C6H0-83

Reason #108 why I for one prefer Friday night under the lights!

And LaSalle will probably finish 4th in their District behind Moeller, Cinti St X and Elder. Doesn't mean they are not a strong team that would beat most N Ky teams. CCH could finish 2nd in their District and still be 2nd best 4A team in the State. Just the way things align sometimes.

Until Dixie is able to get the number of players involved in football that a 6A school should have, they will always be a question mark. For whatever reason, there are several kids year in and year out walking the halls that could help this team that have no interest in playing.

LaSalle is down some this year...but still a good GCL team that would easily handle most N Ky teams. Next week for CCH will go a long way in showing just how good they can be this year.

We have a team of 19 year olds looking for a place to play. I thought we were done last year after we finished the AA Knothole Season and the players all went off to College. They are telling me now they would like to play again. I am not aware of any N Ky leagues but heard there is an 18+ league that plays in Newtown? Also, years ago the CRC ran Adult baseball leagues. If I find out specifics I will post on here.

If I am not mistaken, I believe this is the 2nd or 3rd winner of this very prestigious award to have played for Coach Wirth. Didn't he have 1 or 2 players win this while he was at Badin? Congratulations Troy!

I was thinking the same thing!

I for one was sorry to hear Couch Naumann is no longer with the program. I thought he was a great teacher (sometimes a little too excitable but that is not a bad thing in football) and his values are what Cov Cath is all about. He got the most out of his players and the negatives I heard about him quite frankly surrounded kids that a) weren't as good as they or their parents thought they were b) were not dedicated to the program. I know he teaches at Moeller and lives near there, and also has a young family. It could be he just wanted to spend more time with them at this point.

When Paul went out (on what looked to me on replay an unwarranted ejection, but you can't hear anything on the replay) it totally changed the feel of the game. He is their leader, plan and simple. Unfortunately with Gregory also out there wasn't an emotional spark plug on the D side of the ball and they looked like they were just trying to hang on the rest of the night.

I know of at least one first round game that was a 70-6 win. Waste of time playing this one.

Was not at the game but if this is what happened it shows total lack of class on the part of HHS JV. If a team is up this much, with only a few minutes to play, you go to more conservative play calling. Now if you still score with your 3rd string running between the tackles, so be it. There is such a thing as winning with class and sometimes we forget that.

It appears the Bluebird faithful are trying to justify the closest game they have had in years. I realize it is only one game and if Cov Cath and Highlands played 10 times this year, the Bluebirds would probably win 7-8 of them. But is it so impossible that maybe, just maybe this game was close not because of how bad Highlands played, but because Cov Cath played a good game? It is going to happen, Highlands will get beat by a team that is better than they are on that night, not because Highlands gave the game away, and when it does someone better hide all the sharp objects in Ft Thomas.

Looking at it from another perspective, could this game be a 'moral defeat' for the Bluebirds? If they came into this game with the only question being when would the running clock start, and how much playing time would the 2nd and 3rd string get, what effect does the game have on them? Are they now worried about being the team remembered for ending the streak? I would hate for all the 20n10 paraphenalia to have to be sold at a discount store!

Or decent game by their opponent?

I have heard alot about the Ft Thomas Jr Football league being a huge part of Highlands success at the Varsity level. Correct me if I am wrong (which I know everyone will) but at the Highlands-Cov Cath Frosh game last week I was told that 4-5 of the better players on Highlands Frosh team played in the Red Devils youth program. If that is the case I think this would tip the biggest reason for continued success to attracting top players to come to Highlands.

Did Reese play some QB or did he score the rushing TDs out of the 'Wildcat'

I think the point Coach Wirth was trying to make is that if you focus your whole season on beating Highlands, you end up losing other games you should win. Also, with other very good teams on the schedule year in and year out (Lou St X, at least one GCL team, Cardinal Mooney a few years ago, etc) you have to prepare yourself for strong competition every week and all year long, not just focus on one game. I know from my discussions with Coach, he doesn't focus on winning a specific game, but in doing things the right way and consistently working to improve. He feels if you do that, the wins will come.

One of things I have always admired about Cov Cath Football is their willingness to play anyone anytime anywhere. No doubt if they did selective scheduling their W-L would be much better. Personally, I would rather be 5-5 against one of the toughest schedules in the State year in and year out, than 10-0 against inferior opponents. JMO

I see Cov Cath having 2 loses the rest of the season...or more depending on which team shows up. The good thing about last nights game was it showed that even if Bir doesn't have his best night, other components can step up and bring home a W (Defense, special teams, running game). While NCC and Dixie will not be guaranteed wins, they are both very winnable games by the Blue Colonels. Regarding the other comments about where this team is compared to two years ago, I think anyone who has been around the program for any length of time will tell you this is a program that the fans, players and school can be proud of. While wins are important (that is why they keep score) that should not be the only measuring stick of HS athletics. This is not meant as a knock on the previous coach. He is a great person and did the best he could, and unfortunately that was a 'bad hire' from the beginning. He was just not ready for the position when he got it. For you old timers, kind of like when Coach Faust went from Moeller to Notre Dame. Had success at one level but out of your element at another.

With 6 classes and the new alignment there are plenty of State Titles to go around....unless you happen to play in 6A or 4A!

I think the whole point behind this thread, which has turned into more of Highlands fans defending the greatness of their program (which no-one is denying), is that Highlands is one of the top teams not only in N Ky but in Ky overall, and Withrow is not a top 15 team in Cincinnati and it was a close game. I think it does show that OVERALL Ohio football is still ahead of Ky football. The top 3-4 teams from each side of the river may be able to compete with each other, but teams that are not top 10 in Cincinnati, much less all of Ohio would still give the top 3-4 teams in N Ky a good game. You start matching up #5 in N Ky vs #5 in Cincinnati, it will GENERALLY not be close.

Without question Cov Cath has played the toughest schedule in N Ky so far. You start seeing the early season lumps pay off in this one. Cov Cath by 2-3 scores.

You are saying Dixie and NCC will easily beat Cov Cath? Not going to guarantee a win for Cov Cath in both those games (yet) but totally disagree that they will lose handily. I would say 6-4 is very doable this year with the schedule they have, and those 4 potential loses coming against teams that would beat just about anybody in N Ky (Ryle, Highlands, Lou St X and LaSalle). But they do need to keep improving and not take any W for granted, and not go into any game expecting a L either.

This game just showed what Cov Cath is capable of when they have a good week of practice, coaches call a good game, and players execute. As I have said before, this team will continue to improve and learn each week. What the coaching staff is doing is not necessarily all about win now at all costs. They are building the foundation for a very successful program. Yes they want to and will try to win now, but they are not about winning now and having to start over each year. Who knows, this game may be looked back on as the one where the lightbulbs went off in the kids heads and they realized how good they can be. Any complaining I heard about after the Ryle game was more 'this coach doesn't know what he is doing because my son should be in on every play' type stuff. Stuff that should be completely disregarded.

The screen was working because their downfield passing game was also working. Unless there is at least a threat of a downfield game, screens won't work at any level. A few of the screens went for huge yards as a result of very good downfield blocking and the receivers following those blocks. I think these were also working because quite frankly, Lex Cath was a little young on defense with alot of soph and Jrs playing. Also, their top lb (Letton) went out with an injury which probably opened this up more. I would say overall good play calling by the Cov Cath staff to notice the trend, and good execution on the field. I can assure you they will not become one dimensional and you will see the bread and butter play change with each game and opponent.