Tuesday Highlands Round-Up: Boys Soccer Wins Region Road Game

Volleyball Falls in Season Opener

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. Highlands senior setter Madison Opitz gets in position during the game against Conner on Tuesday.

The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team (2-1 overall) ventured on the road for the first time this season and came away with a 2-1 9th Region victory over the St. Henry Crusaders (1-2).

"I think we played with a lot of passion and were pretty energetic," said Chad Niedert, Highlands Head Coach. "We've been playing more physical. We defended pretty well. This is a game where we were lucky to come away with a 2-1 win. But we had enough chances to make it a four or five-goal game on our own. We have things to work on for sure."

Senior forward/midfielder Jordan Frisk led Highlands with three points scoring one goal and recording one assist. That marked the first goal and assist of the season for Frisk.

Junior midfielder Caden Schroeder scored the other goal for the Bluebirds and junior midfielder Peyton Helminiak had the other assist. Helminiak has two assists on the year and marked the first goal of the year for Schroeder.

Highlands had 18 shots with three on goal to seven shots with six on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Jack Wilson had four saves and junior goalkeeper Connor Mathis had two for the Bluebirds.

Highlands had to adjust to playing on the grass field at St. Henry. Tower Park has been a turf field since 2012.

"We emphasized to the guys the need to overhit every ball," Niedert said. "Every 10-yard pass needed to be processed like a 15-yard pass. We just had to make sure we didn't give up on any ball. Some of these balls that we're used to going out on our field end up staying in-bounds."

The Bluebirds are still figuring some things out in the defensive backfield. Brothers Evan and Sam Jones, a junior and senior respectively, are two players seeing a lot of time back there.

"It's been nice growing up playing soccer with (Evan) and now next to each other in the back," Sam Jones said. "We have really good players who were on varsity last year like (seniors) Nick (Robinson) and Thomas (Gray-Torsell) then kids who were on JV last year like (junior) Luke (Fedders) and my brother. Also, (senior) Sawyer Tate joined us this year, too. We were ready to play against St. Henry. Coach Niedert at halftime of the Ballard game said, 'We're too nice.' We are nice kids. We need to not play dirty, but aggressive and hard. If the opposing striker gets the ball, make sure they know there's a defender there."

Highlands faces Louisville Collegiate (1-0) in the Northern Kentucky Soccer Showcase at Ryle on Saturday. Game time is 3 p.m.

Volleyball:

Conner 3, Highlands 1:

The Lady Cougars came to Fort Thomas in the season opener for both teams and recorded a 25-23, 20-25, 25-22, 25-22 victory snapping a nine-game losing streak against the Bluebirds. Conner last beat Highlands, 2-0 (25-18, 25-13) in the Cake Classic championship on Aug. 27, 2016.

"I feel like for us, we can play against the big swings and the big blocks and we returned them quite a bit all game," said Katelyn Sallee, Highlands Head Coach. "I think it's just about getting into a serve-receive rhythm and being able to string runs together. It was a game of runs. As soon as one team opened the door and ran, it was tough to recover from that."

Highlands had 47 kills, 11 blocks including eight solo, three blocks, 47 assists, 72 digs and six aces. Senior Sophia Sarakatsannis had 10 kills and 20 digs with senior left-hander CC Shick recording 10 kills, five blocks with four solo and seven digs. Seniors Lauren Buemi and Nicole Ossege had eight kills each. Buemi had three aces and Ossege three digs.

Highlands played senior Madison Opitz and junior Kenzi Vennefron at setter. Opitz had 44 assists, three digs, one kill and one ace with Vennefron adding two assists and two digs.

The Bluebirds also saw contributions from senior Avery Cavacini and junior Emma Daly. Cavacini had six kills, two blocks with one solo and Daly had four kills and one assisted block.

Highlands Downs St. Henry to move to 4-0

Senior Nate Roberts said the Highlands Bluebirds boys basketball team players could not let the huge win over Covington Catholic on Monday get into their heads in order to move forward.

