That has
been a major trademark of the Highlands Bluebirds throughout the years. It has
Highlands on the verge of another district title. There is one opponent left in
the way of that.
“The guys have been well-coached at a young age,” said Dale Mueller, Highlands Co-Head Coach. “It means a lot to them. They just try so
hard every play. We are looking to do everything we’re doing the best we can.
The more we do everything the best we can, then we got 11 guys on the field
every play doing everything they can the best they can. That’s what makes a
team difficult to beat.”
The Class
4A top-ranked, undefeated Bluebirds (7-0 overall, 3-0 District 7) hope to wrap
up another outright district championship with a win over the improved
Covington Holmes Bulldogs. Highlands has outscored district opponents, 174-31.
Photo by G. Michael Graham. The Highlands Ladybirds volleyball team defeated the Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds, 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-20) on Wednesday at Newport High to win the District 36 Tournanemt championship. This marked Highlands' first district title since 2004.
By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
The number
13 may be unlucky.
But the
Highlands Ladybirds volleyball turned it into a lucky number on Wednesday at
Newport High. The Ladybirds (13-22 overall) snapped a 15-match losing streak to
the arch-rival Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds (10-22) with a 3-0 (25-22,
26-24, 25-20) win to capture the District 36 championship for the first time
since 2004. Highlands had not beaten NewCath since 2005.
“For a change, we’re turning it around. We’re actually
building this program up,” said
Whitney Mulroney, Highlands head coach. “It’s
been a long time that the girls have been at the caliber to where they want to
work hard and actually win big games. It’s good to see them come back, not lose
faith and put the ball down and put it away.”
For the
ninth time since 2002, the Highlands Ladybirds and Newport Central Catholic
Lady Breds volleyball teams will meet for the district tournament title today.
Both teams
took care of their respective District 36 semifinals opponents Tuesday to earn
the rematch. Second-seeded Highlands (12-22 overall) took care of Bellevue, 3-1
(24-26, 25-17, 25-8, 25-19) and top-seeded NewCath (10-21) beat Dayton, 3-0
(25-14, 25-9, 25-9).
The
tournament went to a seeded format this season. The championship game starts at
6:30 p.m. back at Newport High.
The two
teams have met for a district championship every year except 2008 and last
year. The Lady Breds eliminated the Ladybirds in the district first round in
2008 and semifinals last year before beating Dayton both years for the crowns
during the days of the blind draw.
The Lady
Breds are seeking their eighth straight district championship. They’ve also won
six straight regional titles. Host NewCath won the regular season contest on
Sept. 18, 3-1 (17-25, 25-8, 25-19, 25-15).
“We have a familiarity because we play them during the
regular season,” said Vicki
Fleissner, NewCath head coach. “But it’s
also later in the year so we worked on fine-tuning our game. I’m sure they have
as well. It’s going to come down to what the girls are ready for and whoever
wants it.”
The
Ladybirds hope to end the 15-match losing streak to their arch-rivals two miles
down the road. Highlands last beat NewCath, 2-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-21) on Sept.
20, 2005. Highlands beat NewCath in 2002 and 2004 for the district crowns.
“They just have to come ready to play and know it’s
going to be a completely different team they’re coming up against,” said Whitney Mulroney, Highlands head coach. “We’ll find out.”
Highlands
started off slow in the first game trailing 17-10. The Ladybirds rallied and
had game point before falling. They played a new lineup without two players,
including Mallory Seidel.
“They had to take the time to get used to the new
lineup,” Mulroney said. “They have to eliminate their own errors.
When they eliminate the errors, they’re forcing the other team to make them. They
have to focus on the task at hand.”
It was a
matter of solid passing and nice sets to their big hitters. Sarah Schweitzer
led Highlands with eight kills and Jessica Ginter had six. Kaitlin Hall had 20
assists and six aces with Brooke Hamilton recording five aces and Abby Schweitzer
tallying two blocks.
“We tried to keep our talking up because when we don’t
talk, that’s typically when we fall apart,” Sarah Schweitzer said. “The
communication level was so much better in the second game, which allowed us to
cover the positions that aren’t typically covered. The defense moved the feet
well.”
NewCath also
started off slow in the first game. But once the Lady Breds got into the
groove, they cruised to victory.
“We just played (regional contender) Ryle last week in
four tough sets so we were trying to get them to think in that mentality,” Fleissner said. “Celebrate
like you were getting a point against Ryle or St. Henry. That’s how we were
trying to get intensity into the game.”
