Highlands Rallies Past Simon Kenton

Bluebirds Have Won Four Straight

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. Highlands rallied past Simon Kenton for a 6-4 non-region victory on Friday.

The Highlands Bluebirds baseball team (23-8 overall) rallied past the Simon Kenton Pioneers (15-10), 6-4 in Independence on Friday. Highlands has won four in a row.

Highlands-Simon Kenton Sidebar

Bluebirds Win 30th Meeting with Pioneers

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. The Highlands student section known as the OZone came to the game with a USA theme Friday.

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior defensive lineman Sylvan Frazier (44) makes the tackle while junior defensive back Shabaz Butt (22) converges.

The Simon Kenton Pioneers football team had come into the game against the Highlands Bluebirds undefeated four straight years.

But unlike the past three seasons, Simon Kenton did not leave that way. The Bluebirds put the clamps down on the Pioneers in a 38-9 non-district victory Friday at David Cecil Memorial Stadium. That marked the first win over Simon Kenton since 1998.

That was the 30th meeting against the Pioneers all-time Friday. Highlands improved to 26-4 against Simon Kenton in school history.

Thursday Highlands Notes

Bluebirds Volleyball, Boys Soccer Record Non-Region Wins

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands senior Margot Seidel makes a pass in a recent game.

The last time the Blue and White had this kind of start was around the time many of the current players were born.

The year was 2002. The Highlands Bluebirds improved to 5-0 for this first time since then with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-21) over the Kings Mills (Ohio) Kings Knights on Thursday in Fort Thomas. Highlands also snapped a six-game losing streak to the Knights beating them for the first time since the teams began playing on an annual basis in 2012.

Bluebirds Best Pandas

Highlands Records Road Region Win

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. The Highlands seniors and their families pose before the game against Simon Kenton on Tuesday.

The Highlands Bluebirds softball team faced the arch-rivals in a battle of teams that have combined to win the last five 9th Region titles.

But the Bluebirds (15-10 overall) claimed this one by a 9-6 score over the host Notre Dame Pandas (13-13). Highlands pulled away with five runs in the fourth inning. The Bluebirds scored three times in the first, but Notre Dame senior pitcher Lauren Durstock hit a three-rune home run in the bottom of the inning to tie it up.

Weekend Round-Up

Bluebirds Finish Regular Season with Convincing Win

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior Will Hochleutner (13) dribbles up the field in a recent game against North Oldham.

The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team served notice it is playing some great soccer headed into the postseason on Saturday.

The Bluebirds (12-7 overall) took down the solid Simon Kenton Pioneers (15-5) by a convincing 5-1 mark at Tower Park. They finished the solid week with two wins over teams with 15-plus wins. They recorded a huge 2-0 win at Ryle on Tuesday.

Two Saturday Wins for Bluebirds

Highlands takes both games at Simon Kenton

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior pitcher Ryan Adkins fires to the plate in a recent game.

The Blue and White ventured to Independence and came home with two more victories in two different fashions Saturday.

Facing Balanced Teams

Pioneers handle Bluebirds

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior Robby Gabbard goes up for a shot in a recent game. Gabbard scored 10 as Highlands lost 89-65 to Simon Kenton on Wednesday.

The Highlands Bluebirds basketball team (2-6 overall) ran into a balanced 6-1 Simon Kenton Pioneer squad Wednesday and lost 89-65 in the first round of the Simon Kenton Invitational.

Tuesday Briefs: Highlands soccer, volleyball win

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior Nick Gish (7) makes his move in a recent game. The Bluebirds won their fourth in a row with a 1-0 victory at Simon Kenton on Tuesday.

The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team (7-1-2) continues to win at a astounding rate.

Highlands recorded its fourth straight win with a 1-0 victory at Simon Kenton. The Bluebirds also recorded their eighth shutout of the season in the process.

Simon Kenton defeats Highlands second time in one week

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands sophomore Drew Rom makes a great catch in a recent game.

The Highlands Bluebirds baseball team (12-11 overall) fell to the Simon Kenton Pioneers for the second time this week, 7-4 in Independence on Friday.

Highlands struck with one in the first inning. But Simon Kenton tied it up in the bottom of the frame then scored twice in each of the second, third and fourth innings to build a 7-1 advantage before holding off a Bluebird rally.

Bluebirds go yard five times in win over 2014 state runner-up

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands senior D.J. Mills connects for one of his two hits in Tuesday's game against Simon Kenton. Mills scored twice in the 11-5 Highlands win.

