So the game was close at half time because Highlands wanted it to be so their best players could play the whole game. This fan base always amazes me. Great team, great program, great coach, fan base (of course not all fans) not so great.

I think the 2 first half interceptions by Ashland were made by the same player. He made great plays on both of those balls.

 

I will say that Ashland had some of the Highlands fans mumbling to themselves in the first quarter and a half.

 

The 'Birds came out in the hurry up offense and pretty much kept it going at a frantic pace throughout the rest of the game. With Ashland lineman playing both ways, it was just a matter of time before they wore down.

I was surprised from the time I parked my car, to the time that I got in my front door after the game.

 

I parked on Indiana Ave. where I usually park and crossed Memorial PKWY , looking down the Avenue of Champions I didn't see anybody. It was like a ghost town and this was 35 minutes till kickoff. I got to the two guards and asked them what was going on and one of them said "it's kind of slow tonight". There was very little traffic in front of the school on Memorial. So I bought my ticket went through the gate and saw very few fans in the bleechers for both teams. This is a playoff game with a team that we haven't played in the regular season and we can't get the home side of the stands full?

 

Now for the game I really can't comment because I"m not sure what I saw. I know #55 had a great downfield pancake block on one of McCoys keepers. I saw #11 for the Birds make a touchdown saving tackle and also stole the RB shoe while making the tackle. It seemed to me like a lot of young talented players for the Birds , made a lot of big plays.

I hope #74 for the Birds is ok.

Ashland players played their hearts out. Number 60 for the Tomcats at LB'er played a great game with a lot of hard hits. I talked to some of the fans from Ashland at halftime . you could tell they were proud of their team.

 

The long passes into double coverage, I don't know. I will NEVER question Coach Mueller, all he does is win state titles.

 

It was a weird night. Only thing I can think of is that our fan base as gotten spoiled and expect to win unless we are playing a well known team or team they feel can make it competitive. I know fans and students that went to other games instead! Maybe Kentucky basketball being on at the same time took some fans away that felt they'd rather watch them than go see a blowout. Even in the stands when Ashland scored and took the lead, there seemed to be absolutely no worries in the stands. Ashland fans were going crazy (as they should have been) and we looked like the fans at a UC bball game. Sitting on our hands! However, our lack of cheering was a confidence that its a long game and its very early. We had seen this before and have seen the outcome. We are spoiled! But we have to take advantage of these great years and not take them for granted. The kids deserve the support! Kids go thru the program every year. They all deserve the same attention as the previous kids. I hope we're not greeting numb to winning because that can go just as fast as it came. I get that some games just aren't fun to watch, but last nights game was fun for a half and this is the playoffs! HHS tried to slip up last night with all the turnovers and bad decisions. They are high school kids that have dreamed about "their time to shine" since they could walk! This is their time to shine. Get to the game!!!

Congrats to the Birds, especially Birdsfan and LN. Nice win by HHS, especially considering the halftime score. Maybe this brush with mortality will help them moving forward as the playoffs presumably get tougher.

So the game was close at half time because Highlands wanted it to be so their best players could play the whole game. This fan base always amazes me. Great team, great program, great coach, fan base (of course not all fans) not so great.

 

The quote you are referring to was actually a question posed by Straight Shooter - not a HHS fan. It was liked by OL Dog 75 - not a HHS fan. I view both posters as high school football fans- and the post was a question not a statement. I will answer the question with a summary.

 

HHS made some mistakes last night early on. Two deep throws into coverage. Great job by the Ashland secondary to double cover the deep middle and make the plays. Bad decisions by McCoy to throw into the coverage. The fumble was a result of a kid making a great run and struggling to get extra yards. Happens all the time - McCoy spins to get a few more yards - Ashland defenders hitting hard 30 yards down the field - nice job of team defense to pursue and hit that far down field.

 

Ashland did a nice job of running to the weak side. Whether it was trap or they pulled the strong side guard/tackle, they were able to open nice holes running in that direction. It was successful in the first half, but as they tired it became harder for the Tomcats to move the ball. Ashland was never able to get the outside running game going.

