Allen Ramsey Photo. Highlands senior wide receiver Cashel Coughlin (89) looks for room after a catch in Friday's game against Ashland. The Bluebirds won 30-15 to advance to the region finals.
By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
Many
received their wish.
The Highlands
Bluebirds football team (10-2 overall) will have another home playoff game
Friday when the District 7-4A rival Covington Catholic Colonels (8-4) come to
town for the fourth straight year for the Region 4 championship. Game time is
7:30 p.m.
Allen Ramsey Photo. Highlands junior defensive back Cody Stamper (23) and linebacker Conner Welsch (5) tackle Ashland's Jalon Taylor (24) in Friday's second-round playoff game. The Bluebirds won 30-15
Allen Ramsey Photo. The Highlands offensive line including Carson Haas (61) sets up in Friday's game against Ashland.
By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
Like many
teams they are facing this year, the Highlands Bluebirds and Ashland Blazer
Tomcats may not play again for a while.
The
Bluebirds move to Class 5A next year and the Tomcats stay in 4A. The Bluebirds
beat the Tomcats, 30-15 in the closest second-round playoff match-up in Fort
Thomas in the past three seasons. The Bluebirds dominated the Tomcats last year
(56-6) and in 2012 (52-13).
G. Michael Graham Photo. Highlands senior defensive backs Alex Shadle (5) and Jackson Bardo (3) celebrate after Shadle returned an interception for a touchdown in Friday's 70-6 win over Boyd County. The Bluebirds take on Ashland Blazer at 7:30 p.m. in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs on Friday in Fort Thomas.
By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
The fact may not be too relevant to the current players and coaches.
But it still remains. The Highlands Bluebirds football team has not lost to the Ashland Blazer Tomcats since 1954. That happens to be the year that Highlands Head Coach Dale Mueller was born.
While that may not be a mental advantage, the recent Blue and White domination of Kentucky teams may be. Highlands leads the overall series 19-5-1 including a 52-13 decision in Fort Thomas in the second round of last year’s playoffs.
NEWPORT –
Friday’s victory gave great signs toward another big year based on the way they
tend to improve as the season progresses.
The Newport
Central Catholic Thoroughbreds held off the visiting Ashland Blazer Tomcats,
37-26 to open the season. The two teams had not met since NewCath Head Coach
Dan Wagner’s senior year in 1976 – a 21-7 Tomcat win.
“They had trouble stopping us, which I didn’t really
think they could stop us after the second or third series,” Wagner said. “But
then by the same token, we had trouble stopping them. In Mac (Franzen’s) first
football game (at quarterback), we’re not going to come out and play perfect
football. It doesn’t work. But we stopped when we had to. I just told them that
was the worst we’ll play all year.”
It marked
just the second win in the series against eight defeats for the Thoroughbreds.
The other NewCath win came 19-0 in the Class AA playoffs in 1965.
The defending
2A champion Thoroughbreds appeared to be in better condition, especially in the
second half. Temperatures reached the 80s.
“It doesn’t matter if you are there at 6:30, quarter til
7 or 7 p.m., it’s still muggy,”
Wagner said. “They said the humidity was
supposed to go away. It didn’t. We had some kids go down. But they had someone
go down every other play, which seemed to benefit us in the long-run because it
let us rest.”
It also
marked the debuts as head coaches for both teams. Wagner and Ashland Head Coach
Tony Love served as defensive coordinators last year before the schools
promoted them. Love took over when longtime Head Coach Leon Hart retired and
Wagner took over when three-year Head Coach Eddie Eviston took the Offensive
Coordinator job at Georgetown College.
Ashland did
outgain NewCath, 380-360 in total offense. But a lot of that came because the
Thoroughbreds recorded four turnovers to two for the Tomcats. Both teams lost
two fumbles each and NewCath threw two interceptions.
The inexperienced
Tomcat defense that returned just two starters from last year’s 9-3 squad could
not stop the balanced Thoroughbred Spread offense. NewCath ran for a combined
304 yards on 40 carries for an average of 7.6 yards a carry and five
touchdowns. Franzen had 11 carries for 103 yards with Jacob Smith going for 86
yards on nine carries. Teammates Jack Sutkamp had 66 yards on nine rushes and
Kalvin Moore had 40 yards on seven touches.
