Highlands at Covington Catholic Predictions/Updates ***Upset Alert***

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

If you're part of the Highlands or Cov Cath communities and this week doesn't have your blood pumping, then I don't know if you can call yourself any kind of a football fan.

Highlands is toting a 6-game win streak and an overall record of 6-2 at this point of the season. Brody Benke is really settling in at QB with nearly 1500 yards passing in 8 games. Charlie Noon is becoming the straw that stirs the drink for the Birds offense, with over 500 yards receiving and 200 yards rushing.

Cov Cath holds a 6-1 record, coming in off of their bye week. They haven't lost a game since their Week 1 loss to Elder (OH), but the Colonels are looking a little more banged up than they did in Week 1, with starters TE/LB Willie Rodriguez, WR/DB Michael Cody, and OL/DL Seth Jones all among the eight players who arrived in civies for Sep 30th game against Boone County. Injuries have definitely hampered the Colonels in recent weeks. Cov Cath's quarterbacks have combined for just over 1000 yards passing in 7 games, and led by Owen Leen with his 686 yards rushing for 8 TDs, the Colonels have rushed for almost 1300 yards.

Coach Sphire and the Birds will be looking to snap a 9-game Cov Cath win streak in the series that dates back to 2016, while Coach Eviston and the Colonels are trying to keep their team rolling and chalk up another win over the Birds.

Who 'ya got in this one??

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

COMPLETE SERIES RECORD:

1968 - Highlands (Murphy) beats Cov Cath (Lanham) 14-0
1969 - Cov Cath (Tassini) beats Highlands (Murphy) 35-6
1970 - Highlands (Murphy) beats Cov Cath (Tassini) 54-0
1971 - Highlands (Murphy) beats Cov Cath (Tassini) 28-18
1972 - Highlands (Murphy) beats Cov Cath (Tassini) 34-0
1973 - Highlands (Murphy) beats Cov Cath (Bernier) 6-0
1974 - Highlands (Walz) beats Cov Cath (Bernier) 7-0
1975 - Highlands (Walz) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 55-0
1976 - Highlands (Herrmann) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 27-0
1977 - Highlands (Herrmann) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 52-21
1978 - Highlands (Herrmann) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 26-14
1979 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Herrmann) 31-0
1980 - Highlands (Herrmann) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 30-21
1981 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Herrmann) 14-6
1982 - Highlands (Herrmann) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 13-7
1982* - Highlands (Herrmann) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 13-7 (OT)
1983 - Highlands (Herrmann) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 21-7
1984 - Highlands (Eicher) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 21-15
1985 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Eicher) 16-0
1986 - Highlands (Eicher) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 6-0
1987 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Eicher) 21-20
1988 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Duffy) 13-3
1988* - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Duffy) 33-8
1989 - Highlands (Duffy) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 19-0
1989* - Highlands (Duffy) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 22-6
1990 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Duffy) 20-0
1991 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Duffy) 21-6
1992 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Duffy) 41-21
1992* - Highlands (Duffy) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 14-7
1993 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Duffy) 21-16
1994 - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Mueller) 42-6
1994* - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Mueller) 7-3
1995 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 48-18
1995* - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 3-0
1996 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 33-7
1997 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 22-24
1997* - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Mueller) 41-35 (2OT)
1998 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 70-26
1998* - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 37-14
1999 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 45-7
2000 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 35-10
2000* - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 49-27
2001 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 52-22
2001* - Cov Cath (Ray) beats Highlands (Mueller) 18-15
2002 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 28-14
2003 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 21-7
2004 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 9-0
2004* - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Ray) 18-0
2005 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Rodenberg) 9-0
2006 - Cov Cath (Rodenberg) beats Highlands (Mueller) 29-27
2006* - Cov Cath (Rodenberg) beats Highlands (Mueller) 25-15
2007 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Brossart) 28-14
2007* - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Brossart) 40-0
2008 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Brossart) 61-0
2009 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 36-7
2010 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 27-20
2011 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 42-37
2011* - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 49-14
2012 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 35-21
2012* - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 28-13
2013 - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 42-6
2013* - Highlands (Mueller) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 28-13
2014 - Highlands (Weinrich) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 47-7
2014* - Highlands (Weinrich) beats Cov Cath (Wirth) 37-34
2015 - Highlands (Weinrich) beats Cov Cath (Eviston) 14-10
2015* - Highlands (Weinrich) beats Cov Cath (Eviston) 44-22
2016 - Cov Cath (Eviston) beats Highlands (Weinrich) 63-26
2017 - Cov Cath (Eviston) beats Highlands (Weinrich) 52-0
2018 - Cov Cath (Eviston) beats Highlands (Weinrich) 21-14
2018* - Cov Cath (Eviston) beats Highlands (Weinrich) 36-0
2019 - Cov Cath (Eviston) beats Highlands (Weinrich) 13-0
2020 - Cov Cath (Eviston) beats Highlands (Weinrich) 42-0
2020* - Cov Cath (Eviston) beats Highlands (Weinrich) 38-21
2021 - Cov Cath (Eviston) beats Highlands (Sphire) 8-7
2021* - Cov Cath (Eviston) beats Highlands (Sphire) 38-8

* Playoffs

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

[TheDeuce]

CovCath.