The St. Henry Crusaders (1-4 overall) came to Fort Thomas off their first win, 64-50 over the Ryle Raiders on Thursday in Union. Veteran Head Coach Dave Faust's teams usually play hard even when they don't necessarily match up well with opponents. That was again the case Friday in a 9th Region contest.

"When you play a Coach Faust team, you know you're going to get their best effort every single night," said Kevin Listerman, Highlands Head Coach. "It's one of the hallmarks of his teams. I told our guys leading up to (Friday) and in the locker room before the game that we had to match their intensity and couldn't get out-efforted. We couldn't allow them to bring more energy and more focus than us. I thought our guys did a very good job of staying in the moment and matching their intensity. We got the ball in the right places at the right times and were pretty successful."

But the Bluebirds pulled away for a fourth region win in as many games in a 76-60 win Friday. Highlands last started 4-0 in the 2009-2010 season.

"Coach (Listerman) has been preaching to us every day that one game is not a season-make," said Austin King, Highlands senior forward. "I think we had a great week of practice. I'm sure everyone can agree. Certainly when you get a win like that, you definitely have to celebrate it and cherish it that night. But once the next day hits, you have to get back to work. We all emphasized that this week. It's about repetition. We trust everything we do in practice. The coaches know each and every position to put each one of us and we just all buy into that and trust everyone on the team. That's how our successes have come."

Convincing 9th Region Tourney Win for Bluebirds

Bluebirds Dominate Crusaders

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands senior Carter Holmes (left) heads one toward the goal while senior Luke Schweitzer (14) gets in position. Schweitzer had two goals and an assist and Holmes had a goal and assist in the 9-0 Highlands 9th Region Quarterfinal win over St. Henry on Tuesday.

Early in the season at Tower Park on Aug. 9, the Highlands Bluebirds knocked off the St. Henry Crusaders, 3-1 in a 9th Region contest.

But Head Coach Chad Niedert said the Bluebirds (18-1-3 overall) left Tower Park feeling like they did not play up to their potential. The rematch showed way more of that as the Bluebirds blanked the Crusaders (4-14-2), 9-0 in the 9th Region Quarterfinals at Tower Park on Tuesday.

Bounce-back Game for Bluebirds

Highlands Run-Rules St. Henry

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands senior first baseman Tyler Gulley makes a play at first base against St. Henry on Saturday.

It did not take long for the Highlands Bluebirds baseball team to put the Friday disaster behind.

Highlands (12-5 overall) started its Saturday home game against St. Henry about 17 hours after starting the Friday evening game at Great American Ballpark at 8 p.m. The Bluebirds took out their frustrations of the 11-0 six-inning run-ruling loss to Covington Catholic on Friday with a 17-0 obliteration of the St. Henry Crusaders in five innings.

Saturday Briefs

Great Day for Highlands Competitive Cheer, Basketball Squads

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. The Highlands Co-Ed A Competitive cheerleading squad finished fourth in the state competition on Saturday.

The Highlands competitive cheerleading squad finished fourth in the Co-Ed A Class over the weekend at Alltech Arena in Lexington scoring 77.5 points. Bullitt Central won that class with 88.9 points.

Rough Ending to Good Highlands Girls Soccer Season

St. Henry Upsets Highlands on Penalty Kicks

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior Lindsey Meyer battles between two Cooper defenders in the 9th Region Quarterfinals. Highlands lost on penalty kicks to St. Henry in the region semifinals at Dixie Heights on Wednesday.

The Highlands Bluebirds girls soccer team hoped to use its speed once more to move on to the 9th Region title game.

But to earn another shot at the arch-rival and six-time region champion Notre Dame Pandas, Highlands had to take down the St. Henry Crusaders. St. Henry employed a strategy of pulling back seven defenders anytime Highlands dribbled into the attacking half of the field in the 9th Region semifinals Wednesday.

Second Shut-Out for Highlands Baseball

Bluebirds Win Third Straight

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior Grant Summers gets up during a recent game at Dixie Heights.