Lately, it has been bombs away for the Highlands Bluebirds baseball team.

NewCath prepared to battle unbeaten Simon Kenton

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The season does not become any easier Friday.

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds (0-2) football team plays host to the undefeated Simon Kenton Pioneers (3-0) at Newport Stadium. Game time is 7 p.m.

NewCath saw its season-opener at Ashland rained out. The Thoroughbreds opened with a 31-0 defeat at Cooper and played much better in a 30-17 loss to Campbell County on Friday. But the underdog role does not phase NewCath.

Simon Kenton handles NewCath, 30-7

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matter Sports Reporter

INDEPENDENCE – The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds needed to control the line of scrimmage in order to have a chance Friday.

Instead, the host Simon Kenton Pioneers did that in a 30-7 non-district victory here. The Thoroughbreds (1-3) have dropped three in a row to bigger schools for the second straight year and Simon Kenton remained undefeated at 4-0.

Simon Kenton outgained NewCath, 335-137 in total offense, including 237-107 through the air. Pioneer quarterback Brenan Kuntz completed 19-of-29 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns in the win. He often hurt NewCath when he broke outside containment.

“That was absolutely a big part of the game,” said Dan Wagner, NewCath Head Coach. “We spent a lot of time on the field defensively and you can’t let a kid of that caliber have that much time and make that many plays or he’s going to hurt you and he did.”

Kuntz completed most of his passes to senior wide receiver Grant Wassom. Wassom had seven catches for 123 yards. Sophomore Dillion Powell led the Pioneers with 13 rushes for 79 yards.

It did not help that NewCath played without several key players in the loss. Senior offensive and defensive lineman Stephen Brooks, senior offensive lineman/defensive end Matt Lenz, junior offensive/defensive lineman Jacob Wieland, senior and sophomore defensive end/wide receiver Luke Kues did not play and Wagner said they’ll probably be out next week. That left NewCath down to its fourth-string center.

“(Simon Kenton) is just bigger and stronger than us up front,” Wagner said. “We have to get better. We’re banged up and playing a lot of young kids on the offensive line. Our kids know we’re in a tough hole. We’ll keep positive and keep working hard. We don’t know what else to do.”

NewCath did not do much offensively until its second to last possession. Quarterback Mac Franzen completed 11-of-26 passes for 107 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Gray caught two passes for 47 yards to lead the Thoroughbreds. No NewCath player rushed for more than 24 yards.

Simon Kenton Head Coach Jeff Marksberry said the staff’s big concerns defensively were containing Franzen on scrambles up the middle and the Thoroughbred bubble screens. The Pioneers contained both.

“They (Pioneer defenders) were physical and ran to the ball well,” Marksberry said. “It looked like they knew what NewCath was going to do. They prepared well this week and you could tell.”

Penalties kept the Pioneers from more scores. Simon Kenton had eight for 45 yards to NewCath’s two for 10 years. The Pioneers had five false start penalties for 25 yards in the first half. That put them in fourth-and-long on several drives inside the NewCath 20 that they did not convert.

“The sad thing is I think we’d been penalized three times in our first three games,” Marksberry said. “We’d been playing really clean. I don’t know what the deal was. I know we weren’t very crisp in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. I tell the kids all the time you’re going to play like you practice. I hope (Friday) illustrated that. I hope they saw that and will take that to heart.”

Defensively, NewCath sacked Kuntz three times. Jack Sutkamp, Jacob Smith and Kalvin Moore recorded one each. Smith also recovered a Simon Kenton fumble in the end zone.

Simon Kenton led 8-0 after the first quarter. The Pioneers scored just 2:01 into the game when Kuntz completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Wassom before Powell completed the two-point pass to Logan Winkler out of the swinging gate formation.

The Pioneers extended the margin to 16-0 in the second quarter. Powell hauled in a 5-yard pass in the left flat for the score with 3:28 left in the half and Powell added the two-point run.

Simon Kenton then looked to use its depth to put the game away in the second half. The Pioneers do not have players going both directions while the Thoroughbreds do.

Powell extended the Simon Kenton lead to 23-0 just 1:35 into the second half and Tyler Smith added the extra point before the Pioneers made it 30-0 with 7:53 remaining. Kuntz completed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Heflin and Smith added the extra point after Simon Kenton intercepted a NewCath attempted screen pass.

