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By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Sports Reporter

UNION – Some may have understandably feared the worst entering this 9th Region quarterfinal contest.

Like last year, the Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team lost in the regular season finale to the Ryle Raiders before dropping the 36th District championship to rival Newport Central Catholic.

But unlike last year when Highlands lost 1-0 in the quarterfinals at St. Henry, the Bluebirds turned in a solid 80 minutes to beat 33rd District champion Ryle (14-6-2) on Tuesday, 4-0. The Bluebirds (14-7-1) were the only road team to win in the quarterfinal round.

“We’ve been talking about 80 minutes all season long,” said Matthew Winkler, Highlands Head Coach. “Anytime we relax, it hurts us. So when we play with intensity and heart, it helps us get the results we want.”

Highlands returns to Ryle to play in the region semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The Bluebirds take on the 34th champion Dixie Heights Colonels (13-8-2). The two did not meet in the regular season.

Both teams played 4-5-1 (defender-midfielder-forward) formations. Ryle changed at the end of the game trying to rally.

“We’ve had some excellent trainings the past couple days,” Winkler said. “The guys have been really motivated. We’ve trained every day, Saturday and Sunday included just to keep them together. We have the same focus and same goal and that’s to get to the state tournament and win state.”

Both teams took 16 shots. Ryle had 13 on goal to 11 for Highlands. But none made it past Highlands goalkeepers Nick Breslin and Nathan Tippenhauer. Breslin made seven saves in the first half and Tippenhauer had six in the second half.

Freshman Will Bedel played the entire game at goalkeeper for Ryle. He made seven saves.

“We came out and practiced hard to get a win and keep our season going,” Tippenhauer said. “We could have been more ready (against NewCath) because it was districts. I think we were flat because we knew we got to regionals no matter what. It was crucial that we stayed on our marks and made sure nothing got past us.”

The staff moved senior Andrew Barnes from center back to midfield and he played a role in the first two goals that gave Highlands a 2-0 halftime lead. He played one to Mitch Gesenhues for the first goal with 29:41 left in the first half then scored on a pretty pass from Jordan Jarvis with 4:21 left in the half.

“I showed (Coach Winkler) that was a good choice because I was hungry because I haven’t scored or done anything offensively lately,” Barnes said. “I made eye contact with Jordy (Jarvis) coming down. He knew that I was going in for the cross and he played me a perfect ball. (Bedel) came out and I headed it right over.”

Highlands added two more goals in the second half. Brady Gesenhues scored off a nice pass from Colin Dean with 28:48 left in the half and Noah Sellers scored on a rebound with 3:02 left in the game.

The game did get chippy at times. Ryle drew four yellow cards and Highlands had one.

 

Fort Thomas Sports

Nice to see Andrew Barnes get some attention. Very hard working kid.