Covington Catholic travels to The Fort. Who wins? What matchups are looking forward to seeing? 

BEAT COLONELS!

It's Highlands/Cov Cath Rivalry Week LXXVII.

Last year Coach Sphire made his first check in the win column against Cov Cath as head coach of the Bluebirds when Highlands showed up in Park Hills and beat the Colonels 32-21. Coach Eviston, who is 9-3 against Highlands as Cov Cath's head coach, has a 2-1 record against the Birds under Bob Sphire, his former Lexington Horsemen coach.

Highlands' win last year made the Birds' 50th total win over Cov Cath in the history of the series, while Cov Cath had won the previous 9 meetings of the two teams, tallying quite a few of their 26 total wins over Highlands in recent years. This is also the first time in the history of the series, which dates back 1968 and the second year of the Colonels' football program, where these two teams are playing each other while also contending for separate state championships. Even in the days of the Dickinson system in Kentucky, the Birds and the Colonels were playing for the same state title. They shared the same district (although from separate sub-districts) from 1979-1986, and from 1987 until 2022 they were in the same district, with Highlands opting to play up in classification several years. Cov Cath's drop from 5A to 4A in the most recent football alignment and Highlands' classification in 5A guarantees that this week's game will be the only time we see these two teams face off this year.

The last time this game took place this early in the season was in 1986, when the Bluebirds beat Covington Catholic 6-0 in Fort Thomas to earn their second-straight shutout win of the season.

This time around, Highlands is fresh off a 34-27 win over 3A Lexington Catholic on the road, while Covington Catholic is enjoying their 37-22 win over 6A Ryle. Both teams have a high powered passing game, with the Birds racking up 250 yards and 3 touchdowns by air, and the Colonels tallying 271 yards and 1 touchdown in the air in their season openers. Cov Cath had 160 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground, while Highlands had 233 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. The Colonels' defense allowed 310 yards and forced 2 turnovers, while the Bluebirds' defense allowed 339 yards and forced 1 turnover.

Give me CovCath in this one.

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) 24-22
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
2022 - Highlands (Sphire) beats Cov Cath (Eviston) 32-21


* Playoffs

I’m going to attempt to attend this one. Went last year and it didn’t disappoint. It’ll be interesting to see how Highlands D adjusts to Rodriguez and the CC D adjust to a slimmer down version of Brody Benke who can run, throw and catch. Sphire made the comment about having to get his defense better after the LC game last night, this CovCath Offense doesn’t look to make that any easier but also noted Sphire was high on the hog about his O-Line and their ability to control the clock. Should be electric and hot next Friday.

I cannot wait for this one! Going to try to make it.

Heard today Benke, Class and a few were serious middle school basketball rivals against Pitzer, Reeves and their St. Pius crew. That is a was love/hate but respect for each other, but they were always the 2 top teams in heated battles.

 

Upset I missed the Ryle game, but mad at myself I’ll be missing this game as well with the last lake weekend of the year. 

Does HHS still do their broadcasts? 

Weird feeling about this one, especially with no district or region implications. Yet, I’m confident no love is lost between these two schools. Best game over the year, just glad I don’t have to deal with Ft. Thomas parking! 

Colonels 31 HHS 17

Highlands wins 28-14

A tough one to pick!

This game can be watched no charge on (859) Sports Radio with the two Kevins: Kevin Connor on color and Coach Kevin Listerman on camera and headset.

Taking CovCath! Makes for a huge game the following week in Independence!

Not sure of the Highlands defense.    Going   CovCath 38 HHS 28

Good news for Cov Cath - I thought we were much better than them on the perimeter last year and we have all our guys back plus Rodriguez who was hurt and didn’t play in the game. 

Bad news for Cov Cath - I thought they were significantly better than us up front last year and we graduated just about everyone. 

As long as we continue the playcalling trend from the Ryle game I’m expecting a lot of total points. Hopefully we can get a couple turnovers and a big special teams play or 2 to swing the game our way. 

Is it me? or Does this seem odd seeing this game this early in the season? 

Big game for each team for seeding purposes at the end of the year.