No. 12 Kenton Ridge (7-3) will travel to fifth-seeded Cincinnati Taft (8-2) for a Division IV, Region 16 first round game at 6 p.m. Friday night at Taft High School.
“I do think our guys are comfortable with (being on the road),” said Kenton Ridge coach Jon Daniels.
The Cougars are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
“We’re proud of our kids for sure,” Daniels said. “At the beginning of the season, we just talked about going 1-0 every week, battling, growing and facing adversity every week and they’ve done a good job with that. They certainly went out and overcame some of the hills that were in front of us in the past, some of the mountains that maybe seemed a little steep for us, we were able to climb this year.”
Taft is making its 10th straight playoff appearance and 12th appearance since 2010. They’ve gone 8-11 all-time in the playoffs, but have yet to advance to the state final four.
“They’re a good football program and they’re coached well,” Daniels said. “They’ve got athletes all over the place. They can definitely play.”
The Senators are led by sophomore quarterback Monsanna Torbert (1,305 passing yards, 14 touchdown passes), senior running back Robert Kelly (522 rushing yards, 386 rushing yards) and sophomore wide receiver Eddie Holloway (650 receiving yards).
“We’ve got to make them keep taking snaps,” Daniels said. “They’ve been a team that’s survived off of explosive plays and they’ve got kids everywhere that if they get the ability to get explosive plays and get their confidence rolling, they can really go.”
Offensively, the Cougars have to be sharp against a fast and athletic Taft squad, Daniels said.
“We’ve got to go out and execute,” he said. “I’m sure our offensive staff would say we had spots where our execution wasn’t up to par and probably cost them a bit (against Bellefontaine). It was inches on some plays and timing on others and all those things. Being able to execute offensively, having them keep moving the ball and executing in key situations will be the key for us.”
With recent games against strong programs like London and Bellefontaine, the Cougars have been playing playoff-caliber football for several weeks now. The Cougars last four opponents — including Jonathan Alder and Urbana — are playing in Week 11.
This week, however, it’s win or go home.
“(London and Bellefontaine) are teams everyone expects to win at least one playoff game and probably multiple if we’re being honest,” he said. “The consequences are much different now if you don’t play well. We’ve got to up our level a little bit more than we have the last couple weeks.”
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