Thursday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Ladybirds volleyball team concluded the regular season with a 2-0 (25-12, 25-19) loss at Lexington Lafayette on Thursday. Highlands fell to 11-22.

Second-seeded Highlands takes on Bellevue in the District 36 semifinals Tuesday at Newport High at 6:30 p.m. Top-seeded Newport Central Catholic will face either Dayton or Newport at 5:30 p.m. and the winners meet for the district championship at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Bishop Brossart bests NewCath soccer:

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds soccer team (3-9-5) dropped a tight one, 1-0 at Bishop Brossart (18-1-1) on Thursday.

Nathan Grosser had another big game at goalkeeper for NewCath. He recorded 10 saves.

NewCath takes on Highlands in the 36th District title game on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Beechwood, NewCath cancelled:

The Beechwood and Newport Central Catholic women’s soccer teams hoped to make up a rained out soccer game from earlier in the year. But Beechwood cancelled it.

NewCath (11-4-1) takes on Highlands in the District 36 title game on Thursday at 8 p.m.

NewCath faces Lloyd Memorial in key District 6 matchup

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds football team felt like another one got away last week in a 12-7 loss at Covington Holmes.

The Thoroughbreds said part of the reason was a bad week of practice. The Thoroughbreds may be 2-4 overall. But they are still 1-0 in Class 2A, District 6 action and face the Lloyd Memorial Juggernauts on Saturday in a crucial district contest.

“I think our kids understand we need to practice better if we want to play better on Fridays,” said Eddie Eviston, NewCath head coach. “Our kids are responding right now. Obviously, things start to get real in district play. We hope our kids respond on Saturday afternoon.”

The Juggernauts come into the contest at 6-1 overall and 2-0 in district play. Lloyd Memorial has wins over Owen County, Dayton, Walton-Verona and Gallatin County and has lost to Garrard County in non-district action. The Juggernauts edged defending state champion Covington Holy Cross, 36-35 on Sept. 21 before beating Bishop Brossart, 28-0 last week in district action.

Of those seven opponents, only two are not in Class 2A in Dayton (1A) and Garrard County (3A) and only Walton-Verona (4-2 overall) and Gallatin County (5-2) have winning records. Those seven opponents have a combined record of 19-25. Lloyd Memorial has outscored those opponents, 228-145 for an average of about 32.6-20.7.

Highlands continues District 7 action against Pendleton County

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

It is a case of the seeds of confidence against the seeds of doubt.

The top-ranked, undefeated Highlands Bluebirds football team comes into another Class 4A, District 7 contest heavily favored against the struggling Pendleton County Wildcats (1-6 overall, 0-2 district) Friday. Highlands (6-0, 2-0) smashed the Wildcats, 79-0 in Falmouth last year and a similar score could occur this year based on the way Highlands tends to take care of business against either solid, average or struggling opponents.

The Bluebirds enter the contest fresh off a 69-10 domination of Harrison County in district action last week. Highlands used a hurry-up offense and scored on the first play of the possession three times in the first quarter in the victory. The Bluebirds led 21-3 after the first quarter and 42-10 at halftime. They hope to jump out to another big lead in this game by just being themselves.

“The whole focus this week is to play good football – to block well, to get off blocks and tackle well, to throw (the football) and catch it well, to kick and field kicks well,” said Dale Mueller, Highlands Co-Head Coach. “So it’s really a matter of us playing to the standards that we want to play more than the standards to beat the other team.”

Pendleton County has been outscored a combined 134-7 in its two district games against Covington Holmes (64-7) and Covington Catholic (70-0). The Colonels outgained the Wildcats, 433-63 in total offense. CovCath scored on its first seven possessions before the starters came out of the game. Opponents have outscored Pendleton County, 51-19.3 on average.

The Wildcats like to run a Spread offense with four wide receivers and a 4-3 defense. They have just 29 players on the roster listed on the Kentucky High School Athletic Association web site compared to 91 for Highlands. They are led by senior wide receiver/defensive back Jacob Kells.

Pendleton County started its program in 2002 and is on its third head coach since then in third-year Newport Central Catholic graduate Terry Brown. The Wildcats are 6-21 in Brown’s tenure. They’ve been to the playoffs three times in school history losing in the 4A first round in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Pendleton County’s only winning seasons in school history came in 2009 (7-4) and 2005 (6-4).

Wednesday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Ladybirds soccer team tasted victory for the first time since Aug. 29 with a 4-3 victory at Covington Holy Cross on Wednesday.

Highlands finished the regular season at 3-9-3 overall and snapped an eight-game winless streak dating back to a 3-1 win at Boone County. All three wins came away from its home field at Tower Park and this marked the first win against a team outside Boone County.

The loss snapped Holy Cross’ three-game winning streak. The Lady Indians fell to 6-8-2.