 

Second half - HHS eliminated mistakes, mixed in the run and short/medium pass game , and took the long ball when it opened up. Back - ups played the entire 4th quarter. One completed pass by Houliston on a third and long led to the only late score. Ashland subbed in when HHS did to give kids a chance to experience playoff football. Nice effort by the Tomcats - they have some real nice players.

 

It was close at half because of how each team executed in the first half. Nothing to do with any long term strategy.

I can see where 16 and 17 yr old boys can be guilty of overlooking a team especially when you've had nothing but success since 9th grade. It happens. They're not robots. They woke up and handled Ashland like most of us expected.

 

Rest assured. They will be motivated for Friday.

Congrats to the Birds, especially Birdsfan and LN. Nice win by HHS, especially considering the halftime score. Maybe this brush with mortality will help them moving forward as the playoffs presumably get tougher.

 

Thx Watusi. Good luck to you guys this week too.

 

RCC9, I wasn't in the stands (was in the endzone) and if you saw me, you'd have put me in the category you describe. Someone came up to me early in the 2Q and asked if I was worried. I said not one bit. I'm not spoiled at all. I just know what I saw in the game to that point.

 

Dale is an interesting coach, but a very, very smart one. I agree with Whackem in that early in the game, Dale was not going with the strength of his O. I felt he did not do so, but rather he threw the deep pass often, for two reasons: 1. running the defenders deep, not only would pay dividends in the second half by tiring them, it caused the defenders to be very wary of the deep ball the rest of the game. Which made the short to medium passing game much easier to run if and when it would become necessary; and 2. the more work you can get on the deep pass the better. Even if it doesn't work (as it didn't Friday night because it was apparent that Blazer put an emphasis this week on not getting beat deep), it was an opportunity to get better. If CovCath puts a lot in the box this Friday to stop the run (and given the last game, they have to be putting an emphasis this week in stopping the run, particularly by the QB which most teams do by cheating the safety up a bit), then the deep pass will be thrown a lot. Might as well work on it as much as you can when you can.

 

So I took what happened in the first half with a grain of salt. Besides, Blazer never got up by more than 1 TD, so there was no reason to go with the bread and butter O in the first half out of necessity. Dale could sit back, work on some things and set up things for the second half. Folks, that is an example of where coaching comes into play as to why some teams are successful year in and year out.

 

I don't mean to insult Blazer by saying I felt confident that Highlands would win big by the end of the 1Q. Nice football team. Very good lineplay. Very nice athletes. But the outcome was pretty easy to predict by the end of the 1st quarter. Blazer just had too many two way players; and an O too reliant on one phase of the game.

 

Congrats to the TomCats. A very nice season. Well disciplined and coached players. Kids played really hard the entire game. Was their season a success? If the players and coaches can look one another in the eyes and say they did everything they could to be the best possible team, players and coaches, then the answer is a resounding yes, regardless of the fact that they didn't win a state title.

It was a weird night. Only thing I can think of is that our fan base as gotten spoiled and expect to win unless we are playing a well known team or team they feel can make it competitive. I know fans and students that went to other games instead! Maybe Kentucky basketball being on at the same time took some fans away that felt they'd rather watch them than go see a blowout. Even in the stands when Ashland scored and took the lead, there seemed to be absolutely no worries in the stands. Ashland fans were going crazy (as they should have been) and we looked like the fans at a UC bball game. Sitting on our hands! However, our lack of cheering was a confidence that its a long game and its very early. We had seen this before and have seen the outcome. We are spoiled! But we have to take advantage of these great years and not take them for granted. The kids deserve the support! Kids go thru the program every year. They all deserve the same attention as the previous kids. I hope we're not greeting numb to winning because that can go just as fast as it came. I get that some games just aren't fun to watch, but last nights game was fun for a half and this is the playoffs! HHS tried to slip up last night with all the turnovers and bad decisions. They are high school kids that have dreamed about "their time to shine" since they could walk! This is their time to shine. Get to the game!!!

