By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

When asked whether it is still a rivalry or not, Highlands senior cornerback Andrew Abner did not hold back his thoughts.

“It’s not,” Abner said. “The goal is to beat CovCath every single year and go as hard as we can. We did it this game. They have signs in their weight room and school saying, ‘Beat Highlands.’ That fires us up a bunch. We’re definitely going to get better and we’re going to come out and execute.”

Others like former Highlands quarterback Patrick Towles have said the same thing because of the recent Bluebird domination. The Bluebirds (5-0) beat the Colonels (3-2) for the 12th straight time Friday, 42-7 in the Class 4A, District 7 opener. They lead the all-time series, 46-17 including 27-4 since 1994. The series has been a far cry from the late 1980s and 1990s when the teams constantly battled each other for state championships.

Highlands has not lost to CovCath since a 25-15 loss in the second round of the playoffs in 2006 in addition to the 29-27 loss to Covington Catholic on a last-second Kurt Bovard touchdown reception in Fort Thomas during the regular season. The current seniors on both teams were fourth graders when that happened.

But the Bluebirds did quickly acknowledge they may see the Colonels in the regional finals again this year like they have the previous three years. Highlands beat CovCath, 42-6 in Park Hills last year before beating the Colonels again, 28-13 in the Region 4 finals.

“In this game, all that matters is where the third-round game is going to be played,” said Brian Weinrich, Highlands Head Coach. “That’s what we’ve been talking about all week. We’ll come in (Saturday). We have a lot of mistakes to correct. We know we’ll play them in a couple weeks. We know they’re only going to get better. We have to keep working.”

Weinrich has been on staff since 1995. Even though it has been a while, the first-year head coach remembers when the Bluebirds won the regular season meetings against the Colonels in 1997 and 2001 before CovCath came back and won the playoff rematches.

That is why the Bluebirds seek improvement each and every day. That has shown constantly throughout the year.

“They’re a really mature group,” Weinrich said. “Since Day one in January, it’s been amazing. I’ve said this all year. When we ask them to do something, they do it as hard as they can. I don’t care what day of the week they’re playing. I know it was CovCath week, but I didn’t see a difference from this week to last week from that.”

Other teams in Class 4A, Region 4 can say whether the rematch could happen or not. But only undefeated Johnson Central (5-0) appears to be a serious threat for that. The Golden Eagles have restocked their vaunted wishbone attack in the backfield despite losing all three running backs. But they have not been tested.

The other two District 7 opponents in Covington Holmes and Harrison County are a combined 1-10 and every other District 8 opponent has a losing record.

Highlands Junior Varsity beats CovCath:

The Bluebirds took care of the Colonels, 34-20 on Saturday in Park Hills. The Highlands junior varsity (1-2) had lost to CovCath, 21-6 12 days ago in Fort Thomas. Their next game is Oct. 18 at 10 a.m. against Cincinnati St. Xavier.

The Highlands freshman team is 2-1 on the season. The Bluebirds take on Covington Catholic in Park Hills on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Class 4A Notes:

Aside from Highlands and Johnson Central, Boyle County stayed one of three undefeated teams with a 38-6 District 5 win over Taylor County on Friday in Danville.

Valdosta update:

The Valdosta Wildcats of South Georgia had their bye week this week and are a perfect 5-0 so Highlands has not gained any ground in terms of overall wins in program history. The Wildcats are 887-214-34 all-time and the Bluebirds are 860-227-26.

Valdosta is about to be tested though. The Wildcats play in the rugged 1-AAAAAA in the largest of Georgia’s six classes in south Georgia.

Up Next:

Highlands travels to Harrison County on Friday continuing District 7 action. The Thorobreds are 0-6 coming off a 48-18 home loss to defending 1A state runner-up Williamsburg. They’ve not scored more than 18 points all season.

Highlands has beaten the Thorobreds, 77-0, 69-10 and 68-0 in district play the last three years. The Bluebirds are 24-0 in district regular-season play since 2006.

 

FORT THOMAS MATTERS: Is the Highlands-CovCath series still a rivalry?

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The hopes of it being ‘the year that’ things turn around in this series rise like crazy just before the season begins up until the game in Park Hills.

But the Highlands Bluebirds football team turned those annual hopes into the same adjective they’ve used to handle the Covington Catholic Colonels in all 12 meetings since 2006 on Friday.

Crushed.

Things were not perfect. But undefeated Highlands (5-0) pulled away from CovCath (3-2) in the second half for a 42-7 victory and its third straight game enforcing the running clock. The score came one off last year’s 42-6 win over the injury-riddled Colonels in Park Hills about a year ago.

“You know the old cliché. It starts up front. Our offensive line played great,” said Brian Weinrich, Highlands Head Coach. “They’re getting better every week at what they’re doing and the backs are getting it. The wide receivers were unselfish. After what we throw for last week (352 yards in a 49-17 win over Paducah Tilghman) they came out and blocked hard. We left some points out on the field and we’ll fix that.”

Highlands outgained CovCath, 540-362 in total offense. The Bluebird offensive line blocked so well that the Bluebirds rushed for 319 yards on 56 carries.

Highlands graduated 12 offensive linemen from last year and recently saw senior Kyler Dalton return from a foot injury. Senior Lou Bunning has helped out there playing football for the first time since his freshman year.

“Coach Weinrich had been talking all week about making the other team quit,” Bunning said. “We got up 7-0 and we said to ourselves, ‘We need to step on the gas petal and just keep running it down their throats and keep pouring it on.’ That’s what we did. Every week, we’ve been making small improvements and (Friday), it really showed. It was a real good game.”