“Mostly what we do is have alley protection,” said Jacob Wieland, junior offensive lineman. “We’ll usually do that to the weak side of
the ball. That gives Mac a lane to run through if the play is busted.”
The NewCath
defense knew it had to stop Ashland sophomore standout tailback Quentin Baker
on offense. Baker ran for 238 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns out of
Ashland’s Diamond formation attack.
“We had a game plan for (Baker) going in,” said Luke Kues, NewCath sophomore defensive end. “The only reason he had any good plays is
we missed tackles. We have to work on that. He’s a good athlete so we all
needed to fly around to him because you don’t know if one person is going to
take him down because he’s that good. We also need to wrap up, which I was
guilty of not doing once or twice.”
Neither
team passed a lot except for late when Ashland had to pass to try to get back
into the game. Franzen completed 3-of-7 passes for 56 yards and Ashland’s
Hunter Prince completed 7-of-15 for 42 yards. No receivers on either team had
more than one reception.
The
Thoroughbred defense may have bent some, but did come up with some crucial
stops. Stephen Brooks came up on 4th-and-1 with 1:49 left in the third quarter
and NC held Ashland on downs after the Tomcats drove into scoring territory
late in the fourth quarter. Sutkamp landed a jarring hit on a screen on fourth
down with 27 seconds to give NewCath the ball back.
“I saw more things we need to fix on defense than
anything else,” Wagner said. “We’ll just keep working to get in better
shape.”
NewCath
took the lead with 9:30 left in the first quarter. The Thoroughbreds lined up
trips left. Franzen swung the ball to Smith. Smith broke through several
tackles and scampered 53 yards to the end zone to put NewCath up 7-0 after John
Caudill made the extra-point attempt.
Ashland
responded when James Queen scored from 13 yards out with 6:06 left in the
quarter. The Thoroughbreds led 7-6 after the PAT failed.
NewCath
drove down the field late in the first quarter and scored six seconds into the
second when Jack Sutkamp. That gave NewCath a 13-6 lead before Baker broke free
for an 80-yard scamper to tie the game at 13 with 9:38 left in the half.
But the
Thoroughbreds promptly responded when Franzen scored from 22 yards out. NewCath
worked the clock well in the final minute of the first half. Caudill hit a
26-yard field goal with 1.1 seconds left to put NewCath up 23-13 at halftime.
Baker broke
free again for a 46-yard touchdown run with 9:25 left in the third. NewCath
still led 23-19 after Moore blocked the PAT.
The
Thoroughbreds came back with a touchdown drive of their own. Moore scored from
three yards out with 5:08 left in the third quarter to put NewCath up 30-19.
Smith
scored his second touchdown from 18 yards out with 10 minutes left in the game
to put NewCath up 37-19. But Ashland did not quit as Prince completed a 13-yard
touchdown pass to Queen with 7:33 left in the game to make the final score of
37-26.
The
Thoroughbreds return to action on Friday at 6 p.m. at Dixie Heights. They take
on the defending Class 5A champion Cooper Jaguars. Cooper and head coach Randy
Borchers, a 1996 NewCath alum, lost 17-10 at Ryle to open the season.
The Newport
Central Catholic Thoroughbreds football team is not afraid to play teams in
bigger classes to prepare for district play and this year is no different.
The
defending Class 2A champions open the year against one of the top 10 teams in
Kentucky in overall wins on Friday in the Ashland Blazer Tomcats. Ashland ranks
ninth in the state with 645 wins in school history.
“We’re using those first five games as a measuring
stick,” said Dan Wagner, NewCath Head
Coach. “When we come out of those first
five games, we’ll have played as good of teams as we’ll see in the playoffs. We
always pride ourselves on being ready as the year goes along.”
Both teams
come into the season with new head coaches. Unlike other head coaching changes,
they were in-staff promotions so the players were already familiar with them.
Wagner and Ashland head coach Tony Love served as defensive coordinators on the
respective staffs previously before last year’s head coaches moved on. NewCath
head coach Eddie Eviston took the Offensive Coordinator job at Georgetown
College after the Thoroughbreds won their fifth state championship last year
and veteran Ashland head coach Leon Hart retired.
Ashland
enters the season fresh off a 9-3 campaign. The Tomcats constantly battle the
Johnson Central Golden Eagles for district championships in Class 4A, District
8. The Tomcats lost 52-13 to the eventual state champion Highlands Bluebirds in
the second round of the playoffs last year. But they trailed the Bluebirds just
15-13 at halftime of that game.
