[Hoot Gibson]

The 2006 Covington Catholic team won the 3A State Championship.
The 2023 game & this years game are the only games in this series that have been played in Park Hills.
All nine of these games have been played in the playoffs.

I’m pretty sure JC had the lead at the half in 2006. Big FB/LB (Johnson?) was injured and that was the difference.

I don't remember the score at halftime.... but Shaun Grimm & Blake Johnson were running the ball over CovCath before Blake went down with a leg injury.
Grimm was fast enough on the edges to keep CovCath from loading the box & Blake was strong enough up the middle to keep the chains moving.  Tommy Taylor & Michael Tackett were good enough to have the DB's respect them as well and that opened up the middle for Blake.  

That 2006 game still hurts.... not sure if JC would have beat Bowling Green in the Class 3A state finals, but seeing JC's Long Black Train go down and the game totally changed with CovCath's late TD's was painful.

JC led 14-10 at the half. 

Cov Cath won the Championship 27-8.

In 2006 JC scored on the first drive and then CCH tied it up at 7-7 on the next drive. CCH stopped JC's next drive and went up 10-7 on a field goal, and JC responded with about a 40yd pass followed by a 5yd TD run to go up 14-10 on CCH. CCH was about a foot short of the cross-bar on a 56yd field goal attempt on the next drive. Then they forced JC three and out on the next drive. CCH drove down to the 1 yard line, and on the last play of the half CCH had a wide open receiver in the endzone. The ball hit him in the hands and he just dropped it, and that ended the half with JC leading 14-10.

In the second half CCH received the kickoff and went down and scored on their first drive to take a 17-14 lead. They stopped JC on the next drive. CCH scored again on the following drive and went up 24-14. After that CCH and JC traded fumble recoveries. Then CCH stopped JC's drive again, and responded with a touchdown to go up 31-14. CCH stopped another JC drive and scored one more TD to make it 38-14 final.

With the score 24-14, Blake Johnson was running for good yardage on every carry until he went down with an injury. He was sorely missed on both sides of the line, and Covington Catholic dominated the rest of the game. CC made some good adjustments at halftime and moved the ball much better in the second half. The Colonels probably would have won the game, even if Johnson had not been injured, but IMO, the margin would have been much closer because JC was dominating the time of possession until his injury and there was a good chance that they would have narrowed the margin to 24-21 on that drive. It was a great game and one of several regional finals where either Highlands or Covington Catholic beat Johnson Central before winning a state title.