This football season arrived with many unanswered questions. Coming off of a 5-6 campaign in 2023, with a new coach, new system, and a pair of pre-season scrimmages where we were handled by Bracken County and Sayre, who both turned out to be stellar football teams. Both Tyler Holtz and Keegan Gulley shared quarterback duties in those scrimmages, and it was not until opening night at Walton-Verona, when Holtz solidified his position behind/under center.
Tyler threw for 220 yards and 4 touchdowns that night, and memories of the scrimmages washed under the bridge. That night an unknown soccer player named Max Runge suited up and connected on 4 of 4 PATs.
Our second outing was at North College Hill, where our opponents discovered that they could not compete with us for 48 minutes, as we drew off to a 48-26 victory after leading by a single point, 21-20 at halftime. In this contest we unleashed the run game. Cam Mandel ran for 181 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Landon Geyer added 108 yards and a trophy run. Meanwhile Holtz threw for another 134 yards and 2 more touchdowns. The SoccerStang, Runge hit on 6 of 6 PATs and if you hadn’t known him prior to his two game debut, you knew him now.
Pineville and Nicholas County were deposited in the win column by a combined score of 87-12.
In the Nicholas County game Holtz threw for 5 touchdowns and 203 yards.
We suffered our first loss at 3A Lloyd, who proved to be a superior opponent, after a contentious first half.
This season’s “Signature Win” came at the MAC on October 4th as we defeated favored Paris 21-14, The Greyhounds went on to defeat Ludlow 52-12. A week later we took down district rival Holy Cross, and then perhaps let one get away, as Ludlow survived our Mustangs in a key district seeding game at the MAC. Trimble County and Pendleton County fell by a combined score of 114-0 to round out the regular season at 8-2 At this point Tyler Holtz had thrown for 22 Touchdowns, 2 shy of our school record, Cam Mandel had run for 13 touchdowns, one short of the school record, and by this time Max Runge had obliterated the school record for PATs, being 47 of 48 attempts, 10 over the previous mark.
Our season came to a close this past Friday night at Dixie Heights High School, at the hands of NCC, closing the book on a 9-3 season.
As a team we eclipsed the previous Total Points Scored in a Season record with 440 Points, bypassing the old mark of 377 set back in 2016. Tyler Holtz has gone on to set the Single Season Touchdown Passes Record with 25. Cam Mandel is the new School Record holder for Most Rushing Touchdowns in a Single Season with 17, and moves into 2nd Place for Most Rushing Yards in a Season with 1,241, and 2nd Place in Most Points Scored in A Season with 128. Junior Max Runge hit on 53 of 55 PAT Attempts, blowing away the old record of 37, and he will return in 2025 to attempt to take down his own school record.
Isaac Amin was our leading receiver, hauling in 21 passes for 5 touchdowns and 485 yards. Nick Cozzi caught the most touchdown passes with 9, and Keegan Gulley and Nate Geiman caught 4 apiece. Cozzi also led the team with 7 Interceptions. He, Keegan Gulley, and Cam Mandel recorded Pick Sixes.
In addition to Mandel, Landon Geyer accrued 256 yards and 4 touchdowns. Cam Mandel recovered a team-high 3 Fumbles, joining four other former Mustangs tied for second place in this category.
Coach Adam Kozerski completes his first season with passing grades. It will be interesting to follow the Mustangs through the off-season, building momentum toward the 2025 season, where we will have to replace 10 quality seniors. Stand By!