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Highlands, CovCath Could Meet Again in Playoffs

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior wide receiver Ryan Garvey (11) comes out with the team against Covington Catholic on Friday.

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. The Highlands OZone wore pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the game against Covington Catholic on Friday.

While the 21-14 home loss to the arch-rival Covington Catholic Colonels (8-0 overall) may have been devastating to the Highlands Bluebirds football team (6-2), this series has often seen a chance at redemption weeks later in the playoffs.
Highlands hopes for that chance after losing to the Colonels for the third straight year. The Bluebirds still lead the all-time series, 49-20.

"That's actually something we talked about a lot in the off-season is learning to fail," said Brian Weinrich, Highlands Head Coach. "You can't be successful if you don't fail. If you always think it's going to be perfect, you're wrong. It's never going to be perfect. If you don't fail then you're not trying. We've been getting after it since we got together in January. We've challenged them to fail whether it's in the weight room, doing sprints or playing basketball, whatever we were doing. What we meant by that is go hard, take some chances, fail. See what your abilities are. See what you can do then push yourself passed that. Okay, I failed. Now what do I have to do to get better at that? These guys have 100 percent bought into that concept and we're not afraid to fail. We're going to play hard. We're going to play aggressive. We're going to get after it and trust each other. I'm excited about getting back to work (Saturday morning)."

Highlands hoped to have that chance last year, but fell one game short, 35-34 to South Oldham in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs. Highlands finished 6-6 last year. The Bluebirds have already equaled last year's win total.

Highlands captured nine straight region championships between 2007 and 2015 winning seven state championships during that time. The Bluebirds beat the Colonels twice during that time in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 during a 15-game winning streak against them. CovCath beat Highland twice in 2006 on its way to the Class 3A state championship.

The Colonels are closing in on Kentucky history with 23 straight wins, which is a school record after going undefeated for the first time in school history at 15-0 with the seventh state championship in school history last year. If they finish the regular season undefeated with wins against Dixie Heights (0-8) and Campbell County (5-3), they will have 25 wins in a row.

Highlands won 37 straight between 2008 and 2010 for the longest streak in school history when Dale Mueller was head coach. Louisville Trinity owns the state record with 50 consecutive wins between 1988 and 1991.

Thursday Community Rally:

Highlands held a community rally at Cecil Memorial Stadium on Thursday prior to the big game. Weinrich tried to throw the football into the garbage bag can in a display put on by the Highlands head coaches.

Highlands Principal Matthew Bertasso tried to lower the huge Highlands H flag down just across from the Highland Ozone student section. It did not go down that time. But he received help on it the next day.

Playoff Picture Close to Shaping Up:

Unless some upsets happen, it looks as though Highlands will play host to defending Class 5A runner-up Madison Southern (2-6) in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. The winner would then travel to Anderson County (8-0) in the second round of the playoffs.

Pink-Out Theme:

The OZone wore pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. The themes change each game.