The usual
leaders did their thing for the Lady Breds. Nikki Kiernan had 10 kills and five
blocks. Setter Alyssa Maier recorded 19 assists and eight aces with libero
Maria Froendhoff making 16 digs and six aces.
NewCath has
been playing without outside hitters Abbie Lukens and Whitney Fields for a few
weeks. Lukens sprained her right ankle and tore ligaments in the tournament in
Louisville, but returned Tuesday. Jamie Lohr and Laura Brannon have moved into
their places.
“I love watching my team play well,” Lukens said. “But
there’s nothing like being a part of being on the court in the middle of the
action. (Lohr and Brannon) are not used to hitting outside. But they’re getting
the job done.”
Both teams
advance to the 9th Region tournament next week at St. Henry.
The eighth-ranked
Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds football team sent a strong message to
the rest of Class 2A, District 6 on Saturday.
The
Thoroughbreds are still the team to beat in the district after a 63-22 thrashing
of the improved Lloyd Memorial Juggernauts at Newport Stadium following a
strong week of practice. NewCath won its 15th in a row over Lloyd dating back
to a 31-29 loss on the last game of the regular season in 1991. The
Thoroughbreds moved to 30-6 all-time against the Juggernauts.
“Football is a game of execution and preparation,” said Eddie Eviston, NewCath head coach. “I think we prepared pretty well. Our kids
did what they were coached this week and we were able to execute.”
NewCath (3-4
overall) may have struggled at 1-4 against bigger, non-district squads from Kentucky
Classes 6A, 4A and Ohio Division III. But the Thoroughbreds have taken care of
business against district squads to move to 2-0 and grab sole possession of
first place outscoring Lloyd and Bishop Brossart by a combined 121-22.
NewCath
moved to 9-0 against district opponents during the regular season since Eviston
took over as head coach in 2010. The Thoroughbreds have won 21 in a row against
district opponents in the regular season dating back to a 28-21 loss to
Beechwood on Sept. 30, 2006.
NewCath did
not take anything for granted against a Juggernaut squad (6-2, 2-1) that already
eclipsed last year’s 5-7 record in the win column. The Thoroughbreds scored on
their first three possessions and never looked back.
The
Thoroughbreds outgained the Juggernauts, 387-337 in total offense, including
262-151 on the ground behind good blocking. NewCath ran the ball 35 times for
an average of about 7.5 a carry to 33 times for Lloyd for an average of about
4.6 a touch.
“We obviously have to get better defensively,” said Josh Stratton. “We tackled atrociously. Defensively, it was our worst performance of
the year by far.”
The main offensive
threats for the Thoroughbreds had big games as a result. Dylan Hayes rushed for
174 yards on 15 carries for an average of 11.6 a touch to go with three rushing
touchdowns and a 65-yard punt return. Hayes constantly gave the Thoroughbreds
good field position with the punt returns.
NewCath quarterback
Josh Cain completed 9-of-14 passes for 125 yards and one touchdown pass to Mac
Franzen. Franzen finished with four catches for 78 yards, including the 15-yard
touchdown reception.
But NewCath
saw some other players step forward in the win. Mason Myers scored touchdowns
on both rushes for a combined 13 yards and took back an interception 36 yards
for a touchdown in the second quarter.
Freshman
Jacob Smith also had a nice day rushing the ball. He carried the pigskin 10
times for 63 yards and a 3-yard touchdown run with 3:58 left in the game.
“We’re trying to get the ball spread around a little
bit,” Eviston said. “We told the (offensive) linemen we were
going to put everything on their shoulders (Saturday) and they responded well.”
On the defensive
side, NewCath constantly put pressure on Juggernaut quarterback Dexter Smith.
The Thoroughbreds held him to no yards rushing on eight carries and sacked him
four times. Logan Neff, Jimmy Raleigh, Jack Sutkamp had at least one sack for
NewCath.
“We’ve been working on getting better at (pressuring
quarterbacks) the past few weeks,”
Neff said. “It started off with
(Campbell County dual-threat quarterback) Tyler Durham (who ran for 194 yards
against NewCath on Aug. 31 in a 42-16 Camel win). We worked through that. It
has helped us a lot.”
Dexter Smith
did complete 10-of-17 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns. But the scores
came with the Thoroughbreds up by at least 32 points. Four of those passes went
to Akintomide Mejolagbe for 103 yards and two touchdowns.