The Tomcats
also play a challenging non-district schedule. That includes an annual game
against southern Ohio power Ironton.
“We have always played a very challenging schedule.
This year is no different,” Love
said. “Similar to NCC, we are not
afforded the ‘rebuild’ mindset by our community. Our players know this and take
great pride in ‘the next man’ up and having no excuses.”
Both teams
lost a good load of talented seniors from last year’s team. The Thoroughbreds
(11-4 last year) are breaking in many new faces in their spread and 4-4
defenses after graduating 15 seniors from last year’s 2A state championship
team. They beat Covington Holmes, 24-0 in two and a half quarters worth of
scrimmage time on Friday. Quarterback Mac Franzen, Jack Sutkamp and Kalvin
Moore scored rushing touchdowns for NewCath. Franzen plays defensive back with
Moore and Sutkamp manning linebacker spots on the defensive side of the ball.
Sophomore Jacob Smith is the leading returning rusher from last year.
Franzen
previously said the passing game is coming along. Receivers like Tommy Donnelly
will be looking to help carry the load.
“We want to get the ball and spread it around,” Wagner said. “We
have enough people to be able to do that. Obviously, time will tell but I think
we’ve got some young kids that are ready to step up and start playing. We have
to get through these first five games and get them ready for these last five.”
Ashland
graduated all but two starters on defense. The Tomcats run similar offenses and
defenses to NewCath. Senior defensive lineman Luke Johnson and senior defensive
back James Queen lead the Tomcats on the defensive side of the ball.
“Not knowing your opponent creates several challenges,
especially early in the year where you don’t have a body of work to be able to
study and break down,” Love said. “However, in some ways it can be beneficial
because it forces the players to focus on the fundamental rules and keys we
teach our players. In my opinion, it becomes relative due to the fact the other
team is experiencing the same situation.”
The Tomcats
will build their offense around sophomore running back Quinton Baker. Former
University of Kentucky standout Al Baker’s son ran for 932 yards in nine games
last year before missing the playoffs because of injuries. Hunter Prince will
be the quarterback for Ashland.
“Basically on the end, they have a tackle that comes
down under the other tackle,” said
Colin Hoover, NewCath junior offensive/defensive lineman. “That usually means he’s crossing on the other side of the field and
getting the handoff. We need to contain (Baker) and not let him get outside.”
Wagner said
he’s been pleased with the team’s work ethic in practice this week. Moore and
Franzen previously said their class wanted to provide strong senior leadership
this year.
“Our kids know how to work. I’ll give them that,” Wagner said. “Obviously,
you have to kick them in the tail occasionally, figuratively not literally to
get them moving. We’ve been there and they know what it takes to get to the
state finals so we’ll just keep working doing the same things we do. Senior
leadership will do that for you.”
Game time
is 7:30 p.m. at Newport Stadium. The Thoroughbreds also play Cooper, Campbell
County, Dixie Heights and Simon Kenton before opening District 6 action.
The Newport
Central Catholic Thoroughbreds boys basketball team needed to beat the
tournament hosts to achieve a major accomplishment this season.
The
Thoroughbreds came through with a convincing 80-61 victory over the Ashland
Blazer Tomcats (9-3) Saturday to win the 58th Annual Ashland Invitational
Tournament at James A. Anderson Gym. NewCath stayed unbeaten at 11-0 as a
result.
“Going down here in a different environment was a good
experience for us,” said Grant
Brannen, NewCath head coach. “It was
pretty much everybody against us. We had to take on that mentality and the kids
responded. We played really well. We shared the ball and did what we were
supposed to do.”
The
Thoroughbred guards did most of the damage in this game. Tournament Most
Valuable Player Michael Bueter and Zack Pangallo burned the Tomcat full-court
press consistently to tally 19 and 17 points on the evening.
The NewCath
posts also came up big. Sophomore Drew McDonald finished with 19 points and
five rebounds. Jake Schulte and Nick Seibert followed with 11 and 10 points
respectively.
Pangallo
keyed a crucial 12-0 run in the second quarter to help NewCath turn a
five-point deficit into a seven-point advantage. The Thoroughbreds forced 15
Tomcats in the first half and led 39-32 at halftime.
