For two straight seasons, Highlands saw its postseason hopes cut short at the hands of Cooper in the state semifinals.
On Friday night in Union, the Bluebirds flipped the script with a 28-14 victory. It wasn’t just about revenge on their former district rival, but it also signaled that its 2025 campaign has come with a clear message.
“We play one game at a time. We play one play at a time,” Bluebirds coach Bob Sphire said. “If you’re going to think about the end when you’re still at the beginning, then it’s not going to play out well, the end is at the beginning. The beginning determines the end.”
Junior running back Tayden Lorenzen powered the Highlands offense, rushing for 102 yards and three touchdowns. His performance reflected a larger team identity taking shape—physical, efficient, and unrelenting in the trenches. The Bluebirds ran the ball 50 times for 192 yards, and passed it for another 186 with 26 first downs, a second straight week of efficient offense.
“You’re looking at 43 first downs in two games against two good football teams,” Sphire said. “That’s a combination of playing really, really well offensively and taking care of business and picking up first downs and moving the football.”
Rio Litmer, who finished with 170 passing yards and hitting on 17-of-25 attempts, hit John Feldbrugge for a 17-yard touchdown to open up the scoring. Lorenzen’s first score came after he hurdled a Cooper defender and rumbled into the end zone from seven yards out to make it 14-0. The hurdles in track however, are not in his future.
“I’m not much of a runner,” Lorenzen said. “I think last year a lot of people were diving at my legs, and I picked that up this season. So I think it just gives another thing to my repertoire that I could use.”
PHOTOS: Slideshow provided by Charles Bolton
In the second half and a 14-7 lead, Highlands message was clear, they were going to utilize their beef up front and run the football. Lorenzen’s second and third scores gave the Bluebirds a 28-7 advantage with eight minutes to play.
“Just a completely different mentality,” Bluebirds lineman Max Merz said. “We just came out and were focused on winning the next play after the next play.”
The ran it 34 times compared to just seven pass plays in the final 24 minutes, a stark contrast to last season’s semifinal in which they held a 17-7 lead, but were outscored 54-6 in the second half.
“Some of the coaches messaging to the players in that game is we were 24 minutes from playing for a state championship,” Sphire said. “I talked to them and said we don’t train you like that and that’s not how we go about our business. Our process is the play that is happening. I didn’t try to get all psycho-babblish with them, but at the same time, they needed to hear that message because that mentality coming out at halftime of the semifinals was not productive. We’re in a community with the history that they have, that’s the messaging that they hear, is all about the end game, and they have to focus on the beginning to get to the end game.”
Highlands’ defensive effort was even more impressive. Just a week earlier, the Bluebirds leaned on stout defense to outlast Frederick Douglass 21-20 in double overtime. They allowed just seven points in regulation to the Broncos and against Cooper, they once again dictated the game by containing Jaguars quarterback Cam O’Hara. O’Hara, Northern Kentucky’s all-time leading passer in yards, was limited to just four completions, three of which came late in the fourth quarter when the game was nearly out of reach. His lone touchdown strike to Ryker Campbell with 6:11 to play came too late to tilt momentum.
Instead, Highlands sealed the win with defense—Brady Carnohan’s interception in the closing minutes ensuring Cooper’s comeback bid never materialized. Through two weeks, the Bluebirds have allowed just 21 points in regulation, a sign that this unit is establishing itself as one of the state’s most disciplined groups.
“Cam is a challenge,” Sphire said. “I’ll be one happy man when he graduates. I hope he invites me to the party because I’ll be happy when he graduates.”
For Cooper, the offensive struggles continued. While running back Keagan Maher turned in another 100-yard performance with 133 yards and a touchdown, the passing game failed to eclipse 100 yards for the second consecutive week. It’s an unfamiliar problem for O’Hara.
“We have some good receivers now, but he threw some to some division one receivers last year,” Jaguars coach Randy Borchers said. “It just makes a little bit of difference in his timing. We just got to keep working it and keep repping it and we’ll get there. Cam’s a great quarterback. Cam throws a great ball, and we just got to nail it down when it matters.”
Now at 0-2, the Jaguars face another stiff test with rival Ryle on deck.
“These games we want to win, but at the end of the day we want to get better, and we want to be playing really good come district time,” Borchers said. “That’s our goal. We’re going to continue to tweak stuff. We’re going to continue to try to work on some things. We’ve got three more weeks to try to figure it out before it really matters.”
Meanwhile, Highlands moves to 2-0 with momentum firmly on its side facing Campbell County next week.
BLUEBIRDS 28, JAGUARS 14
HIGHLANDS — 14-0-7-7 — 28
COOPER — 7-0-0-7 — 14
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(H) Litmer 17-yard pass to Feldbrugge (8:52) Anderson kick
(H) Lorenzen 7-yard run (4:26) Anderson kick
(C) Maher 5-yard run (1:33) Tibbs kick
3rd Quarter
(H) Lorenzen 6-yard run (5:09) Anderson kick
4th Quarter
(H) Lorenzen 5-yard run (8:06) Anderson kick
(C) O’Hara 23-yard pass to Campbell (6:12) Tibbs kick
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Highlads 186 (Litmer 17/25, TD, Lorenzen 2/2), Cooper 66 (O’Hara 4/15)
Rushing Yards: Highlands 192 (Lorenzen 20-103, Williams 12-35, Duncan 8-32, Litmer 8-13, Kremer 2-9), Cooper 133 (Maher 16-133, Wethington 1-0, O’Hara 2-0)
Receiving: Highlands (Feldbrugge 3-82, Williams 4-32, Harris 6-28, Garrahan 3-27, Duncan 1-9, Lorenzen 2-8) Cooper (Campbell 3-60, Calhoun 1-6)
Turnovers: Highlands 1, Cooper 2
Penalties: Highlands 6-61, Cooper 4-25
Time of Possession: Highlands 35:12, Cooper 12:29
First Downs: Cooper 26, Cooper 10
Records: Highlands 2-0, Cooper 0-2
