Why? Well, it is rather simple. Success breeds success. In the world where high school football is considered cyclical, and stars come and go around the high school with the hallways not always yielding consistent talent every year, Beechwood has discovered a way to compete at a championship level every year. High School football doesn’t appear cyclical, at all, in Fort Mitchell.
Beechwood has been elite everyone of the last ten successive years. There is no reason to expect the future to be different just because some really good players have graduated.
KPGFootball poured back through the KHSAA record book and, according to the records we accessed over the previous ten seasons, Beechwood has won 3 straight Kentucky 1A football titles (2016, 17, 18), has been a runner-up once (2015), has won 5 Regional crowns, appearing in the semis each of those years (2009, 10, 11, 12, and 14), and were regional runner-up in 2013. Over that decade the Tigers have averaged an 11-3 mark, per season, and won slightly over 78% of its games.
While it would be comforting to the new Class 2A rivals to comment Yeah, but that is against the lowest classification in Kentucky football, one would be building a false since of comfort on a very shaky foundation to engage in that line of thinking. First, good football teams in Kentucky are good, and the bad ones are bad, regardless of the classification in which the team competes. Secondly, Beechwood plays and wins out of its classification all the time.
One of the keys to Beechwood being successful in 2019 will rest on the shoulders of Class of 2021, QB-hotshot, Cameron Hergott. This will be especially true in light of Logan Castleman, RB/DB, being now out of high school eligibility.
Hargott is listed as a pro-style QB; however, the 6-2, 170-pounder is plenty mobile and dangerous with his feet. In 2018, Cameron completed 103 of his 167 passing attempts for 1,671 yards with 24 TD passes against 7 interceptions. Hargott also ran the football 92 times gaining 547 yards and scoring 7 rushing TDs.
It will be difficult to spy targets down the field in the passing game as three of his four leading receivers graduated last year (John Odom, Hank Birindelli, and Tyler Donoho). However, Mason Williams returns for one more tour.
The ground game looks considerably bleaker with Castleman’s graduation. Logan gained 1,694 of the team’s 3,274 rushing yards and 28 of the team’s 52 rushing TDs in 2018. Castleman also scored 206 of the team’s 565 points.
The Tigers will likely look to Cole Stammer, Class of 2021, at least initially to pick up some of that slack. As a sophomore, Stammer had 26 carries for 236 yards with a pair of rushing TDs.
Class of 2021 placekicker Collin Graham is back in 2019 too. In a game where points can be critical (Beechwood beat Pikeville in last year’s State Championship game by a single point), having a money place kicker can be very significant. In 2018, Graham converted 64 of his 69 attempted PATs.
Defensively, Duncan Baugh, who aligned almost anywhere needed in 2018 across the defensive front, will be a huge miss. Baugh led the team in QB sacks (8) and fumble recoveries (2) a season ago. Luke Bolger and Adam Derry, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the QB-sacks category, are also now gone.
The third level looks to be in need of some younger guys stepping up in 2019 as well. In 2018, the Tigers were led by John Odom (who also lead them in receptions on offense) with 6 interceptions and he has graduated. Mason Williams is back and he had 4 interceptions. However, 15 of the team’s 20 interceptions, in 2018, have exhausted eligibility.
Perhaps the most important returnee is Noah Rash. Coach Rash and staff have shown the ability to keep Beechwood playing at a championship level over a long and sustained period of time. When other teams are riding the ebb and flow of talent, the Tigers seem to always find the right pieces for the chess game on grass we know as football.
So, will Beechwood be in the Class 2A title hunt after spending the last ten years annually competing for the Class 1A crown? Will they do this even after losing huge chunks of both offensive and defensive production from off its championship team in 2018? Take a little advice from the experts, that’s we in case you were wondering, we wouldn’t recommend betting against them.
Reporting for KPGFootball, this is Coach HB Lyon and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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