Call the Highlands offensive line a variety of nicknames…the ‘big uglies’, the ‘hogs’ or the ‘gigantos’.
Whatever you want to call them, Bluebirds coach Bob Sphire thinks of them in another way.
“They’re beautiful to me,” Sphire said. “Those guys are absolutely beautiful and I love watching them get after it.”
The Bluebirds front paved the way on Friday night in Park Hills, Highlands coming away with a 32-22 victory over the Colonels, thanks in part to 286 rushing yards on the evening.
“We’ve got a group chat and we call ourselves the hogs,” Bluebirds lineman Torin Bryant said. “We’re the trench hogs, we do the dirty work so the quarterback can stay clean and the running backs can get a lot of yards.”
This game has been circled for 365 days for Bryant, the senior suffering a season-ending knee injury against the Colonels last season.
While the ending was storybook, the start was far from it. CovCath punched first with 14 unanswered points out of the gate, a two touchdown lead a little over five minutes into the game after Cash Harney hit Nicholas Krallman for a 74-yard touchdown and Harney followed it up with his legs on a 47-yard run to paydirt.
“We’re all just confident in each other,” Bluebirds quarterback Mario Litmer said. “When adversity comes, we know how to face it as a team. Once we got in a groove, we all just picked up on it together and showed how we can execute.”
Panicked they did not and stuck to the gameplan by running it and running it some more. Highlands finished with 46 rush attempts to just 13 pass attempts.
“I really like the fact that we can line up and play bully ball,” Sphire said.
Litmer started the comeback effort with a five-yard rushing touchdown, making it 14-8 after a Nate Surrey run on a two-point try in the closing seconds of the first.
CovCath’s snap issues from a Week 1 loss carried over to Week 2, a snap that sailed over the punter’s head in the second to make it 14-10. A four-play, 83-yard drive in less than two minutes gave the Bluebirds their first lead of the night when Jack White ran one in from five yards out to make it 17-14 with 2:42 left before the break.
White was the bell cow for the Bluebirds, finishing with 148 yards on 24 carries and the touchdown. The guys up front paired with White’s hard-nosed running style in which he always falls forward makes for a tough combination.
“I just try to find the open slot,” White said. “I run behind the best o-line in the state and they’re only going to get better. We’ve got three juniors, one sophomore and only one senior on the o-line. They make it so easy to run the ball.”
Then the Bluebirds imposed their will to open up the second half. A 14-play, 80-yard drive that spanned nearly seven minutes was capped off by a Surrey 2-yard run on fourth and goal, making it 25-14 after the two-point conversion.
CovCath responded on a Harney 20-yard rushing touchdown and looked to have the momentum on their side when James Koop intercepted Litmer in the end zone with 8:20 to play, but a three-and-out followed by a short punt hurt their chances.
The Bluebirds answered with a Gabe Williams 9-yard touchdown run with 3:29 to play on third and goal to make it 32-22, where the final score would be.
It’s another week of CovCath thinking “what if” in terms of miscues. Two drives in the Highlands red zone resulted in zero points in the first half, a turnover on downs on a fourth and one that came up short and a missed 35-yard field goal gave them the 3-point deficit.
“Just made mistakes,” Colonels coach Eddie Eviston said. “Turnover, gave them a free safety. Things like that when you got them and up two touchdowns and get the ball back, we have to continue to make that hurt and can’t let up. We’re a young team and we have to realize every play matters, every possession matters.”
It’s a process for the Colonels as they gain their bearings with a younger team and a lot of roster turnover due to graduation from a season ago in which they went 14-1. The 0-2 start is their first since 2015, Eviston’s first season at the helm.
Harney was the Colonels standout on the night, rushing for 131 yards and two scores while throwing for 162 yards and another score.
“Lot of growth from the last seven days, we’re just not there yet,” Eviston said. “Got to keep grinding and it’s all about the work you put in. A lot of these guys saw the standard that was set in front of them, now they have to start living it. Some of these guys start living the standard and they’ll be just like some of these teams we’ve had the last several years.”
Things won’t get any easier next week for the Colonels, welcoming a Simon Kenton team that’s put up 111 points in their first two games.
Highlands (2-0) continues their three-game road swing with a date with county foe Campbell County.
BLUEBIRDS 32, COLONELS 22
HIGHLANDS — 8-9-8-7 — 32
COVINGTON CATHOLIC — 14-0-8-0 — 22
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(CC) Harney 74-yard pass to Krallman (10:58) Weitzel kick
(CC) Harney 47-yard run (6:47) Weitzel kick
(H) Litmer 5-yard run (:38) Surrey run
2nd Quarter
(H) Safety (10:26)
(H) White 5-yard run (2:42) Nickelman kick
3rd Quarter
(H) Surrey 2-yard run (4:17) Harris pass to Surrey
(CC) Harney 20-yard run (:12) Harney pass to Kruer
4th Quarter
(H) Williams 9-yard run (3:29) Nickelman kick
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Highlands 83 (Litmer 8/12, Surrey 0/1), CovCath 162 (Harney 8/15)
Rushing Yards: Highlands 286 (White 24-148, Williams 6-61, James 4-28, Litmer 9-28, Surrey 3-21), CovCath 166 (Harney 12-131, Gaiser 12-29, Bessler 3-6)
Receiving: Highlands (Surrey 4-41, McCarter 2-16, Garrahan 1-11, Williams 1-9, White 1-6), CovCath (Krallman 1-74, Gaiser 3-40, Kruer 2-38, Bradshaw 1-7, Harney 1-3)
Turnovers: Highlands 3, CovCath
Penalties: Highlands 3-35, CovCath 2-20
Records: Highlands 2-0, Covington Catholic 0-2