Fun night in the Fort last night, and certainly a surprising outcome at least to me (and the "down their throat" poster), but there is a fair amount to unpack here.

*  Highlands' back-line and keeper situation isn't nearly on par with their attacking players, and as they more and more high-caliber opponents, that is going to be problematic.  The first Colonel goal was a direct result of a gaffe in the back.  The second Colonel goal was horribly misplayed by the LB and LCB and they allowed a player to dribble the ball from 35 yards out nearly to the edge of the 6 yard box.  Yikes.

*  Highlands' offensive players are wildly skilled, but I didn't like how they played together last night, although they didn't seem to get increasingly frustrated as the night went on with the services they were getting, and the space that they had to operate in.  CovCath put a lot of players back, especially after the 1st goal, and the quality of the balls HHS were serving into the box weren't very high.  When HHS can play from ahead, and spread out the opponent, they can really slice you up, but when the other team can put 8-10 players behind the ball, their individual skill in space is really nullified.

*  I thought the overall quality of play from both teams was lower than I expected, the middle third of the field was a lot of kickball back and forth, a lot of passes both ways were scooped causing the teammate to have to waste a touch settling the ball, and really slowing down the time they had to create before they were smothered.

*  I would be fine if I never watched another game with Mark Baker as the center.  So over-done.  So many side-bar conversations.  You warn a HHS player for blasting a ball 30 yards when it is a CovCath throw in, then you yellow the next kid who taps it away.  I get the big picture, but you take a kid out of the game because you were upset with his teammate.  He is just too much for me, and it has nothing to do with his knowledge and understanding of the rules, he is largely without peer in that area.  Just not for me.

*  I have now seen every Top 10 team in NKY this year in person, and without question, the area is down this year.  Neither of those teams last night have enough balance front to back to scare the top teams, Ryle is way down (still hopeful they figure it out), Cooper isn't what I thought they'd be (yet)...just disappointed at the level of play from NKY this year (thus far).

A few things to unpack here.....here is my Highlands biased views:

- Totally agree with you regarding the GK - Defense issues.  I am a little disappointed that Ponchak has elected to go with a full game to game rotation with the GK Mathis (SR) and Wilson (JR).  I would rather see a half to half rotation if he feels like these goalies are equal (IMO they aren't equal but you might not see that if you don't allow them to play against the same competition).

- I think he is still trying to figure out that MF and Backline....he had the Iowa kid (Khullar) that is new playing in MF for some and the backline for some.  I love the size of that kid and he will be very valuable wherever he ends up, I truly think Ponchak just doesn't know yet where he is the most valued.

- I am with you on the packing the box Highlands was getting some shots but there was just way to many bodies to get a clean look.

- The only 2 comments I would say about Baker and the stuff that went on last night.  1. I have seen way to many High School soccer matches with these teenage boys where a lot of times its simply the cliche "You want to play stupid games, you will win stupid prizes"  I agree that YC for kicking the ball away might have been a little excessive but these kids just don't understand they can't just do stupid things no matter how slight it might look.  I think the only really bad call was the missed blowup of the HHS attacker at the end of the game probably 2 min to go.  I had to go back and re-watch it on YouTube and it clearly looked like the ball had passed the sliding keeper when he took out the attacker.  In real speed at the game I was biting my lip that maybe it was just a good sliding tackle that the keeper got all ball and the attacker just flew over the keeper trying to keep the ball.  Based on video evidence that does not look like the case.  Here's the kicker, that play should have been called if not from Baker but from AR1 who had a front row seat to that play, and his flag never came up.  Baker was on the backside of that attack so in his defense he didn't have a "perfect view" to make a "perfect call".

Onto the next.....Ryle on Thursday, looking for a nice bounce back win!

#GOBIRDS!!

@FrankNicodemus To be 100% clear, I would have ABSOLUTELY given the first kid an immediate yellow for blasting CovCath's throw-in ball 30 yards away.  That was egregious and a clear yellow.  Giving one to the next kid for tapping it 10 feet away is like the old line, "...the NCAA was so mad at UK they are putting Cleveland State on probation.."  

2 minutes ago, The Double Deuce said:

@FrankNicodemus To be 100% clear, I would have ABSOLUTELY given the first kid an immediate yellow for blasting CovCath's throw-in ball 30 yards away.  That was egregious and a clear yellow.  Giving one to the next kid for tapping it 10 feet away is like the old line, "...the NCAA was so mad at UK they are putting Cleveland State on probation.."  

