The Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the National Football Foundation held its 56th Annual Scholar-Athlete Banquet Thursday night at the original Montgomery Inn.
The banquet honored numerous high school football players in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, giving out the prestigious “That’s My Boy” award for Kentucky and the “That’s Our Boy” award for Cincinnati.
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Named after Cincinnati Post writer Joe Quinn, the Southwest Ohio “That’s Our Boy” award was given to Kings’ linebacker Nick Hoying.
“Nick’s performance on the field is a direct reflection of his perspective and work ethic off the field,” Kings head coach Alex Garvin said. “His mental and physical preparation were the most intentional I have ever seen in a player. Nick would study film for hours on our next opponent before we would even walk into the scouting report on Monday afternoons. Without Nick’s leadership and passion, our team would have never reached so many of our 2022 season goals.”
Hoying, a Bucknell University commit, was a second-team All-Ohio and first-team all-district selection last season in Division II. He led the Eastern Cincinnati Conference in tackles (118), to go with five sacks, six forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and three interceptions. Hoying helped Kings win its first-ever regional championship.
Off the field, Hoying carried a 4.0 GPA and is a member of National Honor Society, Spanish club, a youth mentor, a tutoring peer. He also plays lacrosse for the Knights.
“Football is a catalyst for growth,” Hoying said. “It taught me discipline, tenacity, perseverance and teamwork. Football has allowed me to grow as a man in such a way nothing could ever replicate.”
Hoying is the second recipient of the award from Kings, joining Brad Maurer (2003).
Finalists for the award included: Summit Country Day’s Jacob Carrico, Kings’ Michael Mussari, La Salle’s Tajh Landrum, Badin’s Jackson Martin, Moeller’s Joe Ginnetti, Lakota East’s Austin Siereveld, Edgewood’s Evan Swartz, Madeira’s Conner Cravaack and Western Brown’s Drew Novak.
The Northern Kentucky “That’s My Boy” award, named for the Covington Catholic graduate who passed away at the World Trade Center in the Sept. 11 attack, went to Covington Catholic’s Aiden Jones.
Jones became the ninth CovCath Colonel to win the award, joining Chad Cogwell (1993), Tom Beechem (1999), Patrick Van Sant (2009), Troy Timmerman (2011), Sam Burchell (2014), Hunter Ziegelmeyer (2017), Jack Coldiron (2019) and Michael Mayer (2020).
“Ever since his first start as a sophomore, Aiden has been dependable, resilient and flat-out a top performer in our program,” Covington Catholic head coach Eddie Eviston said. “It has been awesome to watch him grow and develop into a dominant and physical player that he was this past season. But more importantly than any of his on-field characteristics, Aiden Jones is just a very intelligent, respectful and coachable young man.”
Jones, an Army commit and defensive lineman, had 63 total tackles last season, including a team-high 18 for a loss and 6.5 sacks. Jones also forced a pair of fumbles and recovered one. He was a three-year letter winner and a team captain at CovCath and was named to the Northern Kentucky All-Star team.
Off the field, Jones maintains a 4.0 GPA and was a member of the National Honor Society, National English Honor Society, Student Council, the Drug Free Club and Spirit Club. He was also a school ambassador and a member of the basketball team.
“Football is more than just a game to me,” Jones said. “It has taught me the importance of teamwork, perseverance, goal setting, time management and staying in shape. Most of all, football has allowed me to build lifelong relationships with coaches and teammates.”
Northern Kentucky finalists for the “That’s My Boy” award included Highlands’ Adam Bowman, Simon Kenton’s Josh Bowling and Conner’s Grant Reece.
The Tom Potter Memorial Award of Courage, which is awarded to a person who has overcome great obstacles in life, was given to Mt. Healthy senior Kaleb Sherrer.
“He (Sherrer) has earned everything that has come his way,” Mt. Healthy head football coach Jordan Stevens said. “He has had tunnel vision to success.”
The Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the National Football Foundation also honored four scholar-athletes from the four area colleges who have “demonstrated excellence on the gridiron, in their respective areas of studies and in their campus communities.”
Those four honorees were Mount Saint Joseph University’s Cornell Beachem Jr., Miami Ohio University’s Jack Coldiron (the 2019 recipient of the “That’s My Boy” award), Thomas More University’s Trey Brausch and the University of Cincinnati’s Ryan Montgomery.
Rocky Boiman, a 1998 St. Xavier High School graduate who later played at Notre Dame before a nine-year NFL career with four teams, was the guest speaker. Boiman is the co-host of the “Eddie and Rocky Show” on 700 WLW and is a College Football Analyst for ESPN. Boiman is a current board member at the Life Learning Center, a facility devoted to offering second chances to people in need and is the author of a book titled “Rocky’s Rules: A Playbook for Becoming Your Best in Challenging Times.”
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