The Thoroughbreds did avert their first shutout since a 45-0 loss to Ryle on Sept. 12, 2009 with a late touchdown. Franzen completed a 34-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Gray and Wyatt Boberg added the extra-point kick.

NewCath finishes its run of three straight games against Class 6A, District 6 opponents next week with a trip to Dixie Heights on Friday at 7 p.m. The Colonels (2-1) have won two in a row after beating Cincinnati Turpin, 38-7 on Friday.

NewCath hopes to get back into win column

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds football team would love for nothing more than to pick up a win or two these next two weeks, especially before district play begins.

The Thoroughbreds (1-2) felt like one got away in Friday’s 21-20 loss at Campbell County. They missed an extra-point attempt with less than four minutes left in the loss.

But they are in for a huge challenge in Independence on Friday against the Simon Kenton Pioneers at 7 p.m. This marks the second of three consecutive games against teams from Class 6A, District 6 of Northern Kentucky. NewCath Head Coach Dan Wagner has continued the tradition of facing bigger schools before district play begins.

“That means a lot to us,” Wagner said. “The Cooper game (a 31-22 loss in the second game of the year) is a perfect example. We know it was a game we were in position to win, but we kind of let it get away. We learned some things about ourselves that we would not get from a blowout win.”

Simon Kenton enters the game undefeated just like last year’s contest. The Pioneers opened the year with wins over 2012 Class 4A runner-up Collins (23-21), Covington Holy Cross (48-0) and Conner (42-35).

Simone Kenton escaped Newport with a 28-20 win in last year’s game. NewCath drove inside the Pioneer 20 in the game’s final minutes but lost a fumble allowing on the potential game-tying drive.

Simon Kenton comes into the game with a depth advantage. The Pioneers do not play guys on both offense and defense.

“This allows us to play fast,” said Jeff Marksberry, Simon Kenton Head Coach. “We are able to sub people in and keep people fresh. We have been able to get opponents tired.”

The Thoroughbreds know they must tighten things up defensively against the Pioneer Spread offense led by three-year, dual-threat starting senior quarterback Brenan Kuntz. Kuntz has completed 35-of-46 passes for 439 yards, four touchdowns and one interception and rushed for 256 yards on 36 carries and two touchdowns. Kuntz completed 17-of-30 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns in the win last year.

Kuntz likes to fake or hand the ball off to Dillion Powell in the read option behind a big offensive line. Powell has 45 rushes for 250 yards and five touchdowns. Grant Wassom leads all Pioneer receivers with 13 catches for 183 yards and three touchdowns and Logan Winkler has 10 catches for 101 yards.

“We are working on responsibility football,” Wagner said. “If we do our job and get in the right spots, we will take our chances of slowing him down a little. We have to keep working hard and pay attention to the little things.”

Defensively, three individuals have rushed for more than 100 yards against NewCath. Campbell County quarterback Avery Wood carried the ball 32 times for 154 yards and three touchdowns.

“We have a lot of fast guys on the (defensive) line so we should be able to keep (Kuntz) contained,” said Tyler Lyon, NewCath senior tight end/defensive end. “Campbell County kept running the quarterback up the middle so we have something to fix there. That’s what killed us. They definitely controlled the clock.”

Opponents have scored 78 points against the Thoroughbreds and put up 1085 yards of total offense. That includes 738 on the ground.

The Thoroughbreds will face a Pioneer 3-4 or 3-5 defensive scheme. Conner quarterback and University of Kentucky commit Drew Barker had success against the Pioneers last week completing 27-of-44 passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns. The Pioneers have put up 1,077 yards of total offense and allowed 809. That includes 539 passing yards.

Junior linebackers Chris Hicks and Barry Deaton lead the Pioneer defense with 25 and 20 tackles respectively. Simon Kenton has recovered two fumbles and intercepted one pass defensively.

NewCath’s Spread offense is led by quarterback Mac Franzen. Franzen has completed 25-of-41 passes for 335 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 152 yards on 46 carries. Sophomore Jacob Smith along with seniors Kalvin Moore and Jack Sutkamp have shared the load in the backfield this year. Moore and Sutkamp also lead the NewCath defense.

“Those three guys (Franzen, Smith, Sutkamp) are great runners,” Marksberry said. “We have to make solid tackles against them.”

NewCath leads the all-time series against the Pioneers, 10-3. The Thoroughbreds won the 2011 meeting, 24-14.