One of the top Freshman teams in NKY headed across the river to face Elder at The Pit. Game time 6p on Wednesday 9/9. Should be one of the only Wednesday matchups across the area. Will post the streaming link once it's located.

2 hours ago, TheConfluence said:

One of the top Freshman teams in NKY headed across the river to face Elder at The Pit. Game time 6p on Wednesday 9/9. Should be one of the only Wednesday matchups across the area. Will post the streaming link once it's located.

Is this Elder's "B" team

Elder comes into this game 3-0 with wins over Oak Hills, Milford, and East Central. Highlands enters the matchup 2-0 with wins over CCH and Dixie. Highlands has outscored their opponents 90-8, but expect Elder to be a true test for the Freshman Birds.

 

Highlands is led by QB Jaxston Moeves who threw his first Varsity TD to fellow Freshman Drew Thompson last week vs Campbell County as back-up to Sophomore Bryce Armstrong.  Moeves has weapons all over the field, including all-everything RB/LB, Noah Brown. Brown has been tough to stop on both sides of the ball, including 3 TDs in their last game against Dixie.  In addition to Thompson, Moeves continues to have solid chemistry with WR Gus Bouldin.  Bouldin and Moeves have been teammates going back to their early Fort Thomas Junior Football League days and it shows.  Back-up QB Austin Hamblen has seen early success behind center in the second half of the first two games, but has also been a weapon at WR for the Birds.

 

Moeves and Brown have found early success due to the big men up front (Gavin Greeley, Jack Kuhnhein, Ronan Arnold, Dom Ciani, Reece Winkler and TE Brady McDowell).

 

Special Teams have been solid for the Birds led by kicker TJ McSorley who is 12/13 in PATs in the Bird's first two contests.

1 minute ago, cowboy90 said:

Is this Elder's "B" team

Unclear, but good question. Elder regularly plays Wed/Thurs games and have a game against LaSalle this Thursday. Their roster lists 71 players so certainly enough to have two teams, but word is their skill players regularly play both games and don't have a true A an B team. I'm unaffiliated w/Elder and have no "inside source" so I'm in the dark as much as most.

Just speculating here but I think Elder would be hard pressed to throw a "B" Team out against the Highlands Frosh team or Elder runs the risk of getting clocked.

I don't want to highjack the topic but I am curious. How does the 2026 Bluebirds compare to the 2025 Bluebird team? It seems like Highlands is stacking back to back great classes together. Future is bright. Hope they all stay healthy and keep developing over their full high school career.

14 minutes ago, FatNate said:

I don't want to highjack the topic but I am curious. How does the 2026 Bluebirds compare to the 2025 Bluebird team? It seems like Highlands is stacking back to back great classes together. Future is bright. Hope they all stay healthy and keep developing over their full high school career.

The 2025 class was/is special. Adding Bryce Armstrong, Quentin Simon, and Charlie Holland to an already solid class made them tough. The 2026 class won the 8th Grade championship last year and that was WITHOUT Moeves who was playing Freshman as an 8th Grader. There are 10 Freshman who made the Highlands Varsity lineup this year (Moeves, Brown, Thompson, Bouldin, Hamblen, McSorley, Kuhnhein, Arnold, McDowell and Santi Guerra (injured)) so the Highlands staff feels pretty strongly about that crew. Time will tell, but the talent and the pipeline is there.

29 minutes ago, theguru said:

Just speculating here but I think Elder would be hard pressed to throw a "B" Team out against the Highlands Frosh team or Elder runs the risk of getting clocked.

Highlands freshman beat Elder last year 42-6. Elder stated it was their B team, but their best skilled players were in the game. With Elder playing LaSalle on Thursday, I would assume it would be their "B team" again, but entirely unsure and purely an assumption.

3 minutes ago, TheConfluence said:

The 2025 class was/is special. Adding Bryce Armstrong, Quentin Simon, and Charlie Holland to an already solid class made them tough. The 2026 class won the 8th Grade championship last year and that was WITHOUT Moeves who was playing Freshman as an 8th Grader. There are 10 Freshman who made the Highlands Varsity lineup this year (Moeves, Brown, Thompson, Bouldin, Hamblen, McSorley, Kuhnhein, Arnold, McDowell and Santi Guerra (injured)) so the Highlands staff feels pretty strongly about that crew. Time will tell, but the talent and the pipeline is there.

I am going to add a little perspective to this topic here. The 8th grade team has been to the championship game starting with the senior class that just graduated I believe. 3 years ago lost to Campbell County in OT (that group added Colt Kremer), 2 years ago got smoked by Campbell County (that group added Armstrong and Simon), last year won championship (Moeves and Wimzie) played frosh.

Pointing out that middle school and frosh success has not led them to the promised land.

8 minutes ago, TheConfluence said:

Highlands freshman beat Elder last year 42-6. Elder stated it was their B team, but their best skilled players were in the game. With Elder playing LaSalle on Thursday, I would assume it would be their "B team" again, but entirely unsure and purely an assumption.

Thanks for the additional information and that is what I am getting at, I doubt Elder wants a repeat of a beatdown like that. Like you, I am speculating here. Either way, Go Birds! Beat Elder!

5 minutes ago, theguru said:

Thanks for the additional information and that is what I am getting at, I doubt Elder wants a repeat of a beatdown like that. Like you, I am speculating here. Either way, Go Birds! Beat Elder!

I "think" LaSalle is a league game for Elder. Not sure how their standings or playoffs work in Ohio. I'm also not sure where LaSalle fits in the list of teams Elder loves to beat. Those factors may play into how Elder approaches this game.

Just now, TheConfluence said:

I "think" LaSalle is a league game for Elder. Not sure how their standings or playoffs work in Ohio. I'm also not sure where LaSalle fits in the list of teams Elder loves to beat. Those factors may play into how Elder approaches this game.

I agree with you. With that said, I hope we get Elder's best.

1 hour ago, TheConfluence said:

I "think" LaSalle is a league game for Elder. Not sure how their standings or playoffs work in Ohio. I'm also not sure where LaSalle fits in the list of teams Elder loves to beat. Those factors may play into how Elder approaches this game.

I agree. I think Elder will be taking LaSalle more seriously than Highlands and will opt to play their stud lineup in their game Thursday, much like last year. I know a lot of Elder alum and they look at Kentucky, especially Northern Kentucky, as stepping stone competition, not serious foes and they do not get hyped up about these games.

Kickoff still slated for 6p. Unfortunately, no streaming link has been located. I'll do my best to provide in game updates.

According to this link the broadcast starts in 40 minutes:

https://www.ehsports.com/media/broadcast_page