CCH: This Years Squad Compared to Last Seasons

[CCHcolonel4Life]

With all the talk of CCH being less-talented than normal, I would like to purpose the following question: Was CCH better last year than this year?

 

I am only asking that question for two reasons. The first is that CCH lost 17 starters from the 2006 State Championship team, and then lost starting tailback Brent Buckley in their second preseason game of the season to a broken ankle. Although he did return for the end of the campaign, that is an extremely difficult injury to bounce back from. He would have been a major part of their offense.

 

The second reason is because many in the CCH community acknowledged last year as a "building" season for this years team. In the preseason, CCH was featured multiple times in the local paper as being a contender to a State Championship this season. And other lines that read: "Covington Catholic will give the Highlands Bluebirds all they can handle this season," "They have the most talented offensive line in the state," and "CCH looks to return to where the program was in 2006."

 

That being said, am I missing something hear? Their certainly were great expectations heading into this season. They had 4 returning starting offensive lineman, returning QB, VanSant, Deters, Deglow, Robinson, etc, etc. Why all of a sudden are people saying that CCH is "lacking the horses" to play with the big boys? They are not lacking talent in that school. As a former player under three seperate head coaches during my four years at CCH, I can promise you it is not a lack of talent.

[OhYeaYouThink]

You know what is funny? It's a huge bandwagon. Everyone was gungho CCH, and the minute things looked a little bad, they all started bashing. The only school who has the edge up on CCH this year in this area is Highlands. Unfortunately, CCH is not playing up to their potential but they have the people to do it. The Beechwood game this past week was a good game, and honestly I thought would have ended up being won by CCH had it not fallen apart at the end of third going into the fourth. Losing your QB is tough for any team in the middle of the game, just look at Conner this past week, St. X as of late etc., it's a momentum shifter to say the least. I hope Van Sant, Deters, Isler, Tepe, Schadler and the rest of the seniors can finish out their senior season with a positive note and hopefully make a decent run in the playoffs, because they deserve it .

[First Musketeer]

I've only seen CCH play once this year, but I've seen 'em play about 35 times over the past 40 years. This year's team plays with the same amount of heart and high level of determination as any of their championship teams. CovCath has never gone undefeated, yet they have won about eight state titles. This year they play with the same kind of character as a team battling for a championship. They play hard the entire game.

[katbird]

No speed....except for Van Sant. That is the first issue I see..The second is I knew this summer when the East vs West All-Star game was played that there were some serious issues. With all of the talent the East had to get beat as bad as they did I knew something was wrong. What is the only common denominator with CovCath and the East Team??? Pretty easy to figure out....:D:D

[Fishhead]

IMO, the big difference wasn't between last years team and this years team. I thought it was a huge difference in the regular season team and the playoff team last year. They had some heart in the regular season game, and I really thought they'd give the Birds a better game in the playoffs. I don't know if the schedule just beat them down or if they just lost the will to play, but those weren't the same teams. This years team looks like the same bunch of whipped pups that showed up in Ft. Thomas last November.

Oddly enough I thought the same thing about the 2006 Birds. They really disappointed me in the playoff loss to the Colonels that year. This stuff occasionally happens to what appear to be talented teams. No, I don't know why.

[leatherneck]

IMO, the big difference wasn't between last years team and this years team. I thought it was a huge difference in the regular season team and the playoff team last year. They had some heart in the regular season game, and I really thought they'd give the Birds a better game in the playoffs. I don't know if the schedule just beat them down or if they just lost the will to play, but those weren't the same teams. This years team looks like the same bunch of whipped pups that showed up in Ft. Thomas last November.

Oddly enough I thought the same thing about the 2006 Birds. They really disappointed me in the playoff loss to the Colonels that year. This stuff occasionally happens to what appear to be talented teams. No, I don't know why.

 

Fishhead, a couple of observations about your post. If you look at the game film of the first Highlands CovCath games last year, the regular season game really wasn't much different than the playoff game effort wise by either team. In the regular season game, the Birds had two tds called back on rather stupid penalties that didn't even affect the plays. Add those two tds onto the score and the Birds win by 28 instead of 14. Plus I'm pretty sure that CovCath didn't have any turnovers in that game. In the playoff game, the Birds had very very few penalties and none that took tds off the score. Whereas, in the playoff game, turnovers by CovCath killed them. I really don't think the CovCath players let down or lost their will at all in the playoff game. They just made mistakes that they didn't make in the regular season game and Highlands eliminated those that they made in the regular season game, which is why the margin of victory was different. There was no loss of will by CovCath in the playoff game. So you can quit worrying about why it happened.

