Congrats to Highlands. Also Owensboro. Their 'real-ness' was not acknowledged or questioned early in the season. They did show the west is coming on in the state.

Highlands rallies to beat Owensboro 49-42 in 4-A final | USA Today High School Sports | USA Today High School Sports

 

Highlands overcomes Owensboro 49-42 for 4A title | Sports - WLWT Home

Incredible! Great win! Great adjustment on defense in the second half big shout out to the whole D!

 

It's amazing how many times they do that.

That was indeed an impressive second half for HHS.

Congratulations Highlands on a phenomenal win.

When you have Highlands gasping for air, DON'T let your foot off their throat.......somebody didn't get the memo.

 

Congrats to the Bluebirds on an amazing comeback, way to keep playing.

When you have Highlands gasping for air, DON'T let your foot off their throat.......somebody didn't get the memo.

 

Congrats to the Bluebirds on an amazing comeback, way to keep playing.

 

No doubt.

Solid Work Birds!!!!! If only I were as calm as the kids were coming out after half time.

Solid Work Birds!!!!! If only I were as calm as the kids were coming out after half time.

 

GREAT TEAM VICTORY! Coaches made adjustments, D came out in 2nd half determined and the offense played their dynamic selves, led by the unflappable Beau Hoge. Win was DEFINITELY NOT a one man show....gang tackling by a swarming D, HARD running by Griffin "the Duke of" Urlage, and a stable of nimble recievers. And I can't say enough about the job that Coach "the Magician" Turner has done once again with this year's O-line. (so Fine!). Okay, Coach Dub, you are 1 for 1....Whattaya' got for next year?? PROUD TO BE A BIRD!

Nope. Johnson Central and South Warren will have it all to themselves. 4A will be boring next year.

 

John Hardin

BOWLING GREEN – After the 49-35 loss to Cincinnati Elder on Oct. 24, Bluebird senior quarterback Beau Hoge made a promise to pal and Highlands senior cornerback Andrew “The Cowboy” Abner.

“(Hoge) said this one is for you,” Abner said. “We’re going to work our tails off to get onto this field (Saturday) and to win the game. It’s easily the best feeling I’ve had in my life. It’s an accomplishment.”

They did just that Saturday when they rallied past Owensboro, 49-42. That marked the Bluebirds’ seventh state championship in eight seasons.

Abner had just been lost for the season to a torn Anterior Cruciated Ligament. Teammate and fellow senior Josh Watson also went down with the same injury that day and tight end Jack Telek suffered the same fate in a preseason scrimmage against Louisville Trinity.

Highlands senior offensive lineman Kyler Dalton also did not see much action this year because of injuries. He was the lone returning offensive lineman with any varsity experience entering the season. Running backs like James Grau also battled injuries this year.

While many teams crumble in situations like this, Highlands rises to the occasion. Anyone associated with the program would tell you it is a family atmosphere within the Bluebird program.

“They guys do whatever is asked of them,” said Brian Weinrich, Highlands Head Coach. “They’ve been so unselfish all year. It didn’t matter whose number was getting called. They blocked for each other. They pick each other up if one makes a mistake. You can’t give those guys enough credit.”

The injured players made the trip. Some players do not have much to do with the team anymore after a season-ending injury. Watson was glad he stuck around.

“We (injured players) couldn’t do anything to win this game,” Watson said. “We should have come out harder, but we didn’t. All that matters is we won the game.”

Highlands rallying together may remind some of the 2005 Highlands Ladybird state championship girls soccer team that finished 24-2. Highlands knocked off Lexington Catholic, 1-0 on penalty kicks in the title game that year. Megan Leahy, Caitlin Beck, Natalie Turner and Sydney Hiance hit their kicks before Lexington Catholic missed and Rachel Redmond hit the game-winner.

The team rallied around then-senior Karly Hassman, who also tore her left ACL in a 3-1 win over Dixie Heights on Sept. 16, 2005. That injury happened before Highlands installed artificial turf in 2012.

