Highlands, NC advance in 9th Quaterfinals; Volleyball teams win 36th semifinal matches

G. Michael Graham Photo. The Highlands Bluebirds come onto the field for the second half of Tuesday's 9th Region quarterfinals at Ryle. The Bluebirds won 4-0 to advance to Thursday's semifinals back in Union.

 

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Sports Reporter

UNION – Some may have understandably feared the worst entering this 9th Region quarterfinal contest.

Like last year, the Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team lost in the regular season finale to the Ryle Raiders before dropping the 36th District championship to rival Newport Central Catholic.

But unlike last year when Highlands lost 1-0 in the quarterfinals at St. Henry, the Bluebirds turned in a solid 80 minutes to beat 33rd District champion Ryle (14-6-2) on Tuesday, 4-0. The Bluebirds (14-7-1) were the only road team to win in the quarterfinal round.

“We’ve been talking about 80 minutes all season long,” said Matthew Winkler, Highlands Head Coach. “Anytime we relax, it hurts us. So when we play with intensity and heart, it helps us get the results we want.”

Highlands returns to Ryle to play in the region semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The Bluebirds take on the 34th champion Dixie Heights Colonels (13-8-2). The two did not meet in the regular season.

Both teams played 4-5-1 (defender-midfielder-forward) formations. Ryle changed at the end of the game trying to rally.

“We’ve had some excellent trainings the past couple days,” Winkler said. “The guys have been really motivated. We’ve trained every day, Saturday and Sunday included just to keep them together. We have the same focus and same goal and that’s to get to the state tournament and win state.”

Both teams took 16 shots. Ryle had 13 on goal to 11 for Highlands. But none made it past Highlands goalkeepers Nick Breslin and Nathan Tippenhauer. Breslin made seven saves in the first half and Tippenhauer had six in the second half.

Freshman Will Bedel played the entire game at goalkeeper for Ryle. He made seven saves.

“We came out and practiced hard to get a win and keep our season going,” Tippenhauer said. “We could have been more ready (against NewCath) because it was districts. I think we were flat because we knew we got to regionals no matter what. It was crucial that we stayed on our marks and made sure nothing got past us.”

The staff moved senior Andrew Barnes from center back to midfield and he played a role in the first two goals that gave Highlands a 2-0 halftime lead. He played one to Mitch Gesenhues for the first goal with 29:41 left in the first half then scored on a pretty pass from Jordan Jarvis with 4:21 left in the half.

“I showed (Coach Winkler) that was a good choice because I was hungry because I haven’t scored or done anything offensively lately,” Barnes said. “I made eye contact with Jordy (Jarvis) coming down. He knew that I was going in for the cross and he played me a perfect ball. (Bedel) came out and I headed it right over.”

Highlands added two more goals in the second half. Brady Gesenhues scored off a nice pass from Colin Dean with 28:48 left in the half and Noah Sellers scored on a rebound with 3:02 left in the game.

The game did get chippy at times. Ryle drew four yellow cards and Highlands had one.

Newport Central Catholic 2, Boone County 1:

The Thoroughbreds (12-4-1) edged the defending 9th Region champion Rebels (16-7-1) in a rematch of last year’s title game at Tower Park in Fort Thomas.

Boone County beat NewCath, 2-0 in last year’s title game at St. Henry. The Rebels advanced to the state semifinals before losing 2-0 to eventual state champion Louisville St. Xavier.

“This is the best soccer team I’ve had at NewCath,” said Mike McDonald, NewCath Head Coach. “These guys work hard for what they get. Nothing comes easy to them. I was really impressed with how they played.”

Evan Brannon and Noah Connolly scored the goals for the Thoroughbreds and Matt Tolle had an assist. Goalkeeper Paul Grosser had eight saves for NewCath.

The Thoroughbreds led 2-0 at halftime. But the Rebels did not give up as Evan Ohara scored on a penalty kick with about 18 minutes remaining.

The Rebels entered the contest with a region-high 85 goals on the season. They’d also given up just 39.

“We relied on our defense a lot,” McDonald said. “With help from our goalkeeper, we shut them down. That’s the best game (Grosser) has played all year.”

The win sets up a semifinal contest against the Covington Catholic Colonels at Ryle on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The Colonels (12-6-3) beat the Thoroughbreds, 4-3 on Sept. 12 at Morscher Field.

36th District Volleyball:

Highlands, NC to play for Title:

The Highlands Bluebirds (13-21) and Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds (15-16) handled their 36th District semifinal opponents on Tuesday to advance to the title game Wednesday. NewCath is the tournament host.

Highlands beat Dayton, 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-16) and NewCath downed Bellevue, 3-0 (25-13, 25-6, 25-16). The title game takes place at 7 p.m.

NewCath soundly won the regular season contest, 3-0 on Oct. 7. NewCath has won 16 of the last 17 meetings.

Rachel McDonald led NewCath with 10 kills with teammates Keyaira Lankheit and Nikki Kiernan following with nine each. Alyssa Maier followed with 30 assists with Alexa Kehoe recording seven aces and Amanda Ruwe six digs.

Both teams lost in the 9th Region quarterfinals last year. Prior to that in the old 10th Region, NewCath won six straight crowns and Highlands won it in 2004.