FrankNicodemus

22-16

We have to be the worst Defensive team I’ve seen in a while, a lost art at UK I guess.

Going to have to “man up” on D, or they will just beat us up. How many 30 footers they going to make too?

Fun game to watch, not so fun result. Cov Cath is really good... Highlands needs to keep grinding... 'till next time, GO BIRDS!!!

What a fun fast paced game!

BIG 3 FOR EBERT!!!! 30-26 Colonels

Cov Cath gets Birds to turnover and converts a quick fastbreak Harney for 2 5-0

Cash Harney 3!! 3-0

Cov Cath in baby blue uniforms, never seen those before.... Highlands in the all white uniforms...

Star spangled banner

This is so exciting!!! I can't wait....

Standing room only in the gym....this is going to be F-U-N!!!!

We have ourselves a final on the JV match Birds win BIG!!!!! 76-60!!!! So Colonels 1, Birds 1 for the night.... Now the Main EVENT!!!

After 3 Quarters in the JV match the Birds have extended their lead to 20.... 58-38 after 3 #GOBIRDS!!!

The Varsity game poll is now closed with the final tally of 20 people really going out on a limb predicting a Colonels victory and then only 3 other people wanting to jump on the bus with me predicting the Birds to come out on TOP! Should be a great game...looking forward to it.

Second game at the HALF (JV game)... Highlands leads 41-27 #GOBIRDS

First game in the books (Freshman).... Cov Cath executes down the stretch, after the Birds tied the game 39-39 with around 4:30 left in the game, the Colonels go on a 10-4 run creating some costly turnovers the Birds couldn't overcome. Final 49-43

GAME TIMES.... It's a TRIPLE HEADER kind of night Freshman: 4:45 JV: 6:00 Varsity "The Main Event": 7:30

The BITTER rivalry continues tonight when the team from Park Hills, the Covington Catholic Colonels travel into the unfriendly confines of Highlands High School for a 9th Region CLASH! The season has seen Cov Cath leading in the 9th Region polls with Highlands looming behind them. It has been stated several times in those polls that the distance between #1 Cov Cath and #2 Highlands is a VERY large distance.... Tonight is the night to either prove that assumption correctly or will Highlands showcase that they are actually a lot closer to Cov Cath than the pundits believe? Team breakdown: Covington Catholic comes in with a 15-1 record absolutely demolishing every opponent that has come in front of them, other than their trip to the King of the Bluegrass where they lost their only game against Male and had to squeak out a win against North Laurel by 4. Highlands comes in with an equally impressive record of 12-1 with their only blemish coming against Ryle at Ryle back on the 3rd of Jan. Covington Catholic is riding a 6 game winning streak against Highlands. Last time Highlands won was a 57-51 win against Cov Cath on Dec 3, 2018....before the Cov Cath faithful jump in on that win, YES I do believe Cov Cath didn't have their football players on the playing roster yet in 2018 since they were either still playing football or just finished...so they were some men down during that game... Should be a PACKED HOUSE at Highlands, get there early if you want a seat...otherwise I believe the game will be streamed on the Highlands Hudl page (for FREE). I am hoping to provide updates during the game if you wanted to follow along.... I think my night should allow me to do that. #GO BIRDS!!!!

Miami 76

Here we go, year 6 of the Sphire era Highlands Bluebirds. We have seen the Birds accumulate a record of 47-17 in the 5 years with Coach Sphire at the helm, twice making it to the State Semi's (23 & 24). Unfortunately, that isn't the standard that Fort Thomas expects. State Championship Trophies are what people in Fort Thomas expect from one of the most winningest programs in the country. The drought has been long, it has been since 2014 when a new trophy was placed in the Trophy case all shiny..... It is getting unfortunately a little dusty now. We have come so close especially in 2023 when I believe Highlands made it back on top of the 5A rankings during the Regular season, the fan base felt like the tide had turned and a visit to Kroger Field was imminent only to be dealt a heartbreaking loss to a NKY foe Cooper Jags in the Semi's on a cold November Friday night. Will THIS year be the year that the stars align and the Birds make a trip south to Kroger Field to add to the Trophy case? Here is my take on the 2026 Edition of the Highlands Bluebirds When I think about the 2026 Highlands Bluebirds, one word comes to mind: ATHLETES! Coach Zitt, the Strength and Conditioning Coordinator (& RB coach) at Highlands has these young men looking like machines. The Strength program in my opinion is one of the biggest pieces of Highlands football that was missing in the years prior to Coach Zitt. The 2026 Birds are going to have a TON of skilled position players that they will have the opportunity to as Will Stein says "Feed the Studs". Other than losing Rio Litmer which is a huge loss losing a QB that threw 252 of the 289 passes in 2025, but other than Rio you basically return your whole running back room and your receiving core. Here is the run down on these rooms: Running backs: Tayden Lorenzen led the team in '25 with 541 yards rushing with 18 TDs, right behind him on the stat sheet is Colt Kremer who really progressed nicely in '25 only being a Sophomore, rushing for 432 yards. Receiving core: John Feldbrugge led the team in '25 with 505 yards receiving, right behind John is Cale Harris with 331 yards and then Tayden Lorenzen with 321 yards receiving. The Birds will also hopefully get a healthy Gabe Williams back who missed the last 6 games of the season with a back injury. QB room: This will probably be the biggest topic at the water cooler in Fort Thomas in the off season, but maybe not. Who will get the keys to the Offense? Will Coach Sphire go with the upcoming Young Gun stud Bryce Armstrong who razzle dazzled the offense in the Freshman and JV games. He is the REAL DEAL but can he lead a Varsity team as a Sophomore to the "Promise Land"??? Or will there be some pressure to have a more older bigger player in Tayden Lorenzen drop back in the pocket and sling away like his father did back in the late 90's for the Birds? Weakness: With all these returning skilled players and athletes running around the ball the biggest question mark I have to believe on this team is interior lineman. Graduating the likes of Max Merz, Mason Howard and the other IOL/IDL I will be interested to see who might be replacing these big boys in the trenches. With the interior lineman a big question mark, what won't be is the highly recruited Twin Tower Edge rushers in Cooper & Griffin Benke. These 2 have had the height of men for the last couple of years and have been getting stronger and wider in the last 12 months, it will be very interesting after another off season what their bodies will look like suiting up on Friday nights in 8 months. Not a lot of teams are going to have success running around the edges in 2026 versus the Birds. Rising star watch out: Nick Stojkovic, will be a Sophomore this upcoming 2026 season. It will be interesting how the program uses him. I believe in the Freshman/JV teams he has played RB on offense and LB on defense. This kid has looked like a stud since Kindergarten. Every time I see him around town he looks bigger and bigger. His body type reminds me of a Brycen Huddleston body type. The next 3 years will be fun to watch him grow within this program. The future is very bright for that young man. 2026 Schedule.. I haven't seen an official schedule with dates but I believe everyone we played in 2025 should be on contract for 2026, therefore here is the home/away opponents how it would line up: Home: Cooper, Boyle Co, Harrison Co, Elder, Mason Co Away: Frederick Douglass, Campbell Co, Ryle, Covington Catholic, Scott Co Let the discussion start..... What have I missed? Any other names we should be looking forward to seeing? Who you have as QB1? #GOBIRDS!!!!

Max Merz -> Louisville

I sure did, was a great radio broadcast! Not so great of a Birds performance.

Birds being very sloppy tonight having the major turnover bug.