PawPrints

It is power clean, bench, and squat. No deadlift involved.

I saw via Twitter that Highlands had their ‘Spring Liftathon’ this past week. Anyone have some numbers that are worth sharing? Surprising or new names to mention? Lifts were Clean, Squat, Bench. From the tweets I saw, it seemed like OL Swope was a staple in all categories as well as the Benke brothers leading most lifts. Junior to-be RB Kremer posted 880 lbs total, pretty impressive. Armstrong with a 395 squat!

Won’t speak for HB but it seemed pretty clear to me.. Ryle is down in talent compared to their last few seasons but still holds a high reputation and plays elite talent across the state with lots of eyes. There’s clear opportunity for kids from NKY or elsewhere to transfer in and play this upcoming season (like Anness from Ludlow last season)

Anybody have an official schedule?

Because the Cooper coach only spoke to the ref - not Sully. It’s common practice for coaches to catch the ref’s ear on timeouts at the half court line. It’s also common practice for one coach to approach the ref when the other is getting a chance to talk to him - it’s just strategy to interrupt the conversation or put in a word. It also doesn’t matter whether he’s a freshman coach or former Sully staff.. He’s on the varsity bench for Cooper plain and simple. You can make it seem like more than that if you want to, but those are just the facts.

Coopers freshman coach, former coach with Sully at Cooper, made his way to half court and spoke to the official, not Sully. Not sure what was said but if you’ve ever coached it’s common to insert yourself when the other coach has the ref’s ear so as to not let him push him in a certain direction - whatever the conversation may be. Now, he did pat Sully on the back when saying something to the ref which I don’t think was the best move as clearly, an emotional Sully didn’t take well to that - evident by his VERY clear bombs dropped towards Coopers bench/freshman coach.. Not the way I want my coach to act towards anyone during a game. Lastly, I think if the other coach threatens you in that short verbal altercation, I’d probably skip the handshake line too.

I think someone alluded to it but I would imagine given the circumstances, it may have just felt odd (for lack of a better term) to takeover given that case. Even more so, if you give it to someone on staff, like Floyd, that’s a tough situation/conversation if you’re planning to open the job up at conclusion of the year. One area that Conner has not excelled has been facilities & pipeline recruitment. Facilities, with the new fieldhouse & turf, seem to be taken care of. The next head coach will need to rope in their Pwe programs. Other than 1 football camp a year, Trosper never interacted with any of the former Bandit/Cougar programs. You wouldn’t believe the talent they could’ve had at Conner this year if everyone stayed in district. But that’s how it goes these days.

Conner never tends to do things outside of their comfort zone (or the AD’s circle). My guess is this goes to Floyd who has been well liked within the program the last 6-8 years. Stellman would be the only obvious exception to this and IMO a slam dunk hire. He left TMU for more time with his family after the 2020 season. Norwell took over and amassed 5 wins each season in 2022, 2023, and 2024. This year, TMU went 1-10..

Enlighten me.

I agree. This conversation is a year premature IMO. Are there valid reasons to have the discussion? Sure. But there will be no “conversation” if this happens again next year. It’ll be an easy firing and into the next era of Highlands football. My questions heading into 2026 are more so for OC Sphire. Who will play QB, how will you get Lorenzen the ball, and can you keep all of the mouths fed? Lorenzen, Kremer, Armstrong, Williams.. It’s a great problem to have but you better deliver this time around or you’ll be cleaning out the coaches office with Dad before the clocks hit 0:00.

Highlands with a dropped 50 yd TD on the first drive. Second drive stalled at the opponent’s 40 with another dropped pass. Up front, they frankly have been dominated and Corbin has stopped the Birds rushing attack for the most part. A few untimely penalties as well. Defensively, this is the worst tackling performance I’ve seen this season. 21-7 Corbin. Corbin ball to start the 2nd half.

Now that we’ve discussed ticket prices & Corbin.. What does Highlands need to do this week to come out on top? They’ve been on a roll offensively scoring 35 or more in their last 4 games - most of that being done with starters not playing the entire game. Defensively they’ve been maybe even more impressive of late. Or, maybe I’d label it as better than expected compared to the first half of the year. Regardless, I think if they can eliminate the big plays, Highlands will roll.

Thanks for the insight. Corbin, regardless of SOS, has been on a roll. How is their defense constructed? Big DL, strong front 8? Or are they competent at defending the pass? Curious how their size, team, and play style will match up.

This has been asked twice now with no responses.. Maybe nobody knows? Or maybe the outlook is ominous? I have a hard time believing that the info isn’t out there somewhere.

I would agree with this. Seems like it’s been the case that ‘everyone needs a touch’ during the blowout games however when real competition has faced the Birds recently (Elder & Scott Co), it has been Kremer & Lorenzen leading the charge. Kremer leads the team with avg 7 YPC. And we all know what Lorenzen can do.. Both of these kids are tough, physical runners that land forward. Excited to see them as the matchups get tougher!

66 viewers that will have to mute the broadcast & will experience vertigo from all the camera switching (at inopportune moments)! Lol

Williams has been hurt since the CovCath game. Kremer has been the starting RB since. Regardless, your sentiment is spot on. Pound the rock and onto the next. I will point out though, despite some early season criticism, Litmer has thrown the ball really well of late. Establishing rapport with the WR’s & understanding their identity seems to have turned out well for the Birds.

Thanks for the info! Hope the best for the kid moving forward.

I’ll bite... Why should he? I haven’t seen him play this year but since the offseason the only thing I can associate with his name is how talented he is & needs D1 offers. However, his stats this year are pretty mediocre and while I understand it’s a team game, they didn’t overachieve this year by any stretch. He clearly has the D1 profile with his size & arm but what’s missing??

I believe he hung it up because he had young kids he wanted to spend time with. There could’ve been more to his story but I know that was part of it. I agree, would love to see him come back.

The facilities really are a nice bargaining chip out there!

I think the photo the school posted was more indicative of what they’re looking for. Maybe I read too much into a general phrasing? ”We are seeking an experienced and dedicated coach…” No discredit to those young assistants but that to me doesn’t fit their bill. There’s other former players in OC & assistant positions at nearby schools I’m familiar with as well and I don’t think they’ll get it either. Given this “firing/resignation”, they seem adamant to change the culture and whether right or wrong, that generally means an older, experienced coach.

This open position has the makings to help determine Scott’s athletics future. If you look at the past successful groups in the “big 3” (football, basketball, baseball), Scott’s success in one has been mostly synonymous with the others. The classes of kids that stuck together and didn’t transfer out, did well. Coaches in the other 2 sports, Fromeyer and Dragan, seem to be poised for more runs in their respective sports but if you asked them, they’d undoubtedly tell you they have lost big talent because those kids that also play basketball & baseball don’t want to play football at Scott. The likes of HC, SK, Beechwood, etc have all benefited. This hire can break the trend and rebuild the athletic culture at Scott or continue the carousel it’s been the last few hires and leave the rest of the programs waving goodbye to their feeder programs.