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).”
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.
LOUISVILLE – The Louisville Western
Warriors football team gave its best punch on its home field Friday.
But the Class 4A top-ranked Highlands
Bluebirds responded every time and left with a 51-23 victory. Highlands still recorded
its largest margin of victory this year after opening with 52-31 and 60-37
victories over Boyle County and Scott County at home. The Bluebirds’ average
margin of victory is 24.
“We made some mistakes,” said Dale
Mueller, Highlands head coach. “But we’re 3-0 and ready to move on to the next
(game).”
But the Warriors of Class 4A, District 4 made
the visitors earn the win despite falling to 0-3. The Highlands starters played
the entire game. Western lost 13-12 to Collins in the state quarterfinals last
year and lost 56-0 to Highlands last year in Fort Thomas.
The Warriors could not match the Bluebirds’
offensive balance. Highlands outgained Western, 467-296 in total offense. That
included 256-17 in the air.
Highlands came into the game averaging 399
yards per contest on the ground. But Western ran a 5-3 stunting defense and
held the Bluebirds to 211 carries on 32 rushes for an average of just under 6.6
a carry.
Thus, the Bluebirds attacked through the
air and had a lot of success throwing deep. Highlands quarterback Donovan McCoy
had career-highs completing 16-of-35 passes for 256 yards, three touchdowns and
two interceptions. McCoy also rushed for 94 yards on 11 carries with two
touchdowns for an average of just more than 8.5 a carry.
“We’ve been running the ball more (lately),”
Mueller said. “But in this game, we passed it more. We’re pleased with (the
offensive balance) because we have a lot of good athletes.”
McCoy completed passes to nine different
receivers. Luke Turner led the way with three catches for 46 yards and Colin
Seidl had three catches for 35 yards. Teammates Ryan Greene, Brandon Hergott
and Zach Harris all had two catches each for 74, 32 and 27 yards respectively.
“Getting separation and coming down with
the ball is the most important thing,” Greene said. “(The quarterbacks and
receivers) just have to get in sync with each other. It will come. We have a
good quarterback in Donovan McCoy and good receivers.”
Harris also ran for 86 yards on 14
carries. McCoy has eight rushing touchdowns for the season and Harris has six.
Highlands still may have some work to do
with its passing game. But it has made some strides since struggling in the
scrimmage against Louisville Trinity. McCoy completed 9-of-19 passes for 200
yards with just a 33-yard touchdown to Turner against Scott County.
On the other side, Western quarterback
Bryson Harris completed just 2-of-11 passes for 17 yards and three
interceptions to Blake Schutte, Quentin Murray and Brady Murray. Ryan Love had
both receptions for Western.
The Warriors turned the ball over five
times to four for the Bluebirds. Both teams lost two fumbles each. Both
Highlands’ lost fumbles came on onside kicks.
Western did have some success lining up in
the I-formation and attacking between the tackles but could not convert on fourth-down
inside the Red Zone. The Warriors also had some success on special teams (see
sidebar).
Highlands took the lead for good at 10-0
after the first quarter converting on two Western turnovers. Harris scored from
two yards out and Luke Brockett hit a 32-yard field goal.
The Warriors did gain some momentum in the
second scoring eight points. But the Bluebirds answered with 20 to go up 30-8
at halftime. McCoy scored on a 32-yard run before throwing touchdowns of 35 and
21 yards to Greene and Brockett.
Western cut the margin to 30-15 in the
third. But the Bluebirds answered quickly. Harris ran it in from a yard out to
put Highlands up 37-15 after three.
McCoy had a hand in both Highlands
touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He scored from 14 yards out and found Hergott
from 13 yards out with 8:15 left in the game.
Highlands recorded two sacks by Schutte
and Thomas Wrobleski for a loss of 17 yards. On the other hand, the Warriors
sacked McCoy three times resulting in a loss of 21 yards.
Highlands returns home Friday to take on
Mason County (1-3). The Homecoming game starts at 7:30 p.m.
