High school football game story by Kimberly Garlick

Controversial call sparks Kenton Ridge past Greenon

By Kimberly Garlick

A controversial play in the second quarter contributed to Kenton Ridge’s 43-14 Central Buckeye Conference win over Greenon Friday night.

Kenton Ridge’s Kyle Sarven punted to the Knights out of his own end zone. Greenon’s Sebastian Conner “fumbled” the ball and was knocked over on the play while Kenton Ridge’s Ben Perkins recovered the ball and ran 63 yards to score a touchdown, breaking a 7-7 tie. However, the play was not a fumble. It was a muffed punt, which cannot be advanced in high school football.       


“You’re not allowed to advance a muffed punt,” Greenon coach John Jewell said.

Jewell went on to say that he screamed at the referees to call it back, but “they didn’t want to listen.” He said that play changed the game.

And Kenton Ridge coach Joel Marratta agreed.

“The muffed punt that we scooped and scored on was absolutely the game-changer,” Marratta said. “I think it took the wind out of their kids a little bit.”

Not only did the muffed punt play deflate Greenon (1-3, 0-1), it also sent Conner out of the rest of the game as a precaution after getting hit in the head. 

No matter how that one play was called, the game must go on. And for Kenton Ridge (4-0, 1-0), it continued rather quickly when it recovered an onside kick to set up Thomas Bennett’s  one-yard touchdown run with 26 seconds left in the first half for a 21-7 lead.

The Kenton Ridge scoring was not finished. Nick Lias made a 39-yard throw to Cole Worley for a touchdown with 4:35 left in the third. In that same quarter, Zach Holt ran one yard for a touchdown with 1:01 left. The Cougars scoring for the final time with 4:53 left in the game when Max Winnenberg ran 33 yards for a touchdown.

Thirteen players rushed the ball for total of 191 yards for Kenton Ridge. Part of the Cougars’ overall strength was working the ball around to so many players.

“I saw a lot of kids that don’t get any ink in the paper ever do some special things tonight and that really worked to our advantage,” Marratta said. “I think this is the most complete game we’ve played this season.”

Tyler Steiner made the second and last tally for the Knights with a 30-yard touchdown run with 2:41 left in the game.