observerbynature

From what I saw, there were just very few open options. The Highlands D put decent to good pressure on him all night, and he did take a pretty hard shot early, but I think most of it was coverage related. He actually played pretty smart and didn't force the ball into bad situations, but just didn't have a lot of options.

So, just to add some to the commentary. First, I'm not even sure how this rematch happened, but hats off to both schools for making it happen. At the end of the day, CovCath won that first game fair and square, and the Highlands kids should have had to sit and stew on that for the rest of a successful season. But, they got another chance, and I think made the absolute most of it. By my count, I believe CovCath only had 2 first downs in that whole game. I know that a lot of us are living in this bizarre anomaly where the 2024 class across most schools seems to be this wildly talented group of kids, and I think that's going to be awesome to watch for NKY high school football over the next few years, but, I have to say, I think that is especially true at Highlands. I also think that it has added to the overall anxiety surrounding the coaching situation at Highlands, because that whole "talent is down" argument is going to very quickly not be plausible much longer. At the end of the night, I say kudos to Cov Cath (their future is as bright as ever) for scheduling the game and traveling to Fort Thomas , but I also have to give the proper respect to this group of freshmen at Highlands. It SHOULD be their damn Super Bowl and they sure as hell showed up and played like it tonight. Congrats on an 8-1 season!

I'd also like to just take a second and mention that, regardless of the circumstances, two pretty damn good freshmen football teams will be playing once again this season on Thursday. Should be fun.

That makes sense and I assumed it had something to do with it. Do you know if that goes both ways? ie, the game was at Cooper, so would they not let a Campbell County team come there either? Thanks.

So, here is something fun. Not sure how this all came together, but Highlands and Cov Cath are going to play again Thursday night, 6pm, at Highlands. Cov Cath took round 1 at their place 13-6. I know Highlands was supposed to play at Cooper. Not entirely sure of the reason for the change, but it should be an excellent rematch for all the boys.

Highlands up 21-6 on Campbell County at the half.

I really am leaning towards agreeing with @futurecoach. I like Ryle. The second Highlands game got away from them early allowing a kickoff return and then some unfortunate turnovers. They don't really have an explosive offense, but they have a couple kids that run hard, and that #2 is fun to watch. We'll see what factor the weather ends up playing, but I think it could be a closer, grind it out type game. I'd lean CovCath for sure, but I would be surprised if it was a blowout.

Highlands freshmen beat NCC froshmore team last night, 20-0. Defense is legit. Offense is kind of one step forward, two steps back. Campbell County on Thursday.

I thought "partly correct" was the gold standard for a message board. ?

Honestly, I think the only possible reason you could see this as a close game would be that scenario that @Tigerpride94laid out above where maybe Moeller is moving some pieces around and getting some younger guys in. Maybe Highlands is motivated to send their seniors, and others, out with a strong final home performance. But, after what happened last week, I'm just hoping its not a bizarre reality show again.

As I've heard it, he interviewed specifically for the AD job, but then came back and wanted to be both AD and Head Football Coach. Again, for the record, that's how I heard it.

? I don't think you and I would disagree on much in regards to the program, and I think this would be a strange topic for an argument. I'd also say that the "waiting in the middle school gym" part of my post wasn't really intended as the primary hurdle they had to overcome. I was just trying to be a little more dramatic in highlighting how impressive I thought the overall coaching job by Cooper was, and how it stood in stark comparison to the job by the home team. I also do think that better days are coming sooner rather than later. I mean, with the exception of this Friday, that's going to be a disaster of biblical proportions.

I already said much of what I'm about to repeat a couple pages ago, but I really do think that the strength of the Cooper coaching job cannot be emphasized enough and deserves as much respect as can be given. You got to travel at whatever time they got there, and then sit through a 2 hour lightning delay in the other teams' middle school gym. And yet, to start that fast, with that game plan, and constantly force the other team to have to adjust to what you were doing, it was just really, really impressive. Really well done.

