By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
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.
