2 hours ago, VF111 said:

I’m not sure you understand what some of the other teams in 5A will return…

Other teams may return some talent here and there. But Cooper will have a battle tested and veteran squad returning. Not to mention their district looks again to be the toughest one to make it out of as the #1. I say whomever gets the #1 out of their district will be in the convo to win it all next season.

Tough loss for the Birds. For the seniors this will be a difficult one to swallow but you can hang your hat on knowing that as a class you played a major role in getting the program back on track and left it FAR better than you found it. A true night and day difference than just 4 years ago. Playing on Thanksgiving weekend was a pipe dream not too long ago. 

You have to give credit to the Cooper players and coaching staff. They came in with a plan to take away the running game and smacked the Birds in the mouth. The Birds definitely did not back down but we had not see that type of physical play in a long time. Kudos to Cooper. Now go bring home a trophy to NKY! 

In terms of the future, HHS loses a very talented senior class that. I expect to see the young talent, and there is a lot of it, reload and be back in this situation next year. Some of my fellow Bird faithful may not like to hear it, but the Birds vs Jags is going to be a thing going forward, IMO. 

Go Birds! 

Already looking forward to 2024!  Highlands certainly graduates a huge number of outstanding players but I for one am looking forward to next year when all of those outstanding freshmen from this year's Championship team will be sophomores!  The future is bright!

13 hours ago, 9068 said:

If you played semi pro for 17 years at LB you might not be able to talk lol. Wow. That's really loving the game.

He wanted to play a few more years but his wife gave him a HELL NO TO THAT!!!!
He's 70 years old and mean and lean. He couldn't stand not being on the playing field, so now he's on the chain gang. Yes, he loves football.!!

On 11/25/2023 at 12:56 PM, 9068 said:

I think the plan was for the big offensive line to wear Cooper down by just pounding it. Almost worked.

The problem was trying that strategy into the teeth of a consistent 4 man defensive front.  In the 1st game, Cooper ran mainly a 3 man front, but they adjusted and changed things up for this game. Plus, very few pass attempts allows the linebackers to get comfortable filling gaps. Why there was no play calling adjustment by Highlands when it was obvious the run game was not going to gash the Cooper defense this time around, is amazing to me.  Highlands had the athletes to win, they were not given a game plan to do it, unfortunately.

23 minutes ago, En Fuego Hombre said:

The problem was trying that strategy into the teeth of a consistent 4 man defensive front.  In the 1st game, Cooper ran mainly a 3 man front, but they adjusted and changed things up for this game. Plus, very few pass attempts allows the linebackers to get comfortable filling gaps. Why there was no play calling adjustment by Highlands when it was obvious the run game was not going to gash the Cooper defense this time around, is amazing to me.  Highlands had the athletes to win, they were not given a game plan to do it, unfortunately.

A couple of those athletes had opportunities to make plays that could have won that game.....but they didn't. Looked to me like on their last two opportunities that the coaches had a very good idea of what to do to pull out the win but Cooper's guys came up with the big plays when they needed to make them. Cooper really neutralized Highlands strength of their offensive line and the drive when they kicked the field goal to re-take the lead was just a classic ball control offensive clinic. When you get as far as Highlands did you dance with the one who brought you. They rushed for about 9 miles this year and about 3 of those were in the first game with Cooper. As usual when teams lose it's coaching according to the fans. Lost in the narrative is that Cooper beat two pretty good teams before getting to the Birds. At least Highlands has the highest RPI, but lost to #9 RPI. Tells me how valid that is. Back during the last coaching search fiasco comments were made on this site that they would never consider the Cooper coach as a candidate. Good thing.

2 hours ago, 1963 BIRDS said:

He wanted to play a few more years but his wife gave him a HELL NO TO THAT!!!!
He's 70 years old and mean and lean. He couldn't stand not being on the playing field, so now he's on the chain gang. Yes, he loves football.!!

Yeah, I know.

38 minutes ago, 9068 said:

A couple of those athletes had opportunities to make plays that could have won that game.....but they didn't. Looked to me like on their last two opportunities that the coaches had a very good idea of what to do to pull out the win but Cooper's guys came up with the big plays when they needed to make them. Cooper really neutralized Highlands strength of their offensive line and the drive when they kicked the field goal to re-take the lead was just a classic ball control offensive clinic. When you get as far as Highlands did you dance with the one who brought you. They rushed for about 9 miles this year and about 3 of those were in the first game with Cooper. As usual when teams lose it's coaching according to the fans. Lost in the narrative is that Cooper beat two pretty good teams before getting to the Birds. At least Highlands has the highest RPI, but lost to #9 RPI. Tells me how valid that is. Back during the last coaching search fiasco comments were made on this site that they would never consider the Cooper coach as a candidate. Good thing.

You're actually helping make my point. Just because something has worked in the past, does not mean you should expect the same success when playing a team a 2nd time after that team has already seen what worked against them. On Friday, Cooper's defense went all in to stop the run game of Highlands. Their plan worked because Highlands played right into it and refused to make enough in game adjustments to counter that defensive scheme.

Highlands had 162 rushing and 88 passing for a total of 250 yards. Cooper had 101 yards rushing and 120 yards passing for a total of 221 yards. Highlands outgained Cooper on offense. 

 

54 minutes ago, En Fuego Hombre said:

You're actually helping make my point. Just because something has worked in the past, does not mean you should expect the same success when playing a team a 2nd time after that team has already seen what worked against them. On Friday, Cooper's defense went all in to stop the run game of Highlands. Their plan worked because Highlands played right into it and refused to make enough in game adjustments to counter that defensive scheme.

The old Highlands ego. 

13 minutes ago, Builder1214 said:

Highlands had 162 rushing and 88 passing for a total of 250 yards. Cooper had 101 yards rushing and 120 yards passing for a total of 221 yards. Highlands outgained Cooper on offense. 

 

And in the first game, Highlands had 424 yards rushing and 235 yards passing, so Cooper's defensive adjustments resulted in 409 fewer total combined yards for the Birds, Friday night. 

24 minutes ago, En Fuego Hombre said:

And in the first game, Highlands had 424 yards rushing and 235 yards passing, so Cooper's defensive adjustments resulted in 409 fewer total combined yards for the Birds, Friday night. 

Highlands defensive adjustments turned 541 total yards into 221 total yards. Highlands defensive adjustments resulted in 321 fewer yards for Cooper. 

2 minutes ago, Builder1214 said:

Highlands defensive adjustments turned 541 total yards into 221 total yards. Highlands defensive adjustments resulted in 321 fewer yards for Cooper. 

So which team's adjustments had the greatest effect on the outcome of the game? 

This is becoming very productive.....

Highlands staple run this year was GH counter. Cooper did a very good job limiting it in this game. Highlands QB and RB are very good at letting that scheme develop and finding the crease. Highlands had a hat for a hat in the run game. They adjusted by running a little iso which worked well and by going TE with a H which is when they got the run game going again. I’m not sure how much Cooper actually adjusted as much as they fit counter much better this time. Highlands also found success later on by going to their quick screens. 
 

Highlands this season ran almost no quick game. It handled that with GH screen and fast screens. They were going to pound you and take some shots. 
 

Cooper plays a 425 a majority of the time with the nickle to the field. With Alexander at the DE spot they’ll play a little 3 man front at times dropping him into the boundary. Alexander played a much better game in defense this time. 66 is one heck of a HS LB. Just an old school snot knocking kid. 
 

Unless you’re a base 3 man front like a 33/35/34 there is no reason to ever play Highlands this year in a 3 man front unless maybe it’s a 3rd and a mile.