How much would Josh Conner have made a diff??

Wrong it was two's ... fact.

 

Actually there were still some starters in there on the Birds second to last score, including No. 27 who by far is Colerain's best player. And on the Birds last score, unless 52, 44, 5, 27, 9, 33 all of a sudden got demoted to the second team, Colerain had their starting D in there on every play of the Birds drive. I just watched the tape.

Birds looked much better this week on offense and had they got a TD or two early could have got some mo working. Colerains to good to let the opportunity's missed. TO's killed us early and agree with Cardinal Fan that the 4th down play to the end of the third period it was all Cards. Future is good with two studs in the backfield and both Sophs. I think 8 is only a junior and he had over a 100 yards tonight and 24 was not shabby either. The Birds played hard but when the backs hit the whole that fast and are by the LOS it was tough. Cards defense did relax a little late but most if not all starters were in the game very late and on the last Bird score. FACT. They started playing coverage defense and dropping all but like 4 into coverage and had little rush and that is why TG picked em apart. They went away from havoc being created from every angle and played on their heels. IMO VERY GOOD team and not down as some predicted.

I'm pretty sure I've never seen "Way to go Birds" in the very first post when Highlands loses a game...

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. Mueller's last comments in the Enquirer sounded the same way. I don't think that there is anything wrong with a moral victory, as they give a team confidence and allow them to learn lessons from a better opponent. I just don't see how "there are no moral victories at Highlands" and all this gushing over this game.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Mueller's last comments in the Enquirer sounded the same way. I don't think that there is anything wrong with a moral victory, as they give a team confidence and allow them to learn lessons from a better opponent. I just don't see how "there are no moral victories at Highlands" and all this gushing over this game.

That would be because what we saw last night was BIG TIME High School Football at its best. If anyone didnt see that game last night and wasnt in attendence then I would suggest they not critize the hype of this matchup.

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That would be because what we saw last night was BIG TIME High School Football at its best. If anyone didnt see that game last night and wasnt in attendence then I would suggest they not critize the hype of this matchup.

 

We're not criticizing anything. We're just observing the fact that all of the opinions given after the game aren't regarding how Highlands let this one slip away. No harsh criticisms of any mistakes in play calling which normally follow a game that fans expect to win. In fact, most of the comments are regarding how good Colerain was and how hard Highlands played. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. However, it was Highlands coach who said that there are no moral victories, and it seems like that is how this is being received. That's what people are drawing attention to. Everyone knows that that was the best team to represent NKY, and most of NKY is proud that they played their hearts out.

We're not criticizing anything. We're just observing the fact that all of the opinions given after the game aren't regarding how Highlands let this one slip away. No harsh criticisms of any mistakes in play calling which normally follow a game that fans expect to win. In fact, most of the comments are regarding how good Colerain was and how hard Highlands played. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. However, it was Highlands coach who said that there are no moral victories, and it seems like that is how this is being received. That's what people are drawing attention to. Everyone knows that that was the best team to represent NKY, and most of NKY is proud that they played their hearts out.

 

I don't really know what the fuss is about that you seem to be making. We are brutally disappointed that we lost while acknowledging that we played a lot better than we played against Ryle.

 

In fact, one could wonder what the outcome would have been if Conner and Frank had been able to play. No dis to Crawford because he plays his heart out and he is what he is, a small, quick, talented running back, but any one who has watched the two of them knows they have very different running styles. In my opinion, Conner's ability to shake off hard hits and keep going forward would have helped us a lot last night. I like our chances of converting one of the two attempts we had to pick up a first down late in the first half on Colerain's thirty, losing only 7-6 if Conner is the running back. If we convert and continue the drive, we may have went into the locker room at half winning 13-7 or 9-7. Instead, Colerain took over possession and put together a drive at the end of the half that resulted in them going into the locker room winning 13-6. Huge Mo swing.

 

Having Frank on the D line would have given us another big body on D. I thought Dierig and Fennell both played exceptional games on the D line, but having Frank would have given us not only the additional big body, but would have given us better depth on the D line.

 

 

PLEASE, don't misinterpret what I just posted. I'm not saying we would have won if Conner and Frank played. I'm not saying we had the better football team if those two played, and the fact that they didn't play is why Colerain beat us. Not saying that at all. Colerain is an exceptional football team. The best in the country? No one walking this earth knows or can know which team is the best high school team in this country. So maybe they are and maybe they aren't. We'll let Colerain's season unfold and that will indicate just how talented and good Colerain is this year. I did see lots of things last night that should make the Colerain fans feel very good about their team.

 

Now on to my observations of the game:

 

Tony G played very good. Ran the ball well (he's sore this morning FOR SURE) and had some nice passes. Some of the things he did against Colerain could have been done against Ryle but Dale didn't call those plays (intentionally in my opinion). Crawford ran the ball well particularly in light of the fact that probably every player on Colerain's D other than their 3 down linemen were as quick and as fast as Crawford is and that is not normally the case. Collinsworth had some nice runs and catches (that boy was exhausted after the game and understandably so; I think in addition to his efforts on O, he probably had 10 tackles on D). Roller played well on O and had some nice catches. O line had a very nice game. We struggled at times with the speed and quickness of the lbers, but didn't do too bad and we did a very nice job blocking their down linemen. We hung more points on Colerain than McKeesport and X combined; heck even if you take away our second to last score when Colerain did have some of their starters out, we still scored 12 points against Colerain's starting D and that's more than either X or McKeesport scored against them.