“It was huge. I already had surgery at that point,” Hassman said when Redmond hit the game-winner. “But I felt like I was running again. It was definitely an adrenaline boost. I remember when we went into a shootout how (Head Coach) Nina (Kearns) asked if I was ready to get in there. Of course, that wasn’t likely. She still felt like I was part of the time.”

Still tied for most titles in school history:

The Bluebirds are still tied for the most state championships in Kentucky history with 23. Louisville Trinity beat Dixie Heights, 47-14 to claim the 6A crown and its 23rd title in school history.

Christopher Columbus to play for title:

The Christopher Columbus Explorers (13-1) will play for the Florida Class 8A state championship after winning Friday. They beat Flanagan, 16-12 in the state’s largest class semifinals.

Christopher Columbus handed Highlands one of its two losses during the regular season, 38-34 on Oct. 11 in Fort Thomas. The other came to another non-Kentucky team in Cincinnati Elder, 49-35 on Oct. 24.

A crown for the cheerleaders:

The Highlands cheerleading squad recently claimed the Region 9 Small Varsity championship on Nov. 22 at Cooper. Highlands came in second for years. Their head coach is Carly Thompson-Leopold.

“They learned the routine in August and they have been working since then on improving the skills and working on the skills to learn it,” Leopold said. “They work hard for 2.5 minutes and that’s all they get.”

Many perceive cheerleading is all about precision on the routines. But Leopold said that varies.

“It really depends on your difficulty,” Leopold said. “The more difficult it is, the more leniency you have if something were to go wrong. That was what was in our favor to win. We had a few stunts that did drop.”

Another individual honor for Mueller:

Longtime Highlands Head Coach Dale Mueller won another honor recently. Mueller and former Beechwood Head Football Coach Mike Yeagle received a recent induction into the Northern Kentucky Athletic Directors Hall of Fame.

Mueller coached the Bluebirds from 1994 until last year. He is still serving as the Highlands Director of Athletics until the end of the academic school year then will retire. The Bluebirds finished 250-36 during that time with 11 state championships and three runner-up finishes.

Farewell to the seniors:

The Bluebirds bid farewell to 26 seniors. They are Watson, Abner, Hoge, Telek, Dalton, Grau, Lou Bunning, James Hinkel, Kyle Martin, Justin Weyer, Alex Veneman, Rocco Pangallo, Brady Murray, Griffin Urlage, Daniel Kremer, Jacob Noe, Grayson Heck, Patrick Schoepf, DJ Mills, Ben Ellison, John Abner, Manny Venegas, Matt Gall, Matt Bowman, Phillip Arce and Cashel Coughlan.

That class won three state championships in four years of high school. They made up for the 37-34 loss to Collins in the title game last year. Highlands has seven titles in the last eight seasons.

Past Highlands teams honored:

The 1964 and 1989 state championship Highlands teams were honored at halftime. Among those in attendance were Dan Mueller, a junior on the 1964 team and older brother of Dale Mueller and Head coach Owen Hauck. Weinrich played on the 1989 state championship team that beat Paducah Tilghman, 7-3.

Outlook for next year:

This next offseason could be one of the biggest in Highlands history.

Not only will the Bluebirds move up to Class 5A with Covington Catholic, they could face a tougher road back to Bowling Green. They will be in the same district with CovCath, Dixie Heights and Grant County next season.

Highlands needs some players to step forward from the junior varsity and freshmen squads. The Bluebird junior varsity finished 1-5 with the lone win coming against Covington Catholic. The freshmen finished 3-5 beating Simon Kenton, Boone County and Cooper.

Next year’s team will have an advantage in the new field house. It is expected to be finished early in 2015.

The Bluebirds may have to get by defending 5A champion Pulaski County in the state semifinals. The Bowling Green Purples and Graves County Eagles could be the main threat in the title game.