Juggernaut
running back Jared Gabbard did have some luck running out of Lloyd’s spread
attack. He finished with 125 yards on 18 carries for an average of just under
seven a carry.
Turnovers
played a big part in the win. Lloyd turned the ball over twice to none for
NewCath. The Thoroughbreds scored 15 points off those turnovers.
NewCath led
20-3 after the first quarter. The Thoroughbreds opened with the ball and
marched 64 yards in 10 plays and scored on a Myers 3-yard run with 9:42 left in
the quarter. Cain hit Franzen on a 25-yard pass on 3rd-and-6 from the 50 to
continue the drive.
After a
Juggernaut field goal, NewCath drove down the field another 64 yards in eight
plays capped off by a Hayes 1-yard plunge with 2:39 left. Hayes broke free for
a 59-yard touchdown scamper less than two minutes later.
NewCath
pulled away in the second quarter. Down 17, Lloyd decided to go for it on 4th-and-2
from its own 34 and Myers picked off Dexter Smith and returned it 36 yards for
a touchdown to put NewCath up 28-3 following Cain’s two-point conversion.
“Every week, we work hard,” Myers said. “I
could tell we’d have a good game because we did that this week.”
After
Franzen’s touchdown reception, NewCath responded to a Lloyd score when Myers
ran it in from 10 yards out. The Thoroughbreds then recovered the ensuing
kickoff at the Juggernaut 30. Hayes broke free for a 30-yard scamper for his 11th
rushing touchdown of the year to put NewCath up 49-9 at halftime.
The teams
played about even on the scoreboard in the second half. They scored one
touchdown in each of the quarters.
The
Thoroughbreds continue district action Friday against in-town rival Newport
(3-5, 1-1). Game time is 7 p.m.
NewCath soccer also wins:
The Newport
Central Catholic Thoroughbreds soccer team (4-9-5 overall) also won Saturday
knocking off winless Campbell County (0-15), 3-0.
Sam Barth,
Matt Tolle and Ben Tiereny scored goals for NewCath. Senior goalkeeper Nathan
Grosser saved all six Camel shots.
NewCath faces Highlands at Tower Park on
Thursday at 8 p.m. for the District 36 championship.
Highlands
High School has definitely caught on to the wave of nicknamed student sections
throughout the country.
The Highlands
version is called the OZone. The students occupy the northernmost section of
the six seating sections of David Cecil Memorial Stadium on football Friday
nights in the fall. They are seen all the way to the left from the home side of
the stadium. They cheer on their team and come up with spirit shirts as school
projects.
Highlands
graduate Chris Owens started the theme years ago. Senior basketball player Jake
Gronotte is among those leading the cheers during football season.
“I had a lot of fun last year,” Gronotte said. “I
looked up to most of the seniors that did it. I thought it would be fun to
carry on what they did last year and get the school spirit raised some.”
One thing
that Gronotte and his classmates started this year was an Ozone Twitter
account. It has 337 followers as of Saturday morning.
“We have the majority of the school following us,” Gronotte said. “We
also have some parents and members of the community (following). I think the
school board follows us as well.”
The seniors
sit on the bottom rows of the student section. The freshmen sit at the top and
move down as they move up in grades.
Gronette
and the cheerleaders said the Twitter account has helped the freshman become
acclimated to the OZone culture. Freshman Braden Howard said he learned the
cheer, “Do it” on Twitter.
“If you go to Twitter and see OZone, I can tell you
the theme,” Howard said. “Some of the freshmen are not active and
don’t really know the cheers because they’re new to the high school. It really
helps you learn them.”
For each
football game this year, the OZone has come up with a theme. The students did a
“Blue Out” for the Scott County game and a “Black Out” for the Covington
Catholic game. They had a Camouflage theme for Friday’s game against Pendleton
County.
“I think our kids are doing a great job this year,” said Brian Robinson, Highlands High Principal. “Our focus has been to try to be as excited
as you can be. Come and have a great time at our event and cheer on our team,
but have your enthusiasm and be excited about cheering for your team in
positive ways. Try not to focus your attention on the other team.”
It helps
that the students cheer for the football team with the second-most wins in the
country all-time. That total stands at 835 with Friday’s 70-0 win over
Pendleton County. Only Valdosta High in southern Georgia has more with 873.