 

As for the D, honestly, I really don't know if we could have done any better against Colerain's O. Calling it what it is, we just don't have the speed and size to match up with Colerain's O. I thought Rosenhagen, Dierig, Fennell, Laber, Martin and Collinsworth in particular played exceptional games but all of the kids on D played very well. Great job each and every one of you young men.

 

Special teams did a good job also. Rosenhagen had great kickoffs; sophomore Weinel converted both field goals; Hogue had good punts and the punt team gave him the time to do so even Colerain had the block on. Colerain had a couple of decent punt returns, but in light of the fact the punt team was focusing on holding their blocks to prevent a block and in light of the fact that Colerain's No. 1 was their punt returner, all in all, I thought we did a nice job covering the punts.

 

Bottom line: I thought we played a very nice game and my guess is that the coaches feel that way also. In talking to the players after the game, there was no one smiling and saying they had played as well as they could; they were terribly disappointed. They went into the game believing they would win and left the locker room after the game disappointed that they lost and believing they could have won. Some would say they were delusional thinking they would win or that they could have won. Maybe those people are right. But I have never experienced a Highlands team that took the football field thinking they were going to lose and I hope I never do. Highlands has some very disappointed players watching film right now and I have a feeling Holmes is going to face a very focused and intense Highlands team this coming Friday. Go Birds.

My hats off to the Birds, they played the #1 ranked team in the nation in some polls and held their own quite well. They were able to put up more points on them than the #2 ranked team in the same polls. Highlands is the equivalent of a Div. 3 team in Ohio, I think Dale had them ready and I think they did a great job. They certainly have nothing to hang their heads about. They showed me they can hang with any team.

It was shocking to see Highlands revert back to last years offense scheme. TG is not the running QB highlands had last year. One can only think what the outcome could have been if Guidugli had rolled out all night, throwing those short down and outs. Leaving the running to the ample number of tallented Highlands backs.

Edited September 6, 200818 yr by johnny

I cannot seem to find where Colerain is ranked even in the top 25 of any national poll. I've seen Highlands at #23 on USA today, but no Colerain anywhere. Where in the rankings are they?

I'm pretty sure I've never seen "Way to go Birds" in the very first post when Highlands loses a game...

 

It did sound like a moral victory proclamation.

You've never seen us faced with such a monumental task. If you both think that is some kind of "moral victory" decleration, you're both sadly mistaken.

It was shocking to see Highlands revert back to last years offense scheme. TG is not the running QB highlands had last year. One can only think what the outcome could have been if Guidugli had rolled out all night, throwing those short down and outs. Leaving the running to the ample number of tallented Highlands backs.

 

He never had enough time to throw the roll out passes. Those boys were so fast that they made Collinsworth and Crawford look like they were standing still.

 

In response to CF about why do we play all these guys both ways? I am sorry you don't agree with it, in the past we haven't had as many guys on both sides of the ball. The truth is, we just don't have the 1200 boys to pick from like the big schools do. I think we have maybe 400 boys at our school. Out of those boys, not many play because of playing other sports and the commitment to football would pretty much consume their entire life. Not many guys are ready for that. I only wish we could have those numbers. From what I am seeing at the elementary level, we may become a bigger school in the next ten years. Just at my kids school, they have gained almost 150 more students this year from last. I think they said it was 340 or so last year and now it's like 480 for this year. The other problem is, some of those kids may choose to go to a different high school. I think that Fort Thomas schools will always be smaller than those big schools and the Birds will never have 90+ players like some of these other programs. I am completely fine with seeing just the best of the best out there. In '92 we had only 35 or so players on our entire team and we won state. It can be done.

 

Birds looked much more in tune last night. I really liked how comfortable Crawford is getting with the football. His new little spin move caused fits for the Colerain D and probably got him atleast 20 more yards on top of his runs. I know everyone speaks of Mr. Conner who is great, but now we have a young man in Mr. Crawford who has stepped in and become another threat. Just think about a backfield with both of them in it come playoff time. I know that Dale said that there are no moral victories at Highlands, but last night was like poking the sleeping bear. I almost feel sorry for the teams that remain on HHS' schedule. It's going to be like a Hurricane blowing from Fort Thomas to the Pizza Box. GO BIRDS!!!

 

Gotta go watch Pumpkin play at IU for the Murray State Racers!!!!

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That would be because what we saw last night was BIG TIME High School Football at its best. If anyone didnt see that game last night and wasnt in attendence then I would suggest they not critize the hype of this matchup.

Amen to that! :thumb:

However, it was Highlands coach who said that there are no moral victories, and it seems like that is how this is being received. That's what people are drawing attention to. Everyone knows that that was the best team to represent NKY, and most of NKY is proud that they played their hearts out.

You have to understand that, at Highlands, it's a totally different mind-set we're talking about. Are we happy about the loss--heck no! We're not satisfied with the loss. We're not patting the kids on the back and saying "we didn't expect you to win anyway."

 

However, we are proud that our team played so tough and made a good showing for themselves against a monstrous opponent. We're not going to beat the players up for having not come home with a victory-although you can be sure they will hear about it on the practice field. What we will do, is show some appreciation for their efforts, and for the results they produced. We're going to recognize observed improvement. We're going to appreciate the advantage this experience has granted.

 

That's a far cry from celebrating a loss. At Highlands, that's something you'll never see. Lesser squads might be smiling and celebrating after a tough loss; but not this team...not these fans...no way.

I cannot seem to find where Colerain is ranked even in the top 25 of any national poll. I've seen Highlands at #23 on USA today, but no Colerain anywhere. Where in the rankings are they?

They are #1 in the Massey ratings.