Highlands outshot Holy Cross, 12-9 including 8-7 on goal. Ladybirds goalkeepers Jesse Daley and Sarah Owen made two saves each.

Alyssa Farley scored two goals to lead Highlands. Brooklynn Rivers and Kati Walls scored the other two goals for the Ladybirds. Allyson Bridewell and Alli Foellger notched assists for Highlands.

The score was 1-1 at halftime. Walls broke a 3-3 tie with the game-winning goal late in the second half.

The Ladybirds face Newport Central Catholic on Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. for the District 36 championship.

Ryle defeats NewCath volleyball:

The last game of the regular season for the Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds volleyball team ended with a 3-1 loss (26-24, 25-15, 16-25, 25-16) to the Ryle Lady Raiders on Wednesday. NewCath finished the regular season 9-21.

Nikki Kiernan once again led the Lady Breds with eight kills. Alyssa Maier led NewCath with 23 assists and Maria Froendhoff had 36 digs. Froendhoff and Maier had six aces a piece.

The Lady Breds continue action in the District 36 tournament at Newport next week. NewCath is the top seed and is shooting for its eighth consecutive district championship.

Tuesday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team rolled to its fourth straight shutout with a 6-0 blanking of the Covington Holy Cross Indians on Tuesday at Tower Park.

The Bluebirds moved to 10-6-2 overall. Holy Cross (5-11-1) made one shot and Nick Breslin stopped it en route to Highlands’ seventh shutout this season.

Petr Carter scored the only goal of the first half for Highlands before the Bluebirds exploded for five goals in the second half. Emerson Holladay and Christian Austin added Highlands goals to make it 3-0 before a key point in the game.

The Bluebirds tried to prevent the Indians from touching the ball before it went out of bounds. That’s when things became heated. Highlands received a yellow card and a Holy Cross player received a red card and the Bluebirds had a man advantage the rest of the game.

Colin Dean started the onslaught with a score with 14:19 left in the game. Ethan Schmits scored with 6:10 left and Cole Davis-Roberts finished the scoring with 5:30 to go.

The Bluebirds conclude the regular season at 8 p.m. Thursday against the 2011 state runner-up Ryle Raiders (14-4-1).

Highlands volleyball downs Bellevue:

The Ladybirds downed the Bellevue Lady Tigers,  -0 (25-8, 26-24, 25-17) on Senior Night to move to 11-21 overall Tuesday.

Monday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

Rain forced the cancellation of soccer games Monday. The Highlands Ladybirds did not make the trip to Cooper and the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds did not take on Holmes.

The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds (11-5-1) and St. Henry (12-4-1) Lady Crusaders did play a half. St. Henry won 1-0. The Lady Breds conclude the regular season Thursday against Beechwood. The Thoroughbreds travel to Scott for an 8 p.m. contest Tuesday.

Highlands plays at Covington Holy Cross to conclude the regular season on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

Weekend Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds soccer team broke through in a big way with a 9-0 win over the visiting Russell Red Devils on Saturday.

NewCath improved to 3-7-5 and snapped a five-game winless streak. Russell dropped to 7-8. The Thoroughbreds recorded their third shutout of the year behind five saves from Nathan Grosser.

Matt Tolle scored a hat trick of three goals for the Thorobreds and Cody Guthier scored twice. Evan Brannon, Connor Hanneken, Sam Barth and Kyle Simon scored the other goals for NewCath. Josh Liles had three assists for NewCath with Hanneken recording two. Jacob Hensley, Nathan Tackett and Brannon all added assists.

NewCath travels to Covington Holmes for a 6:45 p.m. contest Monday.

Lady Breds win:

The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds soccer team knocked off Russell, 4-1 on Saturday.

The Lady Breds improved to 11-4-1 and Russell fell to 12-6.

NewCath has two home games remaining. The Lady Breds play host to St. Henry at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Highlands volleyball goes 2-3 in Louisville:

The Highlands Ladybirds went 2-3 in the Jefferson County Invitational in Louisville over the weekend.

Highlands lost to Covington Holy Cross, 2-0 (25-18, 25-23) and Owensboro Catholic, 2-0 (25-15, 25-20) on Friday in pool play to fall into the Bronze Bracket on Saturday.

Highlands won the first two games of the day to snap a 13-game losing streak. This included a 2-0 (25-8, 25-16) win over Fern Creek before falling in the Bronze title game, 2-1 (15-25, 25-21, 25-15) to Green County.

The Ladybirds (10-21) take on Bellevue on Senior Night on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Ladybirds soccer ties Boyle County:

The Highlands Ladybirds tied the Boyle County Lady Rebels, 0-0 on Saturday at Tower Park.

Jesse Daley played the entire game and made three saves in net for the Ladybirds. Highlands is 2-9-3 with the eight-game winless streak. The Ladybirds are 0-9-3 against teams outside of Boone County.

Highlands travels to Cooper at 7:30 p.m. Monday.