The OZone
has helped cheer the Bluebirds to some big wins this year. Highlands has beaten
Covington Catholic, Boyle County and Scott County at home this year during a
44-game winning streak at Cecil Memorial. The stands are directly behind the
visiting team.
“I don’t know if it makes us play better,” said Mitch Dee, Highlands senior center. “In big games, it really helps us out. They
make it a tough place to play for opponents.”
The OZone
leaders, cheerleaders and dance team members work together to cheer during the
game. Gronotte or a classmate will talk strategies with them throughout the
evening.
“The OZone makes us pumped to do really
well,” said freshman Megan Reynolds,
Highlands Dance Team member. “We pump
them up too and we pump up the fans. The OZone is just really supportive of our
sport. We work together because we know Highlands football is important to the
whole community so we don’t care about who is against who.”
The OZone, cheerleaders and dance team members have had some challenges
throughout the last couple years. That was the case Friday when Highlands led
49-0 at halftime. But a good majority of the students showed up and stayed the
entire game. The rain did not fall until after the game.
“It’s hard to keep attention, especially when we’re up
by so many points,” said senior Megan
Maley, Highlands cheerleader. “We work
together to have fun and joke around with the cheers and such. We have to keep
things alive.”
The OZone has
shown up at other events as well. The students plan to keep things going for a
long time. But during basketball season, Gronotte will pass the Twitter account
to another student.
The OZone
has plenty of opportunities to cheer for the Highlands fall teams this week.
The volleyball team plays in the District 36 tournament Tuesday and possibly
Wednesday at Newport High and the soccer teams face Newport Central Catholic on
Thursday at Tower Park for the District 36 crowns at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Then the
football team travels to Covington Holmes for a crucial district contest at 7
p.m.
The
Highlands Bluebirds football team does not like to leave things to chance.
That is why the Bluebirds work on playing to their standards on a daily
basis in practice to make sure they dominate in games they’re heavily favored
in such as Friday. Host Highlands dominated the Pendleton County Wildcats, 70-0
at David Cecil Memorial Stadium just like last year’s 79-0 route in Falmouth.
Highlands moved to 7-0 overall and a step closer to another district
championship at 3-0 in Class 4A, District 7 action. The Bluebirds moved to 80-2
since the start of 2007. They have won 27 in a row and 44 consecutive at home
with their 835th win in school history.
“We executed well,” said Dale Mueller, Highlands Co-Head Coach. “We were really emphasizing blocking and
getting off blocks. Just watching from the sidelines, it looks like we did
that.”
Pendleton County (1-7, 0-3) has been outscored 427-135 on the year,
including 204-7 in district action. The Wildcats need to beat visiting Harrison
County on Oct. 19 to get into the playoffs.
Highlands has 57 touchdowns, 398 points and 3,637 yards of total
offense for the year. That’s an average of about 8.1 touchdowns, 56.9 points
and 519.6 yards a contest. Highlands’ average margin of victory vaulted to 39
points with the win.
The Bluebirds did it with their vaunted rushing attack out of their
spread attack. They outgained the Wildcats, 644-178 in total offense, including
496-116 on the ground.
“(Practice) was pretty intense,” said Kyle Thurston, Highlands junior offensive
lineman. “We did hitting drills every
day and went all out. Every game is important. Everyone should try as hard as
he can.”
Four Bluebirds rushed for 100 or more yards. The Highlands running
backs found room behind their offensive line and downfield blocking from the
wide receivers.
Zach Harris led the way with 137 yards on nine carries with three touchdowns
for an average of about 15.2 a carry. Harris has run for 529 yards and 11
touchdowns.
Teammate Colin Seidl followed with four carries for 111 yards and three
touchdowns for an average of 27.75 per attempt for the Bluebirds. Jaylen Hayes
added 117 yards on five carries with a touchdown for an average of 23.4 per
carry and Josh Watson ran for 100 yards on five carries with a score for an average of
20 a touch. Hayes has 348 yards rushing this year and Seidl has 316.
Quarterback Drew Houliston guided the offense in the first half and
Beau Hoge took over in the second half. The Bluebirds elected to rest
quarterback Donovan McCoy and other players.
Houliston completed 5-of-8 passes for 138 yards. Hoge threw a 10-yard
touchdown pass to Jack Telek in the third quarter. Ryan Greene had two
receptions for 72 yards and Jack Grimm had another for 43 yards.