 

Sad but true....come to a boys basketball game one night.

Thx Watusi. Good luck to you guys this week too.

 

RCC9, I wasn't in the stands (was in the endzone) and if you saw me, you'd have put me in the category you describe. Someone came up to me early in the 2Q and asked if I was worried. I said not one bit. I'm not spoiled at all. I just know what I saw in the game to that point.

 

Dale is an interesting coach, but a very, very smart one. I agree with Whackem in that early in the game, Dale was not going with the strength of his O. I felt he did not do so, but rather he threw the deep pass often, for two reasons: 1. running the defenders deep, not only would pay dividends in the second half by tiring them, it caused the defenders to be very wary of the deep ball the rest of the game. Which made the short to medium passing game much easier to run if and when it would become necessary; and 2. the more work you can get on the deep pass the better. Even if it doesn't work (as it didn't Friday night because it was apparent that Blazer put an emphasis this week on not getting beat deep), it was an opportunity to get better. If CovCath puts a lot in the box this Friday to stop the run (and given the last game, they have to be putting an emphasis this week in stopping the run, particularly by the QB which most teams do by cheating the safety up a bit), then the deep pass will be thrown a lot. Might as well work on it as much as you can when you can.

So I took what happened in the first half with a grain of salt. Besides, Blazer never got up by more than 1 TD, so there was no reason to go with the bread and butter O in the first half out of necessity. Dale could sit back, work on some things and set up things for the second half. Folks, that is an example of where coaching comes into play as to why some teams are successful year in and year out.

 

I don't mean to insult Blazer by saying I felt confident that Highlands would win big by the end of the 1Q. Nice football team. Very good lineplay. Very nice athletes. But the outcome was pretty easy to predict by the end of the 1st quarter. Blazer just had too many two way players; and an O too reliant on one phase of the game.

 

Congrats to the TomCats. A very nice season. Well disciplined and coached players. Kids played really hard the entire game. Was their season a success? If the players and coaches can look one another in the eyes and say they did everything they could to be the best possible team, players and coaches, then the answer is a resounding yes, regardless of the fact that they didn't win a state title.

 

I understand what you are saying, but this is the playoffs. Why not get up first and then "work on stuff". I agree that I never felt the game was in doubt, but you don't get any "my bads" in the playoffs. No matter what they were doing on offensed, HHS wasn't very successful stopping them early. Just saying if that trend would have continued, they could have been an unecessay shoot out.

 

He is very smart and I don't question anything he does. Just not sure it was him or if it was bad reads by McCoy (who I think is outstanding so not a nick on him.) I just question if it was obvious to everyone inside the gates that they had a safety sitting back there playing centerfield waiting for the long ball, that we would try to "work on that". Why not work on running the ball against a good line. Or perfecting the mid range passing game? If they were working on stuff as they were behind in the first half, I would have to question that a little. Now the other theory of wearing them out sounds good. When you take a defense and make their DBs run 30yd sprints and their linemen run 5-10 yd sprints on every play, then you are going to wear them down and that makes sense.

 

Either way, they won going away and their decision was right! It's nice that we have the opportunity to debate a blow out win!

I understand what you are saying, but this is the playoffs. Why not get up first and then "work on stuff". I agree that I never felt the game was in doubt, but you don't get any "my bads" in the playoffs. No matter what they were doing on offensed, HHS wasn't very successful stopping them early. Just saying if that trend would have continued, they could have been an unecessay shoot out.

 

He is very smart and I don't question anything he does. Just not sure it was him or if it was bad reads by McCoy (who I think is outstanding so not a nick on him.) I just question if it was obvious to everyone inside the gates that they had a safety sitting back there playing centerfield waiting for the long ball, that we would try to "work on that". Why not work on running the ball against a good line. Or perfecting the mid range passing game? If they were working on stuff as they were behind in the first half, I would have to question that a little. Now the other theory of wearing them out sounds good. When you take a defense and make their DBs run 30yd sprints and their linemen run 5-10 yd sprints on every play, then you are going to wear them down and that makes sense.

