Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
The Highlands Bluebirds defense faced another tricky offense this game.
The Scott County Cardinals brought a traditional Wing-T offense to the table after the Boyle County Rebels used a Wishbone look in the season-opener. Two running backs lined up side-by-side behind quarterback Clay Mckee in the backfield and had another back line up in the slot. Like Boyle County, Scott County motioned one of its backs and the second back often came through with the ball.
Highlands (2-0) struggled in the first half of the win over Boyle County with that Wishbone style. But the Bluebirds contained the Cardinals' potent attack holding them to 256 yards on 37 carries for an average of just 6.9 per carry in a 60-37 win.
Scott County (1-1) ran for 360 yards in its season-opening win over Louisville Seneca. But the Cardinals had to throw when the Bluebirds went up big in the second quarter.
McKee completed 5-of-11 passes for 158 yards. But Blake Schutte and Ben Streeter picked off one pass each and Schutte recovered a Cardinal fumble.
McKee broke in at quarterback for the graduated Jay Lawler. Lawler took his talents to Eastern Kentucky University.
The Bluebirds scored 20 points off those turnovers after scoring 19 off Boyle County turnovers last week. Highlands is at plus-4 in the turnover department. Opponents have not scored any points off Highlands' two turnovers.
"The guys exectued so well," said Dale Mueller, Highlands head coach. "If you can get up on a team and make them throw, you've really helped yourself. Some of those (interceptions) were zone coverage things where they made their reads and were in good position to make a play."
Scott County did play standout running back Dieries Dumphord. He gained 122 yards on 13 carries for an average of 9.3 a run. He broke free for a 50-yard run in the second quarter. But he fumbled it at the end and Schutte recovered it. Dumphord ran for 1,148 yards and 19 touchdowns last year.
Dumphord sprained an ankle in a preseason scrimmage and did not play against Seneca. Kevo Edwards and Kevin Clausen rushed for 148 and 110 respectively against Seneca. Edwards ran for just 32 in the loss Friday.
Edwards did burn the Bluebirds for a touchdown in the first quarter. McKee faked a few handoffs before rolling left to find Edwards wide-open for an 80-yard touchdown with 3:59 left in the stanza. But no Cardinal receivers found themselves that wide-open again.
"We had a couple slip-ups," said Jake Heck, Highlands senior defensive back. "But overall, we did a good job. We just had to focus on what we were doing. The corners stayed back and watched everything in front of them."
Improvements:
Mueller said the Bluebirds plan to get better during the bye week.
That is even scarier for opponents for a team that has 112 points and 16 touchdowns in two games so far against two formidable opponents. Scott County finished 14-1 last year losing 62-21 to Louisville Trinity in the Class 6A title game. Boyle County came into the Aug. 17 with a superb 52-5 record since the start of 2008 when Larry French took over as head coach.
One area of improvement is converting extra-points. The Bluebirds converted just 5-of-8 against the Cardinals. It did not matter in that game, but could be crucial in close contests. Evan Allen and Luke Brockett are the listed kickers on the Highlands roster.
"We try to be as perfect as we can," Allen said. "They are going to be mistakes sometimes. They (Cardinals) were rushing hard up the middle. The snap and kick were good. We just have work on the blocking."
Getting healthier:
The Bluebirds did see several players not suited up Friday.
The most noticable is senior wide receiver Jac Collinsworth. After the win over Scott County, Collinsworth said he's recovering from a hamstring injury but he'll be back for the game against Eastern.
Highlands travels to Louisville Western at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 7.
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