The Highlands Bluebirds baseball team (8-7 overall) had not recorded a shut-out since the season-opening 12-0 win at Walton-Verona.

Surviving the Danger Game

Highlands nips St. Henry, 1-0 to advance in 9th Region Tournament

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands sophomore Lindsey Meyer (10) tries for a header in the 9th Region quarterfinal game against St. Henry at Tower Park on Monday. Highlands won 1-0 to advance to the region semifinals for the fourth straight year. 

Head Coach Brian Weifering had legitimate concerns about this game.

The 36th District champion Highlands Ladybirds soccer team (19-2-1 overall) played host to the 34th District runner-up St. Henry Lady Crusaders (8-11-2) in the 9th Region quarterfinals at Tower Park after beating the visitors twice during the regular season. Highlands took down St. Henry, 3-0 on Aug. 25 and Sept. 26 both at Tower Park.

Thursday Sports Briefs

Bluebird soccer earns big 9th Region victory

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands sophomore Alex Ford throws the ball in during the Thursday game against St. Henry. Highlands won 1-0.

They Blue and White made sure there were no slow starts this season.

The Highlands Bluebird soccer team (1-0-1 overall) earned a huge 1-0 victory at Tower Park on Thursday over the St. Henry Crusaders. That snapped a four-game losing streak to St. Henry dating back to 2012. The game was moved up to 5 p.m. after being originally scheduled for 8 p.m. at St. Henry.

Highlands baseball, softball teams record sound victories in 9th Region quarterfinals

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands second baseman Rachel Gabbard dives after a ball in Monday's 9th Region quarterfinal game against Beechwood. Gabbard went 3-for-3 with a triple and RBI in the 12-0 Highlands win.

From this point forward, the Highlands Bluebirds baseball and Ladybirds softball teams know they will have to earn everything.

Thoroughbreds pummel Crusaders, 71-45

G. Michael Graham Photo. Newport Central Catholic guard Zack Pangallo (12) makes a move in Wednesday's 9th Region quarterfinal contest against St. Henry. Pangallo scored 22 points in the 71-45 Thoroughbred win.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS – They have accomplished many goals this year.

But the state-ranked Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds boys basketball team (29-3) has made it clear it is hungrier for more. They took another step toward one of those goals with a 71-45 win over the 34th District runner-up St. Henry Crusaders (14-11) on Wednesday at the Bank of Kentucky Center on the Northern Kentucky University campus. The Thoroughbreds own 22 consecutive wins.

Thoroughbreds pound Crusaders, 5-1

 

G. Michael Graham Photo. Newport Central Catholic junior midfielder Noah Connolly (white) battles a St. Henry defender for control of the ball in Thursday's All "A" 9th Region championship game. The Thoroughbreds won 5-1 to improve to 3-1-1 overall.

 

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

SILVER GROVE – The long-term goal for the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds boys soccer program is about pride.

This program is the only male program in the school that has not won an All “A” state championship. They’d love to join the NewCath basketball and baseball programs that won the All “A” championships last year in addition to the football team winning the Class 2A title. On the female side, the basketball and soccer teams have captured All “A” state championships.

While there is still a ways to go, the Thoroughbreds took a major step Thursday at Morscher Field near Silver Grove. NewCath started off hot and beat the rival St. Henry Crusaders, 5-1 in the All “A” 9th Region championship game.

NewCath scored two quick goals and added to that lead. The Thoroughbreds led 4-0 at halftime.

“We’ve prepared well for this team,” said Mike McDonald, NewCath head coach. “(The Crusaders) are a very good team. Our kids knew they had to win 50/50 balls. Winning 50/50 balls in a high school soccer game is where you win games. We found our wings. We found our feet early and took advantage of our opportunities. We put them away early.”

They may not have played a great second half. But it was more than enough to advance in the tournament. NewCath (3-1-1) plays the 10th Region winner in a sub-sectonal game at a time to be announced.

