The Birds have their Home opener versus their ‘23 & ‘24 5A nemesis Cooper Jaguars

Kickoff: 7:00pm

Highlands (0-1), Lost to Frederick Douglass 41-20

Last week: Soph QB1 Bryce Armstrong got his first Varsity start of his career and definitely showcased some of his talents. I think the added running threat he gives out of the backfield either on designed runs for him or just out of scrambles on busted pass plays is going to be huge for him this season. The Birds defense definitely showcased a lot of talent with Colt Kremer playing LB and Gabe Williams playing incredibly at Safety. Birds showed me a lot to be excited about this season in 4A for them. The two pieces of the Birds that concerned me was the turnovers and the conditioning issues with players just literally gassed pretty much in the middle of the 3rd quarter to the final horn. Coach Sphire commented in the Pregame show on GLICOD that our main man Tayden Lorenzen probably isn’t at 100% game speed/stamina ready since he was sideline a ton at the beginning of the summer, I believe he had a foot issue (don’t know exact details). Coach Sphire mentioned he didn’t really know how many snaps he would be able to go, especially lining up on both sides of the ball this season. Based on what I saw Tayden worked his butt off as much as he could. Looking for a strong season from him down the stretch.

What to look forward to against Cooper: Just continued growth by Bryce under center. He is so much fun to watch play this game! Can the Birds clean up the mistakes with the turnover issues we saw against Freddy D. Can they take care of business versus a team that is probably trying to figure out who they are with so much talent that has left from last year? Going to be an exciting night of Football in the Fort next Friday night. My gut tells me that we are about to see something special come Friday night at David Cecil Memorial Stadium.

Cooper (1-0), Beat Christian County 28-21

Last week: After a loooooong bus ride the Jags took care of business versus the newly formed Christian County school to start off their season with a win. The game stayed close pretty much the whole game, Cooper capitalizing on some Onside kick trickery. Didn’t watch the game or seen any stats yet so wondering how the new regime did as a whole.

What to look forward to against the Birds: Will this Jags team have some jet lag after such a long trip down and back from Christian County and now have to go into Fort Thomas for their home opener. The Birds will be angry and hungry for their first win of the season after a touch loss versus a great Frederick Douglass team.

Last year Highlands rolled past the talented Senior led Cooper Jags of QB1 Cam O’Hara, RB1 Keegan Maher & WR1 Ryker Campbell 28-14. Tayden Lorenzen ran wild rushing for 90 yards and having 3 TDs. Cooper will need to learn quickly with this new talent that they have, along with the new Head Coach Adam Begley. They have been in discussion on still winning their 5A district 5 during this rebuild (Boone, Conner, Dixie & Scott) but the potential of a deep run like they did in 23 & 24 will most likely not happen. Currently not even getting in the Top 10 5A BGP rankings.

This game will most likely be streamed and we will post that link when available.

I like to see the Birds getting their first win of the season rolling in this one 38-7.

Highlands by 21+. Cooper looked ok, but no where near Highlands.

I’m really looking forward to a great game for the Birds in this one. I think we will see a nice balanced offensive attack to showcase all of our weapons in front of the home crowd.

Running clock by Highlands.

Edited August 26Aug 26 by theguru

Does anyone else think this will be a Highlands running clock?

32 minutes ago, theguru said:

Does anyone else think this will be a Highlands running clock?

I think so. A great season is still in front of the Birds if they put Douglass behind them and rout Cooper.

36 minutes ago, theguru said:

Does anyone else think this will be a Highlands running clock?

I think this is an interesting game on multiple fronts, and will tell us more about both teams

As I am really high on Highlands, and feel like zero reason why this team shouldn't be playing in the state title game this year. Which going into this game Highlands has some top dudes, while Cooper I don't believe has that this year. So I wouldn't be surprised if Highlands wins by a pretty good margin. As they probably should be able to with the amount of top talent they have this year compared to Cooper.

While on Cooper, I believe they have a team that still has a good chance to win their district again this year. So this game if they are competitive, will let us know more about if Cooper could possibly even do more, and make some noise in 5A or not this year.

46 minutes ago, theguru said:

Does anyone else think this will be a Highlands running clock?

Considering Cooper and Great Crossing tied at 20 in a scrimmage….yes. I 100% believe Highlands is going to clock Cooper.

48-14 Birds on top with a late touchdown for cooper going against Highlands JV defense.

42 minutes ago, theguru said:

Does anyone else think this will be a Highlands running clock?

I'm not convinced. I think there are areas that will need to improve for the Birds in order for that to happen. Also, it is going to be hot again, Friday and we saw a lot of very worn out Birds, last week, due to the heat and conditioning issues.

Will be surprised if Highlands does not put up 40+ in this one.

Cooper was well on their way to going down 21-0 in the first quarter last Friday night against Christian County. They then made some plays to get them back in the game and the rest is history.

I think Highlands should win pretty comfortably. But it’s early season high school football, so things don’t always go as they should.

Highlands rebounds and wins in a close one.

Cooper 28

Highlands 30

Highlands defense wore down in the previous game and it really showed. If the offense makes as many mistakes and turnovers as they did in the previous game, this will be a nail biter.

Shouldn't be close. Too much talent for the Birds.

14 minutes ago, Bluesport said:

Shouldn't be close. Too much talent for the Birds.

Shouldn’t be… but it will be.

They’re not really there yet. Lots of on-field learning needed for birds.

Overcoming four turnovers make a rough road for anyone. 'Birds did a lot of things right; the game against FD was close until in the 4th quarter it wasn't. Highlands should come out strong in this one especially if they eliminate the mistakes.