 

Either way, they won going away and their decision was right! It's nice that we have the opportunity to debate a blow out win!

 

Would liked to have seen what would have transpired if the tackle from Ashland didn't false start on their last posession of the half (not counting taking a knee) At that point in the game Ashland led 13 - 8 and there was about 1:50 left on the game clock. It was 3rd and 3 and the ball was on the Highlands 43. That penalty stopped the clock and Ashland was forced to punt after a 3rd and 8 play. Highlands took the lead here and led 16 13 at the half. If Ashland leads at half and carries that over to the first posession of the second half, Highland could have been down 2 scores with about 1.5 quarters to play. Without momentum. As it was I am sure the fact that he was physically worn played a part in his mental error. Highland is much deeper and therefore better. May have only mattered in the margin of victory. Would have made it somewhat interesting if that play doesnt tip in their favor.

Would liked to have seen what would have transpired if the tackle from Ashland didn't false start on their last posession of the half (not counting taking a knee) At that point in the game Ashland led 13 - 8 and there was about 1:50 left on the game clock. It was 3rd and 3 and the ball was on the Highlands 43. That penalty stopped the clock and Ashland was forced to punt after a 3rd and 8 play. Highlands took the lead here and led 16 13 at the half. If Ashland leads at half and carries that over to the first posession of the second half, Highland could have been down 2 scores with about 1.5 quarters to play. Without momentum. As it was I am sure the fact that he was physically worn played a part in his mental error. Highland is much deeper and therefore better. May have only mattered in the margin of victory. Would have made it somewhat interesting if that play doesnt tip in their favor.

 

Great points!

Would liked to have seen what would have transpired if the tackle from Ashland didn't false start on their last posession of the half (not counting taking a knee) At that point in the game Ashland led 13 - 8 and there was about 1:50 left on the game clock. It was 3rd and 3 and the ball was on the Highlands 43. That penalty stopped the clock and Ashland was forced to punt after a 3rd and 8 play. Highlands took the lead here and led 16 13 at the half. If Ashland leads at half and carries that over to the first posession of the second half, Highland could have been down 2 scores with about 1.5 quarters to play. Without momentum. As it was I am sure the fact that he was physically worn played a part in his mental error. Highland is much deeper and therefore better. May have only mattered in the margin of victory. Would have made it somewhat interesting if that play doesnt tip in their favor.

 

I would like to see what would have happened if Highlands doesnt throw two INTs and a fumble in first half....running clock by half? It goes both ways..

I would like to see what would have happened if Highlands doesnt throw two INTs and a fumble in first half....running clock by half? It goes both ways..

 

I don't think anyone doubts that. We were just saying that if HHS was "working on things" in the first half while being behind as Leatherneck stated, there was a chance that it could have led to something that was much closer than it needed to be.

 

I think we were agreeing that they should have taken care of business and then worked on things. That's all.

I don't think anyone doubts that. We were just saying that if HHS was "working on things" in the first half while being behind as Leatherneck stated, there was a chance that it could have led to something that was much closer than it needed to be.

 

I think we were agreeing that they should have taken care of business and then worked on things. That's all.

 

I've felt that way on several games in the past. The problem is, that's not the way Dale thinks. Why he does what he does is often puzzling to me. Maybe he wants more on the line as he works on things. No pressure to complete the long pass up by 35; big pressure to complete it while tied or losing. Bottom line however is, regardless of his reasons for doing what he does, what he does works a very high percentage of the time.

I would like to see what would have happened if Highlands doesnt throw two INTs and a fumble in first half....running clock by half? It goes both ways..

 

I guess I classify turnovers as take aways. The motion penalty was self induced. I don't question which team was better. I was just making the point that Ashland had an opportunity to make it a little more interesting. You can't tell me that you wouldn't have been a little worried if you were down 20 - 8 with 6 minutes left in the 3rd.