NewCath
pulled away in the third quarter. The Thoroughbreds led 61-43 entering the
fourth quarter.
Ashland’s
three-point shooting kept the game within striking distance. The Tomcats made
10-of-18 three-pointers for 55 percent. Nick Miller finished with a team-high
15 points for Ashland.
“(Ashland) is somewhat like us,” Brannen said. “They
have a solid core group. They rotate five guys in and out. They shot the heck
out of the three. So for us to win by 19 was a great accomplishment.”
The
Thoroughbreds saw four players make the All-Tournament Team. McDonald, Pangallo
and Jake Schulte joined Bueter on the squad.
NewCath
does not play again until Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when the in-town rival Newport
Wildcats (8-3) come up the hill.
NCC girls 73, Southwestern 63
The
Thoroughbreds (9-3) finished fifth in the Second Annual State Farm Classic with
a win Saturday over the Lady Warriors (8-6).
Junior
Nikki Kiernan once again controlled the paint with her fourth double-double of
the tournament of 28 points and 14 rebounds to go with eight blocked shots.
Kiernan made 6-of-7 free throws and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her
career.
Kiernan had
plenty of help. Teammates Michaela Ware and Alexus Mayes followed with 14 and
12 points respectively. Mayes made two three-pointers.
Both teams
made 14 free throws. But Southwestern shot a better percentage attempting 22
for 63 percent and NewCath attempted 26 for just 54 percent.
Addison
Corder kept Southwestern within striking range. She finished with 23 points.
The
Thoroughbreds do not play again until a matchup at 36th District arch-rival
Highlands (10-4) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The Highlands
Bluebirds defense knew the Ashland Blazer Tomcats would try to pound them
between the tackles.
The Tomcats
finished with 260 yards on 52 carries and two touchdowns for an average of five
a carry. But after going for 196 on 28 carries for an average of seven in the
first half, Ashland managed just 64 yards on 24 carries for an average of about
2.7 a carry in the second half. Highlands pulled away from Ashland, 52-13 in
the second round of the playoffs Friday.
“Defensively, we just played great,” said Dale Mueller, Highlands co-head coach. “They’ve got some excellent offensive
linemen. Their coach (Leon Hart) does a great job. They have a great scheme,
but we played them so well defensively when we were struggling offensively.
That was big for us.”
Ashland
came into the game with three running backs out with injuries including
freshman Quentin Baker. The Tomcats ran out of the tight I-formation packages
and some spread looks. Quarterback Aaron Elam and running backs Evan Yongue and
Malik Massey had most of the carries.
The Highlands
Bluebirds football team knew it had history on its side entering Friday’s second-round
Class 4A playoff game.
The Ashland
Blazer Tomcats had not beaten the Bluebirds since 1954. Despite that, Ashland
made a game of it trailing just 16-13 at halftime. But the top-ranked Bluebirds
(11-1) gave the visiting Tomcats (9-3) no more hope of an upset in the second
half outscoring them, 32-0 to pull away for a 52-13 victory at David Cecil
Memorial Stadium. Highlands moved to 84-3 since the start of 2007.
“(Ashland has) some good football players,” said Dale Mueller, Highlands co-head coach. “They played well. Their problem is they
didn’t have as many good football players as we do. Halftime was about getting
ready to run the plays we were going to run in the second half.”
With their 27th
consecutive playoff win, the Bluebirds earned another trip to the Region 4
championship. They will face the arch-rival Covington Catholic Colonels (9-3)
back in Fort Thomas on Friday. CovCath downed host Johnson Central, 45-15
Friday in Paintsville. The Bluebirds beat the Colonels, 35-21 on Sept. 21, also
in Fort Thomas.
Photo by G. Michael Graham/Fort Thomas Matters. The top-ranked Highlands Bluebirds take on the eighth-ranked Ashland Blazer Tomcats in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Fort Thomas.
By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
Many have
tried it this season.
But only
one football team successfully carried out the plan to victory against Class 4A’s
top-ranked Highlands Bluebirds (10-1). Teams try to gain five yards at a time
rushing the football between the tackles, milk the clock and keep the
quick-strike Bluebird offense off the field.
Cincinnati
Elder did it in Highlands’ lone loss of the season, 38-24 on Oct. 19. But the
Panthers are the lone team that has had a big enough offensive line and a
bruising running back to pull off the feat.
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