I would just like to quickly say that the situation at Highlands is no longer tenable. Tonight was almost a surreal experience on just about every possible level. All that being said, huge respect to Cooper. To essentially sit in the middle school gym for two hours and hit the field the way they did, was extraordinary. Tremendous job by their coaches.

Couldn't let us run with that half an idea for at least a weekend. ?

No, I get that, I didn't mean it as an argument.

I think that's fair. Have Ryle and Dixie played? I know Ryle is a little tricky cause their freshman QB is not playing with the freshman, but I still think that's a solid group of kids, that are well coached. Highlands seems to be really hitting their stride and will need to cause they still have games against NCC, Campbell and Cooper. I'm sure this gets said every year, but man I wish there was some type of freshmen post-season, cause a Highlands-CovCath rematch would be a good thing for football fans in general.

Highlands beat Ryle 35-12.

No worries. Just to clarify, I didn't feel like you were attacking me in the slightest. I was just pre-empting my venting with disclaimers to let everyone know I'm usually pretty full of it.

I don't know, somewhere between getting them a Colonel chew toy as a baby and driving them to practice? I would certainly hope they wouldn't disinterest them, but I also think a lot of parents right now are having awkward discussions with their young sons about how you can only control what you can control, and don't say anything to rock the boat, and make the best of the situation. Some of those are good life lessons, for sure, but are also uneasy indicators of the state of things. And I don't think that state was caused by parents not getting their kids sufficiently interested. Appreciate the question though.

Well, I'll just keep spewing my ignorant opinions until I completely reveal myself to be a moron, but I think this is the aspect of being a head coach that is sorely lagging right now. Now, there are a ton of different ways to do this, so I'm not saying this is the ONLY way, but if you have a head coach who isn't willing to truly BE the face of the program, then I think the "urgency" or enthusiasm is going to lag a little and that will inevitably drift down throughout the lower levels. I think it's still there absolutely, but I also think it could ramped up immensely. You don't have to go to the elementary schools by any means, but one night a week, go visit some of the FTJFL practices (they're well after you're finished), drop in during equipment handout, or go watch a game. Talk to those kids, let em know you're watching and rooting for them and can't wait for them to be part of this. Make your camps the can't miss event of the summer and get them so pumped they can't wait to be a part of it. Be the leader of the program. I know being a high school football coach is a time commitment already and I'm asking for more, but no one MADE you become the head coach.

I think that these threads are always fascinating as to how far people will go to explain away the simplest answer. Do demographics, socio-economics, concussion concerns, the district closing off/limiting transfers, coaches having a full teaching load, etc all play a part in why Highlands isn't the same program today? Yeah, maybe all of those things contribute in some way. But, are any of those factors going to change anytime soon? Probably not. So, the big question has to come down to will things ever improve under the current regime? Bottom line. Are these people, who currently have the worst winning percentage in school history, the right people to work within those changing circumstances and restore a consistently competitive standard to the program? And that brings us to the things that are specifically under their control, the x's and o's, the player development, and most importantly, the culture. Any reasonable person would consider those things very much under the control of the head of the program and those are legitimate and true areas of concern. The freshman kid that transferred last week didn't do so cause of his concern over exclusivity in the real estate market. I'll end my rant now, but I just think, at the end of the day, it's a simple conclusion.

I can't say I'm the most well informed on this, but it does seem the numbers are up and down depending on the class in what I was told was not an unusual way. 8th grade has numbers in the mid 30s, but 7th grade has almost 60 players. They did move the 7th and 8th grade from the Norsemen Conference to the NKMSAA this year. I'm honestly not sure about the lower grades other than what I said at the beginning about it being roughly the same historically.

I'm new here, but are there concerns in Fort Thomas about the state of the Highlands football program?

I had a chance to watch some of this on film. That QB is an impressive athlete, and he did play the whole game. Later in the game they actually moved him to RB. He really didn't get any help in this game though. They might have only had one first down in the first half. Several bad snaps put them in bad positions throughout the game. All that being said, credit to Highlands, who I would say definitely played their most complete game so far this year.