Senior Josh Watson led Highlands with 18 carries for 107 yards and Griffin Urlage had 73 on 14 carries with Nick Kendall following with seven carries for 56 yards. Highlands quarterback Beau Hoge rushed for 47 yards on eight runs and two touchdowns. Hoge gave the Bluebirds the lead for good with a 1-yard run over right tackle with 8:08 left in the first half.

Hoge also hurt CovCath with his arm. He completed 16-of-23 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Cashel Coughlin led Highlands with six catches for 51 yards and Mitch Cain had four for 76 and a score as CovCath focused on senior Alex Veneman.

“We put in a whole new offense this year and had a whole new offensive line,” Hoge said. “We’re just getting better each game. Like Coach Weinrich always tell us, we’re putting another brick in the wall so we’re building every day.”

Veneman had just one catch, but he made the most of it. He hauled in a 39-yard reception on the left side of the end zone with 4:16 left in the quarter as CovCath blew coverage. Jared Dougherty’s second of six made extra-point kicks put Highlands up 14-0.

Defensively, Highlands allowed a few big plays. CovCath quarterback Adam Wagner had a 61-yard run in the first half. That made up the majority of his 106 net yards. But he only passed for 90 yards completing 10-of-22 passes to go with two interceptions.

The Bluebirds took away the Colonels’ bread and butter of the read-option. Brady Murray and James Hinkle had interceptions and Andrew Abner recovered a CovCath fumble. Hoge threw one interception so the Bluebirds finished plus-two in the turnover battle.

“I enjoyed sitting back and watching the guys play,” said Shelby Jones, Highlands Defensive Coordinator. “They’re really the ones that came out and did what they were supposed to do. They were flying around and making plays. That’s what we asked of them.”

Highlands recorded five tackles for a loss and a sack. Highlands senior defensive lineman Tyler Robinson had a sack and combined with linebacker Patrick Schoepf for a tackle for a loss. Schoepf also had a tackle for a loss. Teammates Daniel Kremer, Luke Lindeman and Rocco Pangallo had the other three.

“We’ve been hoping for a shutout for a while. I believe the varsity got the shutout,” Robinson said. “If they don’t want to say it was a shutout, so be it. I just hope we get more games like that this season and we prove everyone wrong.”

The Bluebirds would have led by more. But they did not score any points on three trips into the red zone.

But they did put the game away in the second half scoring 14 points in each quarter. Hoge broke free for a 20-yard touchdown with 6:32 left in the third and Watson had an 11-yard run with 53 seconds left.

Hoge threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Cain with 11:41 left in the fourth quarter. The final Highlands touchdown came with 4:52 left when sophomore Grant Murray scored on a 6-yard run.

Highlands travels to Harrison County on Friday. Game time is 7 p.m.

 

FORT THOMAS MATTERS: How did the Highlands-CovCath game turn out?

Nice writes Mike...

 

Pretty sure that quote by The Cowboy should have been "Its not???"

 

I read "Its not" with a shaking head...

 

 

Either way, the records and the scores might not suggest a rivalry status at the moment but anyone that gets in my way is my rival because I know he could be keeping me from what I want since he wants the same thing...:thumb:

Good article mike but want to clarify Tyler Robinson is a junior.

Mike must have been up dancing late last nite, he is off his game a bit today...LOL

 

J/K Mike, love your stuff, hey Pete Rose struck out once:thumb:

Congrats to Highlands, and congrats to Coach Weinrich in his first game against CovCath as head coach! Go 'Birds!

 

I won't comment on CovCath's situation (players or coach). I will just say this. Highlands is showing significant improvement EVERY WEEK. From where they were weeks 1 and 2 to where they are now is staggering. A team that is improving EVERY WEEK is a team with not only a good head coach but many good assistants.

 

Congrats to the Birds. Don't get comfortable because of last night's game outcome. Keep getting better!

Just Play Football...:banana:

On a side note...Bird Bath broke my pinky on my left hand on a high five after a big play last nite

 

I think those big Oscar Meyers of his are just fine though...:thumb:

........

 

I've not read one post in this thread, but the much better team won last night. Had I posted last night I would have regretted it.

 

Like I said in the prediction thread, I will always think Highlands will win this game until I once again see otherwise.

 

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

Congrats Birds, you absolutely deserved that game.

One question for the Ft Thomas folks: MTGL and I thought we saw a sniper. Then we realized it was some cat filming the game from the top of the middle school.

 

Is that film for the team or is that one of the famous "dad filmers?"

 

Boy that doesn't seem like a good angle to film from unless you also have the sideline view so I assume it's for the team.

One question for the Ft Thomas folks: MTGL and I thought we saw a sniper. Then we realized it was some cat filming the game from the top of the middle school.

 

Is that film for the team or is that one of the famous "dad filmers?"

 

The team takes two angles - one from the top of the pressbox and one from the roof of the middle school.

 

The "dad filmers" (or in last nights case - the one dad and one uncle) are the guys in each end zone that get shots for the year end video.

On a side note...Bird Bath broke my pinky on my left hand on a high five after a big play last nite I think those big Oscar Meyers of his are just fine though...:thumb:

 

It was a nice night on the perch! The hitting on the field got contagious!

Some good video. Fort Thomas Sports: How did the Highlands-CovCath game turn out Friday?

Some good video. Fort Thomas Sports: How did the Highlands-CovCath game turn out Friday?

 

Great video. Thanks for posting.

Love the video!!!:thumb: