PARK HILLS – They picked an excellent Saturday afternoon to turn in their most complete football game of the year.
The Highlands Bluebirds came out determined from the opening kickoff and dominated the host Covington Catholic Colonels, 42-6 to stay undefeated and earn the valuable leg up in the Class 4A, District 7 race. Highlands (6-0) also avoided a potential second-round road trip to eastern Kentucky and could be playing at home in the first three rounds of the playoffs.
“It was a matter of getting focused for the games that count,” said Dale Mueller, Highlands Head Coach. “This is a game that counts for us. In reality, we play a 10-game regular season. But CovCath is The Game. I was really pleased with the way the guys played (Saturday).”
G. Michael Graham Photo. Highlands guard Drew Houliston (right) looks to make a move in Friday's game at Lloyd Memorial. The Bluebirds downed the Juggernauts, 41-30 to snap a nine-game losing streak to 9th Region opponents.
By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
ERLANGER
– The odds may be against them making the 9th Region Tournament this season.
But that
does not mean the Highlands Bluebirds boys basketball team won’t try. They’re
trying to find some positive things to build on as tournament time approaches.
Highlands
found some things to build on Friday with a 41-30 win over the host Lloyd
Memorial Juggernauts. The win snapped a nine-game losing streak against 9th
Region opponents and let the Bluebirds avenge a season-ending 42-39 loss to the
defending 34th District champions in last year’s region quarterfinals at the
Bank of Kentucky Center at Northern Kentucky University. Highlands improved to
10-15 overall and 4-10 in region play and Lloyd Memorial fell to 6-15.
“Our word for (Friday) was hope,” said Mike Flynn, Highlands head coach. “When you have hope you have everything.
When you have no hope, you have nothing. That’s what we need to hang our hat
on.”
Both teams
slowed the pace and tried to work the ball around for good shots. Highlands
shot the ball better making 14-of-32 shots for 44 percent compared to 10-of-39
for Lloyd for 26 percent. The Juggernauts made just 3-of-19 three-point attempts
for 16 percent while the Bluebirds missed all four three-point shots.
Highlands
tried to take advantage of its size down low with Jake Gronotte and
6-foot-6-inch Nick True. The duo scored eight points each to follow Luke Turner’s
game-high 12 points. True also grabbed seven rebounds.
“We’re practicing hard every day trying to get our
fundamentals up,” True said. “All we’ve been doing is shooting in
practice. It’s starting to help a little bit and will get better down the road.”
Lloyd won
the rebounding battle, 26-25. But Highlands recorded 10 second-chance points to
two for the Juggernauts.
Jarice
Ewell led the Juggernauts with 10 points. He recorded two three-point plays in
the second quarter. But the Bluebirds switched to a mixture of 3-2 and 2-1-2 zones
to take away the Lloyd penetration after that.
“That slowed (the Juggernauts) down and kept them away
from the rim,” Flynn said. “They’re a very quick team. They cut very
hard probably better than anyone in the region. They were hurting us with that.”
The
Bluebirds made their free throws when the Juggernauts fouled in the fourth
quarter. They hit 13-of-19 attempts for 68 percent compared to 7-of-10 for 70
percent for Lloyd.
Highlands
used a 6-0 run to go up 10-6 after the first quarter. Gronotte and Drew Houliston
made two free throws each before True rejected a Lloyd shot then hit a jumper
with 45 seconds remaining.
Lloyd tied
the game at 14 before Highlands went on a 5-0 run. Bailey Witte hit a free
throw before Turner scored four points. The Bluebirds led 21-18 at halftime.
The
Juggernauts tied the game at 25 with 3:10 left in the third before the
Bluebirds used a 6-0 run to go ahead for good. Turner hit a jumper and two free
throws in that run and Gronotte hit another jumper.
Highlands
then pulled away in the fourth. The Bluebirds hit 6-of-9 free throws in the
game’s final 2:26 to pull away.
“You just have to take care of the ball and slow it
down a bit,” Houliston said. “They were going to keep coming at us and
trap us. We had to make smart decisions. I felt we did a good job of that.”
Highlands
has two games left in the regular season. The Bluebirds play host to the Scott
Eagles (13-11) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The
Highlands Bluebirds football team knows it can’t add on to its state record of
13 undefeated seasons.
But the
Bluebirds (8-1) did learn a valuable lesson from Friday’s loss to the
Cincinnati Elder Panthers. They need to prepare better for teams like Elder
that have big offensive lines and a bruising running back.
“We feel like we made a big step up (Monday),” said Dale Mueller, Highlands Co-Head Coach. “We looked at the film. One guy at the
Olympics this past year came in second and said, ‘That’s really what I trained
for. That’s what I got.’ We trained for 8-1. That was our fault. Now, we want make
sure we train for the state championship.”
Elder
running back Chris Schroer ran for 259 yards on 45 carries for an average of
5.8 a carry and five touchdowns in the 38-24 Panther win that snapped Highlands’
28-game winning streak. Other opponents have tried running between the tackles
against the Bluebirds, but not with the same level of success. Boyle County did
it well in the first half of the season opener.
The
Bluebirds are still 81-3 since the start of 2007. They bounced back in huge
ways after the other two losses in that timeframe. After losing to Cincinnati
Colerain in 2008, Highlands beat Covington Holmes, 70-6. Then in 2010 following
that loss to Ryle, the Bluebirds smashed Woodford County, 70-8 to open the
Class 5A playoffs.
Following a
week of the usual hype that saw even some well-known figures get into the act,
it was time to decide things on the football field.
