Highlands 32 Covington Catholic 21

[Kenny Powers]

If HHS protects the ball, this game is not close. 5 turnovers is unacceptable and will cost the game 99% of the time.

Really happy for Dawson Hosea. He has stayed the course and it paid off for him tonight. Young man runs hard and just goes about his business. He stepped up big time and really carried the Birds offense for awhile tonight. 

Defensive front 7 was really impressive tonight. Lots and lots of pressure on CCH all night and really stuffed the running game which was a major concern going into the game. The back end still needs some work. It was good to see Class get some reps at CB. I think he can help there. If I am game planning against HHS I am picking on the CBs until they prove to me that I can't. 

Enjoy the win tonight, you deserve it and worked hard to get back to where you are! But tomorrow morning it needs to be back to grind. Keep your nose on the grindstone! 

 

[El Diablo]

I gotta say this was kind of an upset on their own field and the Colonel fans are, as always, as classy as you can be congratulating and being really high road. Great rivalry. 2 great communities. I hope the birds and Colonels meat again. 

[Royal Blue]

Always a fun environment. Great night to be outside too. 

[859Radio]

Wow what a game and all I was getting was score and turnover updates while we were on the air with NCC at Dayton.  Can someone explain to me what happens if HHS loses to Cooper next week? Oh and you can see that game on 859 Sports Radio!!! I think HHS, CCH and Cooper could all be 3-1.  So to me it seems like 1,2 and 3 seeds are not decided yet. 

[theguru]

1 minute ago, 859Radio said:

Wow what a game and all I was getting was score and turnover updates while we were on the air with NCC at Dayton.  Can someone explain to me what happens if HHS loses to Cooper next week? Oh and you can see that game on 859 Sports Radio!!! I think HHS, CCH and Cooper could all be 3-1.  So to me it seems like 1,2 and 3 seeds are not decided yet. 

Spitballing, I think it would come down to some matrix of CCH and HHS with Cooper being 3rd either way.  I got that info third party so I welcome anyone to set me straight. 

[859Radio]

I think one of the oddest trend reversing in all of sports is 15 straight losses by CCH to HHS then 9 straight losses by HHS to CCH. This trend ended tonight.  I was on the air for all 15 straight and to this day can’t believe that rivalry couldn’t produce a CCH win all those years.  Just as amazed at the 9 straight. What’s more likely another streak or finally back and forth ? 

[1992Rebel]

Was the White hat the difference here. Not sure the safety call was the right call. Ball landed at running backs feet. Changed the game. Refs should t have that power. At that point it was anyone’s game. 

[theguru]

2 minutes ago, 1992Rebel said:

Was the White hat the difference here. Not sure the safety call was the right call. Ball landed at running backs feet. Changed the game. Refs should t have that power. At that point it was anyone’s game. 

I don't think so on the White Hat.  I admit the rules in all levels of football confuse me but in my opinion that was a safety and the right call.  Plus, CCH was still up 21 - 19 then until Charlie Noon did more Charlie Noon things. 

[TheDeuce]

4 minutes ago, 1992Rebel said:

Was the White hat the difference here. Not sure the safety call was the right call. Ball landed at running backs feet. Changed the game. Refs should t have that power. At that point it was anyone’s game. 

The difference was the 5 Highlands turnovers. Without those, this is a rout.

[859Radio]

1 minute ago, theguru said:

I don't think so on the White Hat.  I admit the rules in all levels of football confuse me but in my opinion that was a safety and the right call.  Plus, CCH was still up 21 - 19 then until Charlie Noon did more Charlie Noon things. 

Kick to Noon and you get what you get. Seen it all year.  Best special teams player in a long time. Mel Grayesque.

[theguru]

Just now, 859Radio said:

Kick to Noon and you get what you get. Seen it all year.  Best special teams player in a long time. Mel Grayesque.

Noon was great last year and elite this year.

[QBH]

4 minutes ago, 1992Rebel said:

Was the White hat the difference here. Not sure the safety call was the right call. Ball landed at running backs feet. Changed the game. Refs should t have that power. At that point it was anyone’s game. 

Did he step out of the end zone? Two Highlands players had him wrapped up driving him  backwards. 

[theguru]

Just now, QBH said:

Did he step out of the end zone? Two Highlands players had him wrapped up driving him  backwards. 

I would have to go back and watch it but I do not think so.  It was intentional grounding in my I have no idea about the rules opinion. 

[CCHFC]

- Offensively, it’s tough to run the ball when you are minus one or two every time you hand off. We have to either a)push crack on the safeties/overhang player with the receiver. or b) throw RPO’s. We were at a numbers disadvantage running the ball all game and though we no doubt have good players, we aren’t talented enough to overcome it. 

- Cov Cath isn’t an RPO team, but Highlands should be RPO’d to death on defense. Specifically on these glance routes or 5-step posts that it seems like everyone runs now since Highlands linebackers were attacking downhill from seven yards, often with a running start, with a lot of soft coverage behind. We kind of started to mix this in a bit with Braylon Miller (who had a great game) in the 2nd half and had some success on “now” or “smoke” screens, but there needed to be more. We needed to throw them out of this attacking defense if we wanted to run the ball more to shorten the game.

- We need to be more balanced on first downs. In the 2nd half when we had to, Pitzer had a lot success throwing against off coverage. More short and intermediate throws on early downs please and less designed runs with a banged up QB and we should see an uptick in offensive production. 

- Defensively, we have to do a better job  getting off of blocks, but overall I thought we played well enough to win, especially with the five takeaways. Highlands scored 32, but there was a safety, a special teams TD and one to ice the game with a minute left.

- Lastly, Willie Rodriguez definitely helps tonight, but I don’t think we pull it out if he played. 

[TheDeuce]

The grounding call was correct. He was not out of the pocket and the ball obviously didn’t reach the LOS. Grounding in the end zone is a  safety.