I watched the "#1" St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders play the "#2" Byrnes Rebels Saturday morning on ESPNU.

 

The stats are clearly in Byrnes' favor, but St. Thomas Aquinas won the game. It really got me thinking about how would Kentucky's top teams fair against them. Byrnes looked fantastic, losing only because of some key turnovers....but I still think that Highlands could have beaten either of these 5A teams.

 

Did anyone else watch this game? What do you think?

 

Later.

Would Highlands consider it "exciting" to go from winning state titles to generally failing year after year? What was their record against teams like St. X, Moeller, Colerain, and Elder coming into the year?

 

The X win was huge, but some are taking it waaaaay too far.

 

From the Cinti Enquirer regarding St X loss to Highlands -

"The Bombers were coming off the emotional high of a 43-13 thrashing of four-time defending Kentucky state champion Louisville Trinity, and Specht said they may have been caught looking ahead to Elder.

 

"For (Highlands), this was their national championship game," he said. "For us, it was Week Five. We always look at each game as a great opportunity to go 1-0. We try to keep it even keel, but maybe I need to evaluate how I approach this."

From the Cinti Enquirer regarding St X loss to Highlands -

"The Bombers were coming off the emotional high of a 43-13 thrashing of four-time defending Kentucky state champion Louisville Trinity, and Specht said they may have been caught looking ahead to Elder.

 

"For (Highlands), this was their national championship game," he said. "For us, it was Week Five. We always look at each game as a great opportunity to go 1-0. We try to keep it even keel, but maybe I need to evaluate how I approach this."

 

It may have been HHS National Championship, Super Bowl, whatever, but Specht is also downplaying this loss, as he should, because he also wants a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, like Dale does. It just won't be this year thanks to HHS! Any loss, and your probably out, but a State title is still possible and he is prepping his boys for their playoff run by shrugging off a loss to a VERY good HHS team......exactly what I would do if I were him.:thumb:

The GCL and or Cincy has not been kind to Highlands in the last 10 years. If anything I rather see Highlands in 6A over in KY.

 

This sounds good to me. I think NKY 6A is one of the best in the state. Throw in some games against Henry Clay, Fern Creek, and some of the other top 6A schools in Ky. Then we have X and T in the playoffs every year. I would like to see that. Maybe Highlands and Cooper could trade places?

BLah BLah Blah....you whining Cincy guys !! Trying to find some way to safe 'face'. Well.....'swallow' these facts. Split up the GCL schools into various schools the same size as HHS. 100 boys per class.....see if ANY and I mean ANY could compete with HHS EVER....I'll even factor out the private vs public advantage. The truth is....400 boy school (9 thru 12) sets a standard to be admired and copied. This has developed over the 50+ year history. Highlands success comes from the community, tradition, family support( the type unsually reserved for private schools), and dedicated players and coaches from little league to high school willing to always do more than the "other" guy to win.

I never said it was possible for Highlands to join the GCL, just a question of would they "Rather" play in the GCL.

 

It seems that no one gives Highlands competition in Northern Kentucky and most of the Highlands fans compare their team with the GCL teams more then they can compare their team with the Kentucky teams.

 

Is it a love affair with Cincinnati football, or are the Highlands fans just bored with Kentucky football?

 

Other then Trinity and Louisville St. Xavier, what other Kentucky teams can keep Highlands' attention?

If Highlands could increase their male population to 700 or 800, which I believe is about half of most the GCL schools then they could be pretty dominate over there as they are here. But numbers aren't everything. To me it's unfathomable that a team the size of Highlands did what it did to St. X. I guess St. X felt more comfortable playing Elder.

BLah BLah Blah....you whining Cincy guys !! Trying to find some way to safe 'face'. Well.....'swallow' these facts. Split up the GCL schools into various schools the same size as HHS. 100 boys per class.....see if ANY and I mean ANY could compete with HHS EVER....I'll even factor out the private vs public advantage. The truth is....400 boy school (9 thru 12) sets a standard to be admired and copied. This has developed over the 50+ year history. Highlands success comes from the community, tradition, family support( the type unsually reserved for private schools), and dedicated players and coaches from little league to high school willing to always do more than the "other" guy to win.

 

People always try to overlook the size difference. I agree with everything you said..:thumb:

I never said it was possible for Highlands to join the GCL, just a question of would they "Rather" play in the GCL.

 

It seems that no one gives Highlands competition in Northern Kentucky and most of the Highlands fans compare their team with the GCL teams more then they can compare their team with the Kentucky teams.

 

Is it a love affair with Cincinnati football, or are the Highlands fans just bored with Kentucky football?

 

Other then Trinity and Louisville St. Xavier, what other Kentucky teams can keep Highlands' attention?

It has nothing to do with being bored or wanting to play in the GCL instead of Kentucky 5A. It's just exciting when a team the size of Highlands can hang with the "big boys" in the GCL.

If Highlands could increase their male population to 700 or 800, which I believe is about half of most the GCL schools then they could be pretty dominate over there as they are here. But numbers aren't everything. To me it's unfathomable that a team the size of Highlands did what it did to St. X. I guess St. X felt more comfortable playing Elder.

I agree.....if anyone watched the game they know on that night St. X got a beating. The SCore could have been much worse. I know all the St. X kids are good players and good kids and I do hope they win state. To say ST. X looked past Highlands when the game was on national TV seems a stretch.

I think Highlands would rather have the competition in KY 5A step up and challenge them...

It has nothing to do with being bored or wanting to play in the GCL instead of Kentucky 5A. It's just exciting when a team the size of Highlands can hang with the "big boys" in the GCL.

Exactly, they are very excited about being able to beat a very good Cincinnati team. Who was the last Kentucky opponent they got that excited about?

 

After you think about that for a while, then consider the definition of "Bored".

I think Highlands would rather have the competition in KY 5A step up and challenge them...

 

Sometimes you need to be careful of what you wish for! :sssh:

Sometimes you need to be careful of what you wish for! :sssh:

 

Competition is always a good thing:thumb:

From the Cinti Enquirer regarding St X loss to Highlands -

"The Bombers were coming off the emotional high of a 43-13 thrashing of four-time defending Kentucky state champion Louisville Trinity, and Specht said they may have been caught looking ahead to Elder.

 

"For (Highlands), this was their national championship game," he said. "For us, it was Week Five. We always look at each game as a great opportunity to go 1-0. We try to keep it even keel, but maybe I need to evaluate how I approach this."

 

A lot of holes in this statement if you ask me...

One being the emotional high of beating Trinity, news flash this isn't your typical Trinity and they knew/now it...

Also wasn't this a game between two top 15 teams in the country? Wasn't this game on national TV for a reason? Hogwash they over looked them... It's this kind of arrogance that you often find at schools like St. X that will always cause me to pull for a team like Highlands when they play those schools.