 

Same holds true for the 06 matchups. If you look at tape (I still watch both of those tapes frequently as I had a senior on the Highlands team), you will see that in the first match up both teams played pretty much error free ball. It was a classic football game. In the second game, we had numerous poor punts that gave CovCath great field position. Heck only one of CovCath's tds came when they started their drives on their side of mid field (Sutton's 10 yd reception and 50 yd run with the ball after the catch). Plus we threw 3 interceptions and lost the ball on a fumble in the playoff game. The score was 12-7 at half and was shaping up to be another classic game. Unfortunately, on our opening drive of the second half, we threw an interception on the first play (passing was simply not our team's forte that year) and CovCath returned it to our 11 (actually Brown returned it for a td, but a block in the back put the ball on our 11). You are simply not going to beat a very good team like CovCath was in 06 giving them not only great field position but also turning the ball over 4 times (I think 3 of them were in the second half). There was no loss of will at all by the Birds in the second game in 06. None. Zero. Zilch. Forget worrying about why it happened, because it didn't.

 

As for CCHcolonel4Life's question, I really think this year's team is comparable to last year's CovCath team. The margin of victory by Highlands this year was greater this year simply because last year Highlands ran a very time consuming, grind it out offense last year and this year because of the passing attack we score much more quickly, meaning more possessions for the O and more tds. Hence a greater margin of victory. And the lack of quickness on CovCath's D is exploited easier by the type of offense Highlands is running this year. CovCath was slow on D last year and in my opinion, they are just as slow this year on D. Highlands O this year is simply set up to take better advantage of it. And Beechwood's team is also much, much quicker than last year's team and Rash took advantage of that speed, which is why Beechwood beat CovCath this year but lost to them last year. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you beat CovCath by getting your quicker players the ball in the open field.

 

As to CovCath's O, I'd say its about the same. I know that great things were forecasted for the CovCath O because of the returning QB and O linemen but at the time I disagreed with what was being said. Generally their problems are caused again by a lack of quickness and speed, but I won't go into specifics because I don't want to single out players on here. If you want me to pm you my thoughts, let me know.

 

And I totally agree with First Musketeer, from my observations of CovCath on tape, live and on TV, there is no lack of effort; no lack of will from the CovCath players or coaches.

[cchukred7]

IMO there was more talent in last years team. Last years team had more speed and better wide receivers with players like Buckley, Furnish, Schneider, Punch and Cason. The team also had a much better defense with linebackers Bruegemann, Jacobs, Van Sant, and Restle. It also had a better secondary with Faygle, Tibbs, and Furnish at safety. Either way no team under Coach Brossart will be able to move the ball because his offense is to slow developing. Teams now have so much speed that they can shut down the play before it even begins. If last years team was coached by Coach Rodemburg they would have done much better during the regular season and would have made it a much closer game against highlands in the playoffs.

[Fishhead]

Fishhead, a couple of observations about your post. If you look at the game film of the first Highlands CovCath games last year, the regular season game really wasn't much different than the playoff game effort wise by either team. In the regular season game, the Birds had two tds called back on rather stupid penalties that didn't even affect the plays. Add those two tds onto the score and the Birds win by 28 instead of 14. Plus I'm pretty sure that CovCath didn't have any turnovers in that game. In the playoff game, the Birds had very very few penalties and none that took tds off the score. Whereas, in the playoff game, turnovers by CovCath killed them. I really don't think the CovCath players let down or lost their will at all in the playoff game. They just made mistakes that they didn't make in the regular season game and Highlands eliminated those that they made in the regular season game, which is why the margin of victory was different. There was no loss of will by CovCath in the playoff game. So you can quit worrying about why it happened.

 

I don't worry about it and I don't claim to have a huge bank of knowledge to draw on. Just my observations from the stands, which undoubtedly get cloudier every year.

[leatherneck]

I don't worry about it and I don't claim to have a huge bank of knowledge to draw on. Just my observations from the stands, which undoubtedly get cloudier every year.

 

I hear you. Since turning 50, I've had some "cloudy" days and thoughts myself. :thumb:

[Fishhead]

I hear you. Since turning 50, I've had some "cloudy" days and thoughts myself. :thumb:

 

Just turned 46, so I got a head start on things.