Pendleton County ran for 116 yards and passed for 62. The Wildcats ran
the shotgun read-option and running back Austin Pyles led the way with 18
carries for 102 yards for an average of about 5.7 a carry.
“We call that the zone read,” Mueller said. “They
did it well. We were impressed with their (running) back (Pyles) and
quarterback (Adam Koeninger). We didn’t necessarily make any adjustments with
it. We just tried to play it better.”
Pendleton County did drive past midfield a couple times. But the
Bluebirds held on fourth-down a couple times on their way to their first
shutout of the year. They also held Mason County without a touchdown on Sept.
14.
“You just have to read their guards and
know what to do,” said Reid
Schroder, Highlands senior linebacker. “We
just have to play fast. We want them to spin outside and never go inside.”
The Bluebirds led 28-0 after the first quarter. Harris had touchdown
runs of 15 and 30 yards. Seidl added a 25-yard score and Houliston completed a
59-yard touchdowns pass to Greene.
Highlands extended the lead to 49-0 at halftime to force the running
clock in the second half. Seidl scored on 68 and 12-yard scampers and Harris
ran up the middle for a nine-yard touchdown run.
The Bluebirds led 63-0 entering the third and scored one more touchdown
in the fourth quarter. After Telek’s score in the third, Hayes scored his
touchdown on a 30-yard scamper and Watson concluded the scoring in the fourth
on a 75-yard run.
Highlands concludes district action Friday at Covington Holmes (5-2,
2-0). Game time is 7:30 p.m.
The Highlands
Bluebirds soccer team used the season finale as a measuring stick.
Like the
Bluebirds, the defending state runner-up Ryle Raiders came to Tower Park on a
roll. Highlands had shut out four straight opponents by a combined 12-0 and
Ryle had shut out three consecutive opponents.
Highlands
hung tough with Ryle but could not dent the scoreboard in a 2-0 loss Thursday. Highlands
saw its four-game winning streak snapped and goes into the postseason with a
10-7-2 mark.
“They’re a good club,” said Matthew Winkler, Highlands head coach. “You can see that from the games they’ve
played. We expected a good game and they brought a good game to us.”
The Raiders
moved to 15-4-1 with their fourth consecutive shutout. Ryle has outscored the
opposition 20-0 since losing 1-0 to Covington Cathholic on Sept. 22.
The Raiders
opened the season with losses to fourth-ranked Lexington Dunbar (3-2) and sixth-ranked
Lexington Henry Clay (2-1) but have gone 15-2-1 since then.
Ryle
finished 23-3-3 last year before losing 3-0 to state power Louisville St.
Xavier in the state championship. Ninth-year Head Coach Stephen Collins
welcomed back eight starters from that team.
“It’s nice to have 13 seniors on the team,” Collins said. “We
schedule very strong early with the intent that we’re going to learn and grow.
By the end of the season, we hope to catch steam and go into the playoffs on a
high (note).”
Highlands
ran a typical 4-4-2 (defender-midfielder-forward) attack and Ryle ran a 4-5-1
and got off more shots. The Raiders had 13 shots including 11 on goal to the
Bluebirds’ seven with just three on goal. Nick Breslin made 10 saves at goalkeeper
for the Bluebirds and Raider goalkeeper Josh Butler made three on his birthday.
Both teams
had chances. Ryle had eight free kicks and five corner kicks. Highlands had
seven free kicks and one corner kick.
Ryle pulled
out a lot of its starters in the second half. Both teams wanted to go into the
postseason healthy.
The Raiders
had several chances early. Breslin knocked a high kick off Ryle standout Tyrus
Sciarra’s foot over the net with 25:57 left in the half.
Ryle struck
with 16:40 left in the first half. Connor Jordan knocked in a rebound for the
game-winner.
The Raiders
received an insurance goal with 25:16 left in the game. Alex Rich scored.
Highlands
did have a chance to tie the game with 28:28 left in the half. Chris Garbig
drew a yellow card on Ryle just outside the box. He passed to teammate Cole
Davis-Roberts for the hard shot. But it deflected off the left bar.
“We played with them as long as they kept the starters
in,” Winkler said. “We have work to do to be where we want to be
playing our game for districts next week. It’s nice to have a week to prepare, get
people healthy and move forward.”
The
Bluebirds face Newport Central Catholic next Thursday at 8 p.m. for the
District 36 title. Highlands won the regular season meeting at Tower Park, 2-0
on Sept. 22.
