En Fuego Hombre

If I had a say, I'd be looking at one of their former assistants, who now has the job at Boone. Boone has many more challenges for a young head coach than does Scott and despite this, he produced more wins this season including a win over Scott.

Coach Bathiany definitely ended up in a great spot for himself and his family. And Moeller ended up with the better head coach.

Elder will be out to prove the point that Cincinnati high school football is better than Northern Kentucky high school football. The Panthers are representing all of Ohio in this one and they are likely not going to let off the gas. If they can put a running clock on the Birds, they will, and I doubt they will put the 2nd team in until very late, if at all. Elder players will be looking for helmet sticker hits on the O and the D. If this gets out of hand early, I would hope that key players for the Birds get pulled and rested for next week.

When you are handed a job that was not earned and don't have the humility to understand that it was not earned, then ego is certainly part of the equation.

I think the goal will certainly be to win, but I don't believe the game plan will be altered to get the job done. A classic case of expecting different outcomes by doing the same thing over and over again.

I'm just not convinced that the Birds will use their weapons to the fullest extent possible, due to too much ego and a desire to not appear that online criticisms have caused a change in the play calling. If they revert to running the playbook from the first several games, they lose.

It has been since the new regime took the helm.

With this intense rivalry, I have to give the slight edge to the home team Colonels.

Why would the HHS staff not, at least partially, design an offense around Lorenzen? That young man is close to unstoppable and the ball should be in his hands more often than not. Tough to do from the tight end position, I know, and that is why there needs to be some serious conversation about a QB platoon system. Both Lorenzen and Litmer could still be on the field for nearly every snap and the potential firepower that could be drawn up in this scenario is fun to think about.

It's not pessimistic to point out that losing two very big pieces of the O line will likely result in some problems on that front.

What part? That they are both a big loss to the program, or that the reasons are the same? If your referring to the latter, the genesis of the reasons is the same, even if those reasons manifested differently because one of the players is a starter and the other an up and comer.

That prospective starting O line got a lot smaller and less talented with these players no longer in the program. There are some big young guys that will be stepping into the voids, but losing experienced linemen is always tough. Time will tell if is is just a reloading, next man up situation or if it will be a rebuild of the O line.

Have there been injuries at CC, to cause the recent slump?

Not my place to name names, but they are both "BIG" losses and both cite the same reason(s) for leaving the program.

I have heard that some players have issues with one or more of the coaches and may choose to do something else with their time, instead of playing for them.

The starter transferring has been in the rumor mill for a couple of months. I'm not surprised by the other one. This may be the tip of an iceberg that the USS Bluebird cannot avoid, due to several unhappy campers and their parents.

Is Lorenzen good with not playing QB? It's likely he has dreamed of playing that position since he was a young kid and missing out on that opportunity would have to be a hard thing to swallow. I hope he gets some chances to display his QB skills, but with their killer schedule, there won't be much mop up time this year, unfortunately.

According to this thread, some of the Highlands faithful are right. Obviously a 4+ loss regular season does not necessarily doom a team from winning a state championship. It looks like a couple past champions had as many as 5 regular season losses. Those playoff runs had to be pretty amazing. This thread was last updated in 2007. Have there been any similar playoff runs since then?

I don't know. If the team loses 4 or more games, will they have the mindset and mental toughness to overcome the disappointment of that record and become a championship level team?

This Varsity schedule is a tough egg to crack. What will the sentiment in Fort Thomas be if the Birds lose 4 or more of the 7 tough games during the season and do not win a State Championship?

The rule I'd like to see changed is spotting a missed long field goal attempt at the 20, if it goes into the end zone. There should be a risk to trying the field goal, not a reward for missing it. The ball should be placed at the previous spot on a missed attempt.

Which plays into the Highlands trying to take it away narrative. Giving fouls, knowing that free throws were not a strong point for the Wildcats last night.

I have no skin in this game, just enjoying the read, but when you have to lower yourself to criticizing grammar and making sophomoric personal insults, you've lost the argument.

I don't believe the schedule has been released yet.

How about also picking up and following Moeller? There are a lot of Fort Thomas folks who want to track how the Crusaders and their head coach do over the next couple of years.