[Velvet Jones]

I think it would be pretty cool if the teams would agree to wear throwback helmets for a game in the future. I think the ‘81 helmets would be fun to bring back. 

[CCHFC]

Highlands could definitely win, though I don’t think it would be with a running clock like someone mentioned in the Boone thread. To me, it comes down to:

1. Can Highlands block Cov Cath up front?  I thought they (Highlands) really struggled up on the OL the last two years. I haven’t seen them this year, but if they haven’t improved, it’s going to look like how the Beechwood game did with them not being able to get anything going in the run game and overwhelmed in pass protection. I’d imagine that Highlands has better QB play than BW rolling out a freshman, but, I think the game is going to come down to the trenches. If the teams are even up front, I think Highlands has a good chance to win.
2. Is Highlands going to beat themselves? At this stage, I’m not sure Cov Cath is explosive enough on offense to give them a State Championship level winning ceiling. Having said that, they are going to stay on schedule on offense, grind out the clock, have Coach Eviston dial up a few “winners” in the pass game to get big plays and not put the ball in harms way. Is Highlands not going to make mistakes on offense and special teams to lose them the game? 

Coming off a bye week, with home field and I think a better coaching staff, I’ll take Cov Cath 21-14. 

[theguru]

2 minutes ago, CCHFC said:

Highlands could definitely win, though I don’t think it would be with a running clock like someone mentioned in the Boone thread. To me, it comes down to:

1. Can Highlands block Cov Cath up front?  I thought they (Highlands) really struggled up on the OL the last two years. I haven’t seen them this year, but if they haven’t improved, it’s going to look like how the Beechwood game did with them not being able to get anything going in the run game and overwhelmed in pass protection. I’d imagine that Highlands has better QB play than BW rolling out a freshman, but, I think the game is going to come down to the trenches. If the teams are even up front, I think Highlands has a good chance to win.
2. Is Highlands going to beat themselves? At this stage, I’m not sure Cov Cath is explosive enough on offense to give them a State Championship level winning ceiling. Having said that, they are going to stay on schedule on offense, grind out the clock, have Coach Eviston dial up a few “winners” in the pass game to get big plays and not put the ball in harms way. Is Highlands not going to make mistakes on offense and special teams to lose them the game? 

Coming off a bye week, with home field and I think a better coaching staff, I’ll take Cov Cath 21-14. 

I think CCH is better up front than Highlands. 

[futurecoach]

Highlands 24

CovCath 14

[theguru]

3 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Highlands 24

CovCath 14

fc going strong to the hoop!

[Tigerpride94]

I'll take Cov Cath in a close one. I like the current helmet designs for both teams. I really like how Cov Cath has cross inside the C. It's like trying to exorcise demons from the field with that helmet. Lol.

[futurecoach]

2 minutes ago, theguru said:

fc going strong to the hoop!

I said this earlier in the year that I thought this Highlands team was its most talented team since probably either 2014 or 2015. So no reason for me to go away from that opinion now. With that said I obviously would not be surprised to see Highlands lose. 

[theguru]

9 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

I said this earlier in the year that I thought this Highlands team was its most talented team since probably either 2014 or 2015. So no reason for me to go away from that opinion now. With that said I obviously would not be surprised to see Highlands lose. 

Just having a little fun with you.  I do agree this Highlands team is more talented than we have seen recently. 

[Jack of all Trades]

I have not seen CovCath at all this year.  Highlands offensive line can hold up imo.  Defensive line, not so sure.  Question for defense to me is if you are willing to gamble a little and create pressure.  Charlie Noon will be the most dynamic player on the field and if Birds can get him enough touches it good be a good night.  Without question Highlands has a good chance to win this game but to me the biggest question of all is the offensive coordinator.

[El Diablo]

On 10/8/2022 at 3:57 PM, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

My rivalry was 89-2004 (in my opinion is the golden years of the rivalry). But since Highlands hasn’t changed since then, the throw back I’d want to see is 83-87. Colonel comet vs the H-wing. 69 is also an awesome helmet match up, don’t really like colonels in white helmets though. 

[bluecolonels95]

I guess it all depends if all them injured players for CCH suit up. If they were able to rest up during the bye week and play in this weeks game then I think CCH wins by a few touchdowns.