scout

This kid is a LUMBER JACK Ritter hands down had more consistent hard hits than anyone else I saw this year.

I have to give the young man some credit. He has had two nice games in a row. He is showing the confidence that the team needs. He has made some nice outside shots, made some good drives,and has made some good passes. Yes, he has been involved in some TO's but they seem to come when the whole team is bitten by the TO bug. Witness the seven straight TO's in the 4th tonight. I think everyone had a part in that. The big thing I see is that the team needs to keep the intensity up for four full quarters.

Not a pretty game by any measure. Connelly scored six points in the first quarter and then quickly began collecting fouls to the point where he was never a factor after the first peiod to the point where he eventually fouled out of the game. Drew Baker was sorely missed. Free throws..... well we missed them, again. CovCath showed a reluctance to drive the ball to the basket and in many cases they passed up wide open jump shots. This didn't come from just one player, it was endemic of the whole team. I don't understand it. The most disturbing event in this game, however, came in the third period when Andrew Schult went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury. He was in obvious pain and was on the court for several minutes being attended to by the trainers. While he was down on the court, the Lex Cath student section mocked him crying noises and jeers of 'Fake!, Fake'. This all occurred while adults who appeared to be Lex Cath faculty looked on with indifference, at best and bemusement at worst. I was absolutely sickened by this display. One would think that a religious based school would be close enough to the principles carved into the walls in the gym lobby that this type of classless behavior would not even be a remote possibility. Last year Lex Cath had a player come in to CovCath's gym and 'sign' the CovCath school logo during the pregame introductions. I was appalled by that gesture then. Little did I know that Lex Cath would be able to top that. Truly, truly a total lack of class. People who know me will be shocked to hear me say this, but I believe that Highlands has more class than LexCath. I could not see the Bird student body jeering an injured player on the court, EVEN if it was a CovCath player.

Schult, Reddinger, Mashinot, , Baker, Thelen with CovCathiRadio and The Old Guy peeking over their shoulders!

Colonels swept the Indians tonight.

A young man from North Hardin broke his leg during warm ups yesterday. Say a prayer for the young man. It was a very, very, very nasty looking break of his lower leg. He came down moving backwards and the entire gym heard the bone snap.

Johnson Central disappoints CovCath fans twice in two weeks.

To me the bottom line was: 1) Not scoring (TD or FG) on the last drive of the 1st half. 2) Losing the onsides kick at the beginning of the 2d half. 3) Losing Ritter CovCath could have overcome one or two of these, but all three? Nope. Going up two scores would have been huge. A long drive for CovCath to open the 2d half would have been huge.

I missed the last Park Hills Mafia meeting so I don't know what was on the agenda. Be careful painting with a broad brush. A few disgruntled parents does not mean all parents are searching the garage for the pitch forks and torches. Being upset with a coach on the staff does not means people are getting their 'Throw the bums out' signs out from the last election. Mr. Wirth is going to be fine. He is a young guy and has a bunch to learn about teenage boysl, but he'll get the time he needs to be successful at CovCath.

If one or two kids can't tackle, that is those kids. If the whole team can't tackle that is another matter entirely. CovCath will lose it's safeties and CB's to graduation, but doesn't get hit too hard on the D line or LB's. So if you are getting pretty much the same kids back next year, someone has to teach to tackle or change the scheme to put them in a position to tackle. One thing I noticed Friday was that our ends were taking two steps up field on every snap. This created huge seams that Jude exploited all night. It's one thing to maintain contain on the ends, and yet another give up the off-tackle like we did. We would have been better off stringing plays out to the sideline and letting our pursuit catch up.

Besides Connelly & Massey, are there any other football players who will have an impact at the Varsity level? How about JV?

Personally HHS is lower on my list than the Russians, Darth Vader and the Taliban, but sportsmanship is sportsmanship. I can't see Coach Wirth turning down a request for film. Plus I'd wager a fair amount that some enterprising Birds fan was able to rip the game from the stream.

This game was posted on ihigh yesterday, but it's not there today. Why was it taken down? Surely, JC doesn't think HHS won't get a copy of the game film.

I can't speak for all CovCath fans, but all that I know have a great deal of respect for the JC program. Heck, you've knocked us of the playoffs three years in a row. As for anyone saying there was no way Mr. Jude would rack up that many yards, I believe that it was many fan's fear that he would. JC can win against Highlands, but I am certain that they won't do it with another 400+ yard performance by Mr. Jude. Last night was disappointing for this CovCath fan. We could have won that game. Run defense has been the Achilles heal of the team since the first game. There is a silver lining in that I believe the program is getting better.