The 10th Region All “A” Tournament has not started yet. But it has to be completed by Sept. 22. The state tournament takes place in Elizabethtown on Sept. 28 and 29. McDonald said he expects the opponent to be rival Bishop Brossart, which finished 21-2 a year ago including a 2-1 win over NewCath in the 9th/10th All “A” semifinals. The region tournaments separated this year unlike previous years.

NewCath did make the All “A” state tournament two and three years ago. The Thoroughbreds lost to Bardstown Bethlehem, 3-2 in the semifinals in 2011 after falling 5-1 to Danville in the quarterfinals in 2010.

Matt Tolle scored two quick goals just four and seven minutes into the game to put NewCath up for good at 2-0. Junior Ryan Randle and senior Evan Brannon scored with about 12 and two minutes left in the half to give the Thoroughbreds the comfortable 4-0 halftime lead.

“We were just playing as a team,” Randle said. “We were very focused. It’s about communication, passion and understanding how each other plays.”

St. Henry (3-2) did score on an indirect kick in the first half. But the goal did not count because the Crusaders were ruled offside.

St. Henry did dent the scoreboard in the second half. Cory Eibel scored as NewCath had problems clearing the ball. But NewCath did clear many balls in its defensive box.

“We just really needed to play our game in the back, which is to stay calm and composed,” said Nick Huesman, NewCath senior defender. “We had to get (the ball) out of (the defensive third) quickly because we know (the Crusaders) are fast up top. We stayed with our marks.”

Minutes later, the Thoroughbreds responded. Patrick Louis scored on a penalty kick to make the final score.

“It was a tail of two halves,” McDonald said. “It looked like we became spectators in the second half instead of coming out and winning balls. We were letting them win balls first. Then we had to defend right away. We ended up scoring a late goal. But a soccer game is 80 minutes. It’s not one half. We have to get in that habit because we have a tough schedule coming up.”

NewCath outshot St. Henry, 13-4. Goalkeeper Kevin Cawley made eight saves for the Crusaders and Paul Grosser made three for the Thoroughbreds. Both teams played 4-4-2 (defender-midfielder-forward) attacks. But St. Henry had its sweeper high and NewCath took advantage of it.

The Thoroughbreds continue action Tuesday at home against Cooper. Game time is 6 p.m.

St. Henry ends Highlands season in extra innings

G. Michael Graham Photo. Highlands first baseman Todd Ramey (right) gets in position while St. Henry base runner Rex Rogers leads off. The Bluebirds lost 3-2.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

FLORENCE – The Highlands Bluebirds baseball had not won 20 or more games since chalking up 22 victories in 2007 entering the season.

The Blue and White hoped to end that string in the 9th Region quarterfinals Monday and more importantly, advance in the tournament for the second straight year. It did not happen as St. Henry won 3-2 in extra innings at University of Cincinnati Medical Center Stadium.

Highlands caught fire in the postseason last year. The Bluebirds downed Conner, 9-6 before beating Dixie Heights, 6-4 to advance to the 9th Region title game where they lost, 3-1 to rival Newport Central Catholic. Highlands also won the 36th District championship last year.

The Bluebirds could not consistently hit St. Henry ace Mitch Kuebbing. Kuebbing struck out 11 Bluebirds. Highlands batted .200 (6-for-3) against him while the Crusaders batted .258 (8-for-31).

“(Kuebbing) throws hard (highest pitch was 87 miles per hour),” said Jeremy Baioni, Highlands Head Coach. “We don’t see a ton of guys who throw as hard as he does. It takes a lot of (repetitions) with guys that throw that hard to get your timing down. You have to tip your hat. There are days where guys come out and are better than you are. (On Monday), he was better than us. We just couldn’t catch up to him.”

Mitch Jones pitched the first six innings for Highlands. He struggled in the first but settled down not allowing a Crusader past second base the next five innings. Joey Cochran pitched the last two innings for the Bluebirds. Jones and Cochran combined to strike out seven Crusaders.

