stinkyboy II

#4 in your District, and still #8 in the state. Wow

Highlands can even their record with a win over the Rebels Friday night. Bluebirds are big favorites over the Rebels. A chance for HHS to get the W and get a few more guys healthy heading into the playoffs. Hoping Senior running back Larry Wilson can get a TD this week. Larry is part of the starting platoon at RB but has yet to score this year. He has gained a lot of yards without denting the endzone. This week that drought ends.

I have never seen a HHS football have so many injuries. We finally have the LB group healthy and now the rest of the defense needs to recover. On the DL - Sisson and Biltz DNP. In the secondary - Steiden, Traylor and Armstrong DNP. Had an LB go out early in the game also.

HHS Film and Broadcasting group--- OUTSTANDING

Running the ball right down the field and then call four straight pass plays resulting in a turnover on downs. ????

The young man doing play by play is doing a great job.

HHS has improved a lot since Week 0. They have shed the conservative offensive philosophy. They have gotten healthy at running back and settled in to the 2 man rotation. They have taken advantage of match-ups outside and gotten the ball to playmakers like Venneman, Cramer, and Wogan. Defensively the Birds have done a nice job of adjusting to their opponents strengths. The bye week was well placed to help with the health of the LB corp. Last night M. Schwalbach, Huddleston, and Sparks were back in action. All had an impact on the overall performance of the unit. Earning that home playoff game and the opposing 3rd seed for the playoffs was huge. Pushes a potential second match-up with the Blue Colonels to week 3 of the playoffs.

Fake news

Apparently there was a 30 minute drone delay in the Pendleton / Bath game last night. Sheriff had to be called in to handle the problem. Anyone with details on the delay and how it was handled?

HHS has a bye next week - maybe gets a few more boys healthy. The most important game on the schedule is in 2 weeks when Dixie comes to the Fort. A must win to ensure a home playoff game.

Grady Cramer is a D1 punter right now. Teams should scout better and move the return men back a few yards or 15.

The Ryle / SK game will be a high scoring affair. Ryles backs will run all over SK. SK is not one dimensional with Shearer running only. He is a dual threat and #9 is a really nice receiver.

Ben Sisson was dominant as a D-lineman tonight. The HHS O-line played really well.

Let's all remember this was a running clock game? Right. Birds have improved vastly as they are getting healthier and making subtle changes in personal and scheme.

All these negative comments about the Birds from a bunch of so called fans that don't even go to the games. HHS had a good game plan. Executed it well and were an on-sides kick recovery away from a huge upset. Hats off to the Bluebird team tonight.

JV game HHS versus SK being played at 9 am.

How many current coaches in Northern Kentucky have a state championship to their credit?? I'll start the list: Brian Weinrich

I may be the only HHS fan that was encouraged by what I saw last night. Ryle is a solid 6A contender with an outstanding run game. A big physcial O-line, a D1 running back, and a QB that can use his legs very effectively. I was expecting them to put up points. The defense was trying to stop that attack without 4 of our top 6 linebackers. Huddleston, Sparks, and Starkey did not play a single down. M. Schwalbach goes out in the 1st quarter. Liked the use of Johnson and Dunn on the D-line. Not the best opponent to evaluate the impact that move can have going forward. I'll take the effort put forth by the kids trying to stop the Raider run attack. Offense played with pace and opened up quite a bit. Venneman and Wogan were really good. Schoellman targeted each of them multiple times. C. Schwalbach would have helped the run game, but not enough to make a big difference. I liked some of the things I saw last night. No doom and gloom from me.

At the 3:20 mark of the video is the play where the flag is picked up. #45 is the one that the flag was dropped on. It was not a block in the back or a crack back block. I love it when there is a video posted that clears up what we all thought we saw. Birds ran 6 offensive plays in the first 18 minutes of game clock. Campbell dictated pace and controlled the ball. HHS needs to play faster. Get plays called. Get plays run. Use outside weapons. Two platoon not a big weapon when you play slow and run only a handful of plays. After 2 games, this is the most conservative offense I have ever seen in Ft Thomas. Defense got a little more aggressive in the second half and came up with a few big plays. Waiting for the offense to do the same. Camels have a solid team. Good game plan and should have won the game. Turnovers sealed the Camels fate.

Rough start for the Birds. First quarter and a half consisted of 8 penalties, a fumble, and a snap over the punter's head for a safety. Score was 9-0 Jags midway through the second quarter. Once HHS stopped shooting themselves in the foot they took over the game. Highlands scored 42 unanswered to put the game away heading to the fourth quarter. Cooper scored 2 late fourth quarter TD's to finish out the scoring. Cooper took Venneman away. When HHS forced the ball his way it was a bad result. The TD to Wogan on fourth and 5 was a beautiful play. Venneman ran a short route and Wogan came across the field deep behind the defender concentrating on covering Venneman. Schoellman laid the ball out there and Wogan ran under for the TD catch and run. Schwalbach was hard to bring down. As Cooper's defense got worn down, Schwalbach took advantage and found the end zone 4 times. The Jags running game was not very successful and their passing game was not good. Four interception for Steiden and an interception return for TD by Harrison Traylor. The Birds looked a bit better than the #18 - class 5A team in the state and are probably a tad better than #9 in N Ky.

Now we have resorted to starting an update thread when the scrimmage was over. The names may change but the antics remain the same.

Highlands VS. Dixie CovCath is the obvious favorite in 5A District 5 The HHS / Dixie game will determine second place in the district and who gets a home playoff game. District 5 is matched up with district 3 (Bullitt Counties/Nelson/Oldhams) for the playoffs. It is important for teams like HHS that are trying to get back on top to keep playing into November. Longer season = more practice, more games, and more experience for younger kids. No more one and done in the playoffs.

I have been to 2 games that this rule was applicable. Back in 2015 the team I followed had Juniors on their girls JV team. Showed up to play JV game and opponent had 8th graders. Opponent would not have enough to play if those kids not involved. Juniors were taken off game roster of our team and the JV game was played. The Juniors were added to the vasrsity roster for that day and played sparsely in the Varsity game. A few days later a same problem except this time the varsity game was played first. The Juniors were again removed from the JV roster for that game and the game played. Junior parents and players left rather upset that no one bothered to check into the make up of opponents roster. I think coaches do a pretty good job of making sure this rule is followed in games. The fact that teams that roster middle schoolers on their JV team can't practice with or against their varsity team is where the rules tend to get broken.

I have a completely different take on this thread, especially as it relates to HHS basketball. I look at this as why are the kids/parents looking to leave HHS and go somewhere else. Highlands has top notch academics, excellent community and parental support, brand new facilities, an established respected coach, and a very successful middle school feeder program. In recent history, the W/L record would have looked much different with Ben Weyer in Blue and White versus Blue and Gold. Going forward the team would look much different with returning 2 year starter Posey at the PG and a young big man (that got varsity minutes last year) patrolling the paint rather than playing up on the hill at NCC. This is not an NCC problem, this is a HHS problem that the Bluebirds need to figure out or the cycle will continue in years to come.