Those are the lights from the men's and women's room.

Does JC have a secondary that can cover the four receivers that CovCath puts on the field on nearly every down? The passing game should be open and take pressure off the running game. There is no doubt that CovCath will have to do something different on defense. If they don't it will be a long bus ride home. I, for one, would like to see Mr. Schaefer come back and play LB. I would also like to see nine guys in the box. Make them throw the ball. One big difference between this year and the last two seasons. The weather forecast is not calling for sub arctic conditions. A temp in the low 40's will seem down right balmy compared to the last two years. That works in CovCath's favor. Someone mentioned dimming the lights. Is that not the darkest field you've ever seen?

I saw something things from CovCath yesterday that go far beyone the game on the field. Spencer Hemmer's performance was inspiring. The young man experienced tragedy this week in the loss of his mom and came out and played superb. All I can say is wow. I am proud of Mr. Hemmer. The look on Dan Gregory's face while he was standing on the sidelines, arm in an air cast, being led to the hospital was one of pure courage. It breaks my heart for his HS career to end this way, but he showed a strength that will pay off later in life I am sure. Panda took a great picture of Mater's TD. The series before, Charlie dropped a ball. His teammates rallied around him and raised him above the dropped ball and the next series he goes 77 yds. A great lesson for Mr Mater and his teammates. Coach Wirth should be proud. This is what the program is all about. Go Colonels. Beat JC

I think the key to the Colonel's season will be how well the Coach's adjust to the skill of the players he can put on the court. Coach L has to reconcile what he would like to do with what he can do. It will be interesting to see the chemistry between Coach L and Marty. I believe that Marty can really connect with those kids. He should be a great addition to the program. I don't believe that Arnzen role will be as important as developing the roles for Schult & Baker. As for PG, don't forget that Mr. Massey will also be shouldering some of that load. As he shows on the gridiron, he's very cool under pressure. Who starts for the Colonels this year? I don't think they'll go with the St. Pius all-star team more than a game or two into the season.

Prayers answered.

The Scout family's prayers go out to Mr. Dematteo and his family. God go with him.

This, Sports Fans, is where you go grab some popcorn, sit back, and see what happens next. There is obviously an elephant in this room. Is anyone going to point to it?

!) Heard that Talkers had a tweaked ankle and they did not want to take chances w/ soccer districts next week. McD seemed to be in good spirits after the game. He said they were thinking it might just be a strain. 2) Reese was running from the 'Wild Colonel'.

Colonel play calling was mystifying. Late in the fourth CCH had NCC with a fourth and about 15. Momentum was swinging hard to CCH. If they hold them, it gives them the ball in good field position with plenty of time. NCC had not shown much success with the long ball, but had shown a great deal of success with the screen pass. What does CovCath do? Blitz everyone. What does NCC do? Just what they've done all night long, they run the screen and pick up the first down. Why don't you play contain defense in a situation like that? That play swung the big MO back to NCC The other issue I have is the way they used Connelly in this game. Bir was not having a good game going down field that was clear. Why didn't CovCath go to the hitch that was successful in the B'wood game? With the exception of third and long situations, NCC played #44 on Connelly and he gave up 6" and 8 yards on every play. It makes no sense that one of your supposed 'weapons' has one catch and only three or four balls thrown to him. The staff has got to start helping Wirth.

Two questions about CovCath's scheme for this game: CovCath seemed to forget that Volke was on the field only to be reminded every once in a while when he ripped off a big play. Yes, B'wood has other threats, but the biggest to CCH was Volke. Why didn't they put a rover/monster on him to follow him to the bathroom? CovCath threw five passes to Connelly in the first series and really didn't go back to him for the rest of the first half. The hitch was there for him all night. Mr. Bir was having some growing pains last night and the 8-10 yd hitch is an easy pass. No timing, quick, one read. It might have helped him with his confidence. Okay, I really have three questions. What gives with the time outs? CovCath has got to manage timeouts better. Against Campbell County in the first half, defense took two time outs and special teams took one. Last night special teams took another for not having enough players on the field. They will pay for that one day! I agree Old Guy, with the exception of two coverage lapses (fake punt, and Volke (gee, there's a shock) taking a return a long way) the kicking game is a weapon. Mr. Talkers and Mr. McD have done an excellent job. Coach Huston was a great pick up for CovCath. You have to give B'wood a ton of credit for that game. They were fired up and ready to play and they had a game plan that was workig.

I believe that was Alex Cosby with the strip. Alex also had an interception to kill a drive in the first quarter and was involved in another fumble during the game.