The result
proved similar to the last seven meetings between the two Northern Kentucky
powers. The Highlands Bluebirds showed they are still the team to beat in Class
4A with a 35-21 win over the arch-rival Covington Catholic Colonels on Friday
at David Cecil Memorial Stadium in the District 7 opener for both teams.
Highlands
moved to 78-2 since the start of 2007 including 8-0 against CovCath. The
Bluebirds (5-0 overall, 1-0 district) have won 25 in a row and 43 straight at
home. The Bluebirds also improved to 42-17 all-time against the Colonels.
The
Bluebirds did it once again with their offensive versatility. They played
quick-strike football the first four games. But in this contest, Highlands
moved the quick Colin Seidl into the backfield and grinded things out from many
different angles in the victory and kept CovCath’s potent offense off the field.
“It is a great defense,” said Dale Mueller, Highlands Co-Head Coach, of the
Colonel defense. “They have a lot of
starters back and we have a lot of respect for them. We felt the run was there
and we have a pretty versatile offense so we went with that.”
The
Bluebirds ran the ball 61 times for 291 yards for an average of just more than
4.77 a contest. Quarterback Donovan McCoy led the way with 29 carries for 110
yards and a touchdown. Seidl finished with 86 yards on 11 carries with a
touchdown and Zach Harris had 75 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns.
Everyone associated with the Highlands
Bluebirds football team knew this was bound to happen.
The Bluebirds had been
playing good, but not great football by their standards. So they had an intense
week of practice and ended up thrashing the visiting Mason County Royals, 61-3
at David Cecil Memorial Stadium on Friday for Homecoming.
“We’re really pleased
with what we did in all aspects of the game,” said Dale Mueller, Highlands head
coach. “We really feel we have a number of All-State caliber players and we
hadn’t been doing that yet.”
Class 4A’s top-ranked
Bluebirds moved to 4-0 overall for its 24th consecutive win and 42nd straight
home win improving to 77-2 since the start of 2007. Mason County dropped to
1-4. They Royals are 3-12 since the start of 2011 after two straight seasons
losing in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs.
Highlands came into the
game with an average margin of victory of 24 points and also averaged 54.3
points and 512.3 yards per contest. The Bluebirds obliterated the first average
and ended up topping the other two outgaining the Royals, 571-128 in total
offense.
The Bluebird
defense played its best game of the year coming out and hitting hard. The first
three opponents averaged 30.3 points and 264.3 yards per contest rushing.
Highlands held Mason County to 51 yards rushing on 25 carries for an average of
just more than two yards a touch.
The Bluebirds
keyed on Mason County standout tailback Rashon Nelson holding him to 45 yards
on 13 carries. Nelson ran for 191 yards on 35 carries and two touchdowns in
Mason County’s 37-22 win over Harrison County last week.
“We really
worked on what we messed up against Louisville Western,” said Austin Peterson,
Highlands senior defensive lineman. “We stayed closer to the line (of
scrimmage), stayed lower and made sure we kept our gaps and played fast.”
The Bluebirds
moved the ball up and down the field at will against the Royals mostly through
the air and did not punt in the contest. Senior quarterback Donovan McCoy
completed 33-of-44 passes for 75 percent. His completions to 11 different
receivers netted an even 400 yards of total offense with six touchdowns.
Sophomore backup
quarterback Beau Hoge completed Highlands’other pass attempt. It was a
16-yarder to Ryan Donovan in the fourth quarter.
Highlands opened
up its passing game more against Louisville Western after dominating Boyle
County and Scott County on the ground to open the season. McCoy completed
25-of-54 passes for 456 yards and four touchdowns in the previous three
contests.
Nick True led
Highlands with seven catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns and Jac
Collinsworth had five receptions for 54 yards and a touchdown. Jensen Feggins, Ryan
Greene and Luke Turner had one touchdown reception each for the Bluebirds.
“We knew we had
to get our passing game going,” Collinsworth said. “We’d had our running game
going for a while now. We wanted to work on our routes, get Donovan some throws
and really get our guys going. We really took our biggest step up as far as our
passing game.”
Highlands only
ran the ball 11 times in the contest. Most of the runs came in the second half
with the game out of reach. Donovan led the Bluebirds with 125 yards rushing on
eight carries with two touchdowns. McCoy had the other three carries for 30
yards and his ninth rushing touchdown of the year.
Highlands opened
the game with an oneside kick and recovered it. The Bluebirds drove down the
field and scored when McCoy zigged and zagged through the Mason County defense
for a 7-yard score to put the Bluebirds up for good at 6-0.
Highlands scored
two more touchdowns in the first quarter to go up 20-0. Feggins hauled in a
6-yard pass and Collinsworth hauled in his first touchdown pass of the year
from a yard out.
Mason County put
together its longest drive to start the second quarter completing some short
passes. The Royals hit a 30-yard field goal to cut the margin to 20-3. But
Highlands responded with 14 in the quarter to go up 34-3 at halftime when
Greene caught an 8-yard touchdown pass and Turner hauled one in from 47 out.
“We just started
playing (the short passes) better,” Mueller said. “Sometimes, you can get a
play on our defense once. But it’s hard to come back and get it a second time
because once we’ve seen it, we’re pretty much ready for it.”
Highlands put
the game away in the third to force the running clock. True hauled in 5 and
8-yard touchdown receptions and Donovan scored from two yards out in the third
and four in the fourth for their touchdowns.
The Bluebirds
return home Friday to face Blake Bir and the arch-rival Covington Catholic
Colonels (4-1) back at David Cecil at 7 p.m.
