This story has been updated.
Adversity begone, Bob Sphire declared on his arrival in Ft. Thomas 18 months ago.
Highlands football, with one of Kentucky’s and the nation’s most honored gridiron histories, had had enough of getting setbacks and then letting them – well, letting them knock them on their Bluebird butts.
No more, Sphire said.
And just like that, well just like a year-and-a-half anyway, it was gone. Banished from Ft. Thomas and everywhere else Bluebirds fly.
“Adversity is no longer your master,” Sphire told his team after its 34-5 romp in a slightly weird Class 5A district showdown against a Cooper team that had challenged Covington Catholic just three weeks ago.
“You are the master,” Sphire continued to his team. “You took care of it one play at a time.”
One day at a time. And despite opening 0-2 this season after a 5-6 season in 2021, here they are, on top of maybe the state’s toughest 5A district and looking for ways to get better.
Then saluting the Highlands’ old hands, who were here for many of the program’s 23 state championships: “You’re used to success,” Sphire said. “We – my family – are just proud to be here for the journey.”
“When I got here, adversity ruled them,” Sphire explained. “No longer.”
But wasn’t there some adversity early in this game, Sphire was asked of the turnover-fest of missed opportunities both ways as well as the safety on a Jake Harmeyer tackle that gave Cooper its lone lead, 2-0, with 5:27 left in the first quarter.
“No,” he said simply. No such thing.
Because it’s been banished here. No adversity, just opportunity to make plays the way Highlands teams are supposed to, Sphire said.
The way they did last week when the Birds came back from a late deficit to beat Covington Catholic 32-21 after being down 21-17 with just seven minutes left and having lost their last nine games to the Colonels.
Having to play “48 minutes against playoff-quality opponents two weeks in a row” is the best thing that could happen to them, Sphire said. And on a night when Highlands was back to being Highlands, there were lots of those plays made.
Quarterback Brody Benke, all 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds of him, is looking much more comfortable reading the run-pass option and then running the ball. He did it twice for touchdowns – once from 14 yards out, then from 29.
He’s just too big, too strong and now with his ability to read and pull the ball back at the last second and find a seam, too skilled even if he is a former tight end.
“I’ve definitely got a lot more confidence in my running,” Benke said, “although I still like throwing the ball,” which he did, 24 times, completing 11 for 134 yards.
But in a game where Highlands got the lead and decided to pound the ball, throwing it became secondary. And almost dangerously unnecessary on a night when the defenses picked off five interceptions – four by Highlands, one by Cooper.
Which made it a long night for Cooper’s precocious passing freshman quarterback Cam O’Hara, who had to throw it 37 times, completing 16, for 155 yards but also giving up those four interceptions including a 60-yard pick-six by Carson Class with just 3:04 left in the game.
“I like what they’re doing with him,” Sphire said of O’Hara. “They challenged us to use our whole defensive package,” he said of the Bluebirds’ many coverages. “We used them all.”
DB Adam Dunn picked off two passes.
Then there was placekicker Davis Burleigh, setting the tone as he seems to almost every game, with his kickoffs into the end zone and his field goals — two of three on this night from 37 and 39 yards out. That gives him 12 of 15 this season, an all-time single season Highlands record.
It wasn’t a perfect performance, Sphire said, “but we held them to five points.” Some of that was Highlands but some of it was a Cooper team that could not handle prosperity.
Nor could it handle the Highlands’ defense the first half, gaining just three yards on the ground, 44 more in the air, setting the tone for the second half. For the game, Highlands piled up 325 yards of offense (191 rushing, 134 passing) to Cooper’s 181 (26 rushing, 155 passing).
But if there’s one stat that matters more than any other, it’s the number of turnovers: to those four Cooper interceptions, add another couple of lost fumbles. Then compare those six with the one lost fumble by Highlands.
The only adversity in this game came from those half-dozen turnovers that went Highlands’ way.
Cooper’s 5-4 Jaguars conclude the regular season with a non-district home game against Louisville Butler.
The 8-2 Birds have the week off as they prep for the playoffs.
SCOREBOARD
COOPER 2 0 3 0 5
HIGHLANDS 7 6 7 14 34
SCORING
COOP: LONAKER TACKLE IN THE END ZONE
HIGH: BENKE 14 RUN (DAVIS PAT GOOD)
HIGH: BURLEIGH 37 FIELD GOAL
HIGH: BURLEIGH 39 FIELD GOAL
COOP: TAYLOR 33 FIELD GOAL
HIGH: GIESLER 3 RUN (BURLEIGH PAT)
HIGH: BENKE 29 RUN (BURLEIGH PAT)
HIGH: CLASS 60 INTERCEPTION RETURN (BURLEIGH PAT)