Very fair, I would also say in situations like that as well is the game was equipped with 2 ball boys on each side, kicking the ball in disgust didn't "delay the game" one bit.  A ball boy was right there to hand over a new ball for the throw in.  This isn't a "club" game where the player would now have to run 30 yards away to retrieve the ball.  So to your point yes, if you are going to YC an incident like that, do it on the first dude not the simple tap away that Pieper did.  I still stand by my cliche though that sometimes you scratch your head and wonder what these kids are thinking when they do some dumb stuff, and think they will get away with it.

It looks like it is going to be a more physical and less technical season all around. As far as the officiating, it will be important for all officials to take control of the matches early on. Allowing players to delay the restart of play or to use profanity at the beginning of the match only leads to an exponential increase of these violations in the late stages. But we also harass the officials when they try to take control of the conduct early on. At the end of the match, HHS had many more opportunities to capitalize on but failed to.

As always, this was a highly energetic and emotionally charged match from everyone's perspective. Some were surprised by the outcome basing their opinion solely on how many seniors a team had lost. Others were not surprised at all knowing the talent the players have and their potential to harness it after a hard loss in their last match.

 

2 minutes ago, Ablkhat55 said:

It looks like it is going to be a more physical and less technical season all around. As far as the officiating, it will be important for all officials to take control of the matches early on. Allowing players to delay the restart of play or to use profanity at the beginning of the match only leads to an exponential increase of these violations in the late stages. But we also harass the officials when they try to take control of the conduct early on. At the end of the match, HHS had many more opportunities to capitalize on but failed to.

As always, this was a highly energetic and emotionally charged match from everyone's perspective. Some were surprised by the outcome basing their opinion solely on how many seniors a team had lost. Others were not surprised at all knowing the talent the players have and their potential to harness it after a hard loss in their last match.

 

Welcome to BGP @Ablkhat55!

2 hours ago, theguru said:

Welcome to BGP @Ablkhat55!

Thank you, sir. 

2 hours ago, Ablkhat55 said:

Some were surprised by the outcome basing their opinion solely on how many seniors a team had lost. Others were not surprised at all knowing the talent the players have and their potential to harness it after a hard loss in their last match.

 

Noted.  

On 8/24/2022 at 7:02 AM, The Double Deuce said:

Fun night in the Fort last night, and certainly a surprising outcome at least to me (and the "down their throat" poster), but there is a fair amount to unpack here.

*  Highlands' back-line and keeper situation isn't nearly on par with their attacking players, and as they more and more high-caliber opponents, that is going to be problematic.  The first Colonel goal was a direct result of a gaffe in the back.  The second Colonel goal was horribly misplayed by the LB and LCB and they allowed a player to dribble the ball from 35 yards out nearly to the edge of the 6 yard box.  Yikes.

*  Highlands' offensive players are wildly skilled, but I didn't like how they played together last night, although they didn't seem to get increasingly frustrated as the night went on with the services they were getting, and the space that they had to operate in.  CovCath put a lot of players back, especially after the 1st goal, and the quality of the balls HHS were serving into the box weren't very high.  When HHS can play from ahead, and spread out the opponent, they can really slice you up, but when the other team can put 8-10 players behind the ball, their individual skill in space is really nullified.

*  I thought the overall quality of play from both teams was lower than I expected, the middle third of the field was a lot of kickball back and forth, a lot of passes both ways were scooped causing the teammate to have to waste a touch settling the ball, and really slowing down the time they had to create before they were smothered.

*  I would be fine if I never watched another game with Mark Baker as the center.  So over-done.  So many side-bar conversations.  You warn a HHS player for blasting a ball 30 yards when it is a CovCath throw in, then you yellow the next kid who taps it away.  I get the big picture, but you take a kid out of the game because you were upset with his teammate.  He is just too much for me, and it has nothing to do with his knowledge and understanding of the rules, he is largely without peer in that area.  Just not for me.

*  I have now seen every Top 10 team in NKY this year in person, and without question, the area is down this year.  Neither of those teams last night have enough balance front to back to scare the top teams, Ryle is way down (still hopeful they figure it out), Cooper isn't what I thought they'd be (yet)...just disappointed at the level of play from NKY this year (thus far).

This is a pretty fair assessment of how the night went. I expected a little more from Highlands. Tip your cap to CovCath, they made a game plan that gave them the result - exactly how it should be. If the two teams meet again in the 9th, it should be a fun contest.

As to Baker - it is funny everyone finds the need to make comment. I think it brings value to the point you made. He is nowhere near my favorite. He makes the game about himself. At times, he will approach kids to start a conversation or finish a thought and it only seems to escalate things - not what you want.

Thank you for the write-up!