 

FORT THOMAS MATTERS: Highlands Wins One for Injured Teammates

BOWLING GREEN – What many thought would be a typical Blue and White blowout was not anywhere close to it.

Instead, the Owensboro Red Devils came out swinging hard grabbing a 42-21 halftime lead. But the vaunted Highlands Bluebirds came right back out, flexed their muscles and came away with a hard-fought 49-42 victory in the Class 4A state championship on Saturday for their 23rd state championship. The game took place at Western Kentucky University’s Houchens-LT Smith Stadium.

It was a wonderful way to finish the 100th season in school history. In their two losses to Cincinnati Elder and Miami (Fla.) Christopher Columbus, Highlands fell behind big as well. But the Bluebirds were not able to complete the comebacks in those games despite huge rallies.

The Bluebirds moved to 868-229-26 in school history. That win total is good for second in the country behind Valdosta (Georgia) at 891-216-34.

“(Those games) maybe (helped) a little,” said Brian Weinrich, Highlands Head Coach. “It’s what they’ve been all season and doing since January. We show up every day and we work until it’s time to go home. It wasn’t time to go home yet so we kept fighting.”

Highlands ended up outgaining Owensboro, 455-413 in total offense including 30-25 in first downs. But at halftime, the Red Devils had 294 yards to 264 for the Bluebirds.

The Bluebirds defended the Owensboro Triple-Option Veer offense better in the second half. They finished with eight tackles for a loss for 20 yards. Brady Murray had 2.5 to lead Highlands and DJ Mills had two more. Rocco Pangallo and Austin Beal had one each and Grayson Heck combined for another. Jacob Noe led Highlands with eight tackles.

“We just decided we were going to fly to the ball. We weren’t going to make any major adjustments,” said Daniel Kremer, Highlands senior defensive lineman. “We knew they were going to come out and try to run it down our throat. We thought that was kind of disrespecting us so we came right back at them, especially in the second half. I’m just really proud of my team. We saw it all coming. But it was a struggle in the first half because we couldn’t get our range. We started to get ourselves under control and we started to play the way we love, which is fast and loose.”

Owensboro quarterback Nick Locher ran the Red Devil offense with efficiency. Anthony James carried the ball 24 times for 103 yards and two touchdowns and Locher had 11 carries for 86 yards and a touchdown. Locher also completed 12-of-21 passes for 159 yards and three touchdowns. Rodney Collier led the Red Devils with eight catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

“It’s the same thing we say every day,” said Shelby Jones, Highlands Defensive Coordinator. “We’re going to play every single play. I said at halftime it doesn’t matter what happened in the first half. If we shut them out in the second half, our offense was going to win us the game. That’s what happened. The guys kept flying around. We made a couple minor adjustments up front. It was a difference in the whole game.”

Highlands quarterback Beau Hoge finished off a stellar career with 78 yards rushing on 18 carries and three touchdowns. He also completed 15-of-26 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns. The Brigham Young commit played wide receiver last year.

“It’s a team win,” Hoge said. “Everyone played a huge part. I just got to part of the act.”

The Highlands offensive line continuously gave Hoge time and the running backs lanes. Senior Griffin Urlage led the Bluebirds with 26 carries for 157 yards and a touchdown. Senior wide receiver Alex Veneman finished with eight catches for 66 yards.

“The guys ahead of us have been incredible,” said Brandon Lichtenberg, Highlands junior offensive lineman. “But I think this year, we’ve just absolutely stepped it up with our size and how many people we had. We fell behind, but we came back. We felt it in our minds. That’s all we needed to do to win.”

The Bluebirds turned the ball over twice in the first half and once in the second half. The turnovers helped Owensboro build the halftime advantage.

“We felt all year that we had so many different guys to go to,” Weinrich said. “We had to figure out which one to go to at that particular time. If we stopped stopping ourselves, we’d be fine.”

