Northern Kentucky All-Star Series 2023 West 20 East 14

Tagged under: All-Stars, Beyond The Keystone, Game Photos, Gameday Hub

David Burnworth | June 9, 2023

For the first time since I started going to high school football games, I made my way to Kentucky last night to catch the Northern Kentuck All-Star Series 2023 West vs. East game. This would be just my second visit to Dixie Heights High School, my first in over a decade.

Defense ruled the first half as neither team would light up the scoreboard though there were some nice plays throughout the half. Chase Williams (Simon Kenton) had a nice 12-yard catch on the sweet-looking pass thrown by Chase Crone (Simon Kenton) with 7:20 showing on the first quarter clock. Crone would be sacked a short time later by Torin O’Shea (Beechwood) for a loss of ten yards. Bennie Hill (Scott) would use his quick feet to pick up 15 yards for West at the 4:29 mark. On fourth and two, the West elected to go for it, and that decision turned out badly when Romann Gregg (Dixie Heights) plowed into Luke Zimmerman (Ryle), holding the runner well short of the first down marker.

In the 2nd quarter, at the 8:07 mark, Brennan Kahle (Conner) found Kaden Gardner (Ryle) for a nice 25-yard West gain. With 3:31 left in the half, Aaron Vogt (Bellevue) had his pass picked off by Miguel Garcia (Holmes) to give the West the ball. Keegan Hill (Campbell County) would be sacked by two East players, O’Shea and Zimmerman, causing a four-yard loss and putting the East in a third-and-14 situation. Hill would complete a 15-yard pass to Jayden Lawson (Simon Kenton) and then a 34-yard pass to Caleb Hinkel (Dixie Heights) before the half came to a close.

The West would take a 6-0 lead after Braden McCarty (Boone County) kicked off the second-half kickoff with a ninety-five-yard kickoff return. Quincy Barber (Newport) would haul in a 19-yard catch with 9:27 left in the third quarter. Right after the big gain, Crone would use his feet on a nice quarterback draw, picking up 24 yards. Crone would use his legs again to tie the game up with a three-yard touchdown run with 5:35 left in the third.

Lukas Colemire (Ryle), who is listed as an RB/DB on the roster, played a lot of quarterback in this game, a position I later learned that he hadn’t played since his freshman year. He would find his Ryle teammate Kaden Gardner for a nice 21-yard score to put the West up 12-6 with 8:08 left in the game. The clock showed 5:08 remaining when Crone connected with Barber for a big 17-yard pick-up. The same combo struck again at the 4:54 mark for 12 yards. After another Crone-to-Barber completion that went for 28 yards, the East had a first and goal from the two. From there, Lawson waltzed in for the score again, tying the game at twelve. The last two plays of regulation left the fans wanting more. First, Crone and Barber connected for 25 yards, and then on the game’s last play, Crone was sacked by Noah Haynes (Boone County) to force overtime.

The West needed just one play to score, with Colmire finding Gardner for the touchdown, and then the same combo hooked up for the two-point conversion after Colemire avoided being sacked. The East’s only overtime play resulted in a completed pass to Barber, who coughed the ball up, and the recovery was made by O’Shea for the West.

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