Highlands Makes History with Win

Bluebirds Second Team in Country to Reach 900 Program Wins

PHOTO: Ed Harber. Highlands senior Brycen Huddleston (1) sets up for a block in the 49-0 win at Boone County on Friday. That marked the 900th victory for the program.

Coming into the season, three teams in Kentucky had the chance to reach the 900-win plateau in school history.

The Highlands Bluebirds led that group needing just five wins while the Louisville Male Bulldogs and Mayfield Cardinals needed eight and 13 respectively. Highlands has 23 state championships in school history with Mayfield and Male recording 12 and eight respectively.

People wondered if Highlands would get there first after the two-game losing streak. But the Bluebirds earned it first with the 49-0 win over the Boone County Rebels on Friday in Florence. The Bluebirds are 900-243-46 dating back to the first season in 1915.

The Bluebirds are second in the country for the most all-time wins. The Valdosta Wildcats from south Georgia lead the country at 931-234-34.

"That means a lot to me personally growing up and wanting to be a part of Highlands football," said Joe Buten, Highlands junior running back. "It's cool to accomplish something like that."

Male moved to 7-0 with a 53-0 defeat of Class 6A, District 4 opponent Louisville Southern on Friday. The Bulldogs are 899-329-49 with the first season taking place in 1893.

The Bulldogs and Head Coach Chris Wolfe, a Highlands graduate, could earn the 900th win in school history with a win at Louisville Fern Creek this Friday. Male is the defending Class 6A champions.

The Cardinals are 6-1 following a 45-7 win over Caldwell County on Friday. Mayfield is 893-257-32 with its first season in 1919.

Class 5A, District 5 Update:

The Covington Catholic Colonels (8-0 overall) will come to Fort Thomas undefeated on Friday. CovCath has lost just once in three seasons at 37-1 overall. That came to South Warren, 20-16 in the Class 5A state championship last year.

The Colonels took down the Cincinnati (Ohio) La Salle Lancers from the Greater Catholic League South, 27-7 in Park Hills on Friday and are 2-0 in district play. That marked the first loss of the season for the Lancers (6-1).

In the other district game Friday, the Conner Cougars defeated the Cooper Jaguars, 35-29. The Cougars moved to 3-0 in district play and could win the district title with a win over Covington Catholic in two weeks in Hebron.

Boys State Golf Update:
Gabbard, Muller Move to Second Day:

Highlands juniors Justin Gabbard and Luke Muller qualified for the second day of the state tournament at the Bowling Green Country Club. Muller shot a 79 and Gabbard an 80 on the par-72 course to make it to the second day.

Gabbard and Muller have been to the state tournament three years in a row. They helped the Bluebirds to an eighth-place finish as a team last year.

Volleyball:
Highlands wins two in Cake Classic:

The Bluebirds moved to 22-6 with 2-0 wins over Scott (25-15, 25-23) and Bishop Brossart (25-9, 25-16) on Friday.

Against Scott, Highlands hit .108 connecting for 23 kills on 93 attempts and 13 errors. The Bluebirds also had 23 assists, four aces, 38 digs and two solo blocks to go with five service, three pass receiving, four blocking and one general ball-hitting error.

Senior Ava Hockney had eight kills and a solo block for Highlands. Senior setter Audrey Graves had 23 assists and 10 digs. Senior outside hitter Casey Dunn had six kills, two aces and nine digs. Sophomore CC Shick had five kills and a solo block. Senior defensive specialist Rylee Kirschenbaum had six digs.

Against Bishop Brossart, Highlands hit .343 connecting for 30 kills on 67 attempts and seven errors. Junior Laura Winkler led the Bluebirds with seven kills. Graves had all 30 assists.

Highlands also had four aces, 32 digs and four solo blocks to go with one service and two passing errors. Shick and Hockney had two solo blocks each and Hockney had two aces. Senior defensive specialist Brooke Biltz and sophomore Madison Clore had four digs each.

"We made sure to play a fast offense - get our passes up to Audrey," Biltz said. "She set the middles very quickly and that was able to keep the other teams' on their toes. We got a lot of kills off that from the middles."

Highlands takes on Conner at 10 a.m. and George Rogers Clark at 11 a.m. Saturday.