Highlands came out and Bradley Greene recovered an onside kick to start the game to give the Bluebirds the ball at their own 40. The Bluebirds moved the ball and took a 7-0 lead when Hoge scored from a yard out with 10:06 left in the first quarter.

But Owensboro quickly responded. Locher took the fake off left tackle for a 47-yard touchdown run to tie the game with 8:48 left.

The Red Devils took a 14-7 lead with 5:33 left in the quarter. James scored from eight yards out.

Following a bad punt, Owensboro went up 21-7 when Locher found Collier for a 37-yard score. The Red Devils then recovered an onside kick and James scored on a 14-yard dive with 9:45 left in the quarter.

That is when the Bluebirds responded. Hoge scored from a yard out to trim the margin to 28-14 with 6:16 left in the half.

Owensboro responded when Jahlil Barrett hauled in a 24-yard pass from Locher before Hoge found Mitch Cain for a 21-yard touchdown. But Owensboro scored with five seconds left in the half when Locher found Collier for a 12-yard touchdown.

The Bluebirds received the ball to start the second half and scored quickly. Urlage scored from four yards out to trim the margin to 42-28 with 9:42 left in the third.

The Bluebirds trimmed the margin to 42-35 with 4:41 left in the quarter. Hoge found Chandler New on an isolation route for a 34-yard touchdown pass.

Highlands did get the ball back but fumbled it back to Ownensboro. That’s when Austin Beal made a huge interception and returned it 70 yards to tie the game at 42 with 9:31 left in the game.

The Red Devils began taking changes. After converting a 4th-and-1 from their own 29, James took a pitch in the backfield and tried to throw downfield. That’s when James Hinkel recorded an interception at the Highlands 27 with 5:46 left in the game.

Hoge and Urlage carried the load for Highlands down the field. On second-and-goal, Hoge scored on a sweep left with 2:30 left in the game.

The Bluebirds needed to make a stop to seal the deal. With 50 seconds left, Heck intercepted the pass and returned the ball 18 yards to the Owensboro 46 allowing Highlands to run out the clock.

“It was nice,” Heck said. “I felt (the pass) coming because they were in that mountain four (formation). I just made a great break on it and we won the game.”

The Bluebirds will take the month off then begin working on the 2015 season in January. They play an all-Kentucky schedule next season.

 

FORT THOMAS MATTERS: Bluebirds rally down 21 for 23rd state championship

First off, congrats to Highlands. Even when they were down 21 you got the sense they were unfazed and would continue to battle. I thought OHS played a nearly flawless first half. Their overall team speed gave Highlands all kinds of trouble. The Devils were abusing Highlands on the edge and in the passing game. Rodney Collier had himself a very memorable first at at WR for the Devils. Once OHS scored just before half to make it 42-21, i thought to myself how good of a job they were doing mixing in the run and the pass. It was an element i had not seen from a Joe Prince led team and thought they needed to continue to play loose and aggressive in the second half.

 

That takes us to the second half. OHS went into a shell and went into "play to NOT to lose" mode. Credit Highlands for making fantastic adjustments and im really not wanting to take away from what they did in the second half, but OHS helped make it easier on them for sure. Im not sure i understand why you go away from Collier, or running the ball off the edge?? Highlands completely clogged up the rushing lanes between the tackles yet OHS continued to try to pound it in there, all the while taking very little time off the clock in the process. You simply cant go into clock milking mode mid way through the 3rd quarter vs a team that is explosive as Highlands. I dont know what the OHS coaches said to the kids at half, but everyone came out of the lockeroom VERY tight. It happens. I really feel for the kids. They went out and laid it all on the line on the biggest stage and have absolutely nothing to hang their heads about. Major props to Hodge as well. He is as advertised. He didnt have his best stuff in the first half, but you could tell he was going to put his team on his back in the second. He is a heck of a player and a leader. It was a real fun game to be a part of.

When you play not to lose, often you do.

Birds deserved it though; winning the second half 28-0.