Highlands (19-18) fell behind 2-0 in the first inning when the Crusaders (17-18) put together a two-out rally. Rex Rogers infield singled and moved to third on a Markgraf ground-rule double. After Anthony Lacorte walked to load the bases, Craig Rose singled on a 2-2 count to left scoring Rogers and pinch-runner Michael Niemer.

Highlands had a chance to put some runs on the board in the bottom of the first frame. With two outs, Todd Ramey and Gabe Schultz recorded infield singles and Kuebbing hit Quentin Murray with a pitch to load the bases. But Kuebbing coaxed Evan Allen into grounding out at first.

The Bluebirds also put runners on first and second base in the second inning as Kuebbing hit Jake Lester and Jac Collinsworth with pitches. But Highlands could not push them across.

Highlands dented the scoreboard in the third inning. Ramey doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch. With the infield draw in, Schultz recorded another infield single to score Ramey and cut St. Henry’s lead to 2-1.

The Bluebirds tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Quentin Murray tripled to left and Brady Murray ran for him. Highlands then executed another squeeze. Brady Murray ran hard home and Evan Allen landed the bunt to score him.

St. Henry retook the lead in the eighth inning at 3-2. Alex Conradi doubled and moved to second when Rogers singled. Rogers moved up to second on a throw prompting Highlands to intentionally walk Markgraf to load the bases. One out later, Craig Rose drew a bases-loaded walk allowing Conradi to score before Cochran retired the next two St. Henry batters.

The Bluebirds did have a chance to win the game in the botton of the seventh. With one out, Molina reached on a third-strike wild pitch and Jake Whitford singled him to second. But Kuebbing got Ramey to fly out to right and struck out Schultz to end the threat.

“It’s baseball,” Baioni said. “We’ll go through weeks where we’ll get that hit right there and win the game. Then there are days when you don’t get the hit. That’s just how it goes. You hope you get those hits at the right time. We didn’t (Monday).”

Conradi and Rogers both went 2-for-4 with a run scored for St. Henry. Rose had all three runs batted in for the visitors.

Ramey and Schultz also went 2-for-4 to lead Highlands. Ramey scored a run and Schultz had a run batted in.

The Bluebirds graduate nine seniors in Jake Heck, Jake Lester, Jake Liggett, Molina, Quentin Murray, Schultz, Colin Seidl, Jac Collinsworth and Reid Schroder. They helped revive the program. Last year’s run marked the first two region wins since 2002.

“It’s good that we set an example for these younger guys just as the seniors (in previous years) set an example for us,” Schultz said. “So it was good to come out and give them something to look forward to in the future.”

But Highlands does return some solid players for next year. Whitford, Ramey and Evan Allen are the returning starters with Cochran, Jones and Martin coming back to pitch.

  

 

 

Wednesday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Bluebirds baseball team could not record another 9th Region win Wednesday.

Highlands (9-9) fell at St. Henry, 7-3. The Bluebirds tied the game at three in the top of the sixth but gave up four runs in the bottom of the inning. Jake Liggett (1-1) took the pitching loss for Highlands.

The Bluebirds do not play again until Tuesday. The play host to Lloyd Memorial at 5 p.m.

Newport Central Catholic baseball 11, Covington Holmes 1:

 

The Thoroughbreds (6-5) won their fourth in a row with another five-inning run-ruling Wednesday.

Connor Bartels, Josh Cain and Mitch Pangallo took turns pitching for NewCath combining for eight strikeouts. Pangallo picked up the win pitching the fourth and fifth innings.

The Thoroughbreds scored five in the bottom of the fifth to finish the game. They outscored the Bulldogs just 5-4 taking advantage of nine walks.

Alex Grau led NewCath at the plate going 2-for-2 with three runs and an RBI. Grau and Colin Dupont scored three runs each and Michael Bueter added two.

Kyrie Glover went 2-for-2 to lead Holmes at the plate. Starting pitcher Zach Pouncy took the loss striking out four in four innings pitched.

NewCath continues action Thursday against Bellevue. Game time is 5 p.m.