Highlands 1 Covington Catholic 1

O what a NIGHT!

Another beautiful night down at the Port for a rivalry battle like no other.  I don't care what sport it is when you have Highlands vs Cov Cath it just is different.  Throw out records, throw out what happened earlier in the week, throw out anything else you want to throw out. This is what High School rivalries are all about, AND I LOVE IT!!!!  

First off, let's rewind 48 hours ago, the Birds coming off a bad performance against Ryle.  Suli had a couple of options that he could have gone with....He could have easily taken the boys out to practice and wore them out, knock them down, and make them run until they puke.  Instead the team had a team meeting after school on Weds and then gathered to do a Varsity team bonding dinner together.  Well in all accounts whatever was done/said in the meeting absolutely worked ALMOST to perfection.

Now to the game, Cov Cath brought a lot of energy in the 1st half and really strained the Birds defense getting a few opportunities against Sam Lang in goal.  There was one breakaway opportunity for example that all of a sudden Ethan Lang came from no where to get a foot in front of the attackers kick to stop the shot from occurring.  I felt like the Birds were back to having a bit of a better step on the attackers from Cov Cath compared to Tuesday.  The Birds were still trying to figure out their offensive mojo in the 1st half.  Still trying but failing connecting multiple passes together.  The thoughts were there but the execution and speed of the play just wasn't able to succeed from Cov Cath's pace.  The Birds did have an almost successful free kick when Luis McVicker chipped one over the line that was holding at the top of the 18 and almost placed it right at Gamble's foot darting to the far post almost unmarked, unfortunately the ball didn't hit his foot perfectly and the ball went wide left for a miss.  O soooo close!

Cov Cath on the other side almost got a lucky goal in the 1st half when Sam dove to safe a ball only a few feet from the goal lline, ball somehow squirted out from under him rolled over his body with some spin on it heading into the goal but Sam quickly was able to find the ball before crossing the line for a save.  Way too close.

Halftime:  Birds 0 Colonels 0....  If this was a boxing match I would have given the edge to the Colonels based on the amount of opportunities, shots and possession they had in the 1st.  The Birds did look better then Tuesday but still needed something to feel like they had a chance to pull off the win.

Queue the 2nd half......I have no idea what was stated in the halftime speech but the Birds came out strong in the 2nd half like they were on a mission.  It was like Rocky in Rocky IV after he survived the first few rounds against Drago taking his best shots and still standing.  It took maybe 10 minutes roughly before the Birds got an opportunity of a kick that went into the box Senior Sam Arnold challenged a Cov Cath defender and got his foot on the ball which awkwardly popped up in the air with some english on it heading towards the goal.  Cov Cath keeper Auggie Eilerman was surprised by the flight of the ball and tried to backpedal to have a chance to knock the ball in flight over the cross bar.  Unfortunately for Auggie he didn't get the footing he needed to get to the ball in time to put enough power in his punch on the ball, therefore the ball and Auggie both found themselves in the back of the net.  Birds 1 Colonels 0

Highlands put it in another gear from then own, I felt like we really controlled the tempo of the game.  Our passes finally were connecting.  It was like a whole different team out there then the prior 3 halves this week.  Can the Birds sneak another one in or at least holding the Colonels scoreless for the next 30 minutes.  

Unfortunately, for the Birds the one mistake was a costly one with around 10-15 minutes left a ball came across the box where a Birds defender/Cov Cath attacker were and they just get tangled up trying to go towards the cross.  Ref blows the whistle for the infraction against the Birds defender resulting in a PK opportunity for Cov Cath.  The shot gets blasted to the right side, Sam Lang chooses the right side and almost gets his hands on it to block, couldn't have missed it by much, great effort but at the end of the night, it was a goal.  Birds 1 Colonels 1.

Back to my boxing analogy I would give the edge to the Birds in the 2nd half, for all accounts....if for an unfortunate PK the Birds probably walks away victorious.

That is how the game ends, in a tie!  1-1

So many good things came out of this for the Birds even without a win.  They showed grit and energy like I haven't seen in a bit.  I want to give some props to 2 players in particular.  Suli has been relying on Senior Sam Arnold up top to really inject some energy and chaos up top.  He has delivered.  There is a different level of speed in that young man and its so much fun to watch!  Also, Freshman Ethan Lang seemed to always find himself in a place to stop an attack, deflect a shot off his foot.  He might have been the smallest boy on the field but he came up BIG in last night's game.

There was 1 YC given to a Cov Cath player who came from behind and looked like he cleated David Valdez in the back of the leg or something like that.  Valdez laid in pain on the turf for a few minutes before he luckily was able to walk off the field on his own power.

So thankful I got my new set of tires on Wednesday!.

Birds are off until Tuesday when they travel out to play the other Colonels but the Red ones, that are red hot right now winning 9 out of their last 10 games.

Cov Cath are off until Tuesday when they travel down to play Dunbar

Until next time!

#GOBIRDS

Frank