By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
Another Blue
and White victory gave those who say it is not a rivalry anymore another piece
of evidence.
But the
Highlands Bluebirds football team left their home field for the final time in
2013 knowing it was one of the toughest victories this season. In a similar
battle to last year’s Class 4A, Region 4 title game, the Bluebirds knocked off
the Covington Catholic Colonels (10-3) by a similar 28-13 score. Highlands
improved to 12-1 overall and 99-4 since the start of 2007.
Only two
teams have come closer to beating the Bluebirds during their 33-game playoff
winning streak. Those two victories came in 2008 in the first round of the
Class 5A playoffs in a 28-22 home win over the Lexington Bryan Station Defenders
when Tony Guidugli threw a late touchdown pass to Austin Collinsworth and in
the 2010 Class 5A Regional title game when Patrick Towles and company edged
J.J. Jude and the Johnson Central Golden Eagles, 21-14 in Paintsville.
Highlands
has outscored the opposition by 1130 points during the winning streak. That’s
an average of just more than 34 points per game.
But unlike
the first two playoff games, the Highlands starters played the entire game. The
Bluebirds did not hit the running clock for just the first time in the playoffs.
Highlands
played a lot more conservative than normal consistently feeding the ball to
running backs Zach Harris and Nicholas Kendall on the windy day at David Cecil
Memorial Field. Harris finished with 33 carries for 194 yards and two
touchdowns.
The
Bluebirds still managed offensive balance rushing for 205 yards and passing for
191. They did not throw a touchdown pass for the first time this season.
Highlands
quarterback Drew Houliston completed 17-of-26 passes for 191 yards. But he also
ran for two more scores.
“Our coaches did a heck of a job preparing us for
everything they were going to do,”
said Tyler Schweitzer, Highlands senior offensive lineman. “They stunted a lot. But we knew exactly how to block it.”
Houliston’s
first touchdown came on the first Highlands possession. On 4th-and-goal from
the CovCath 4, Houliston rolled to the right and made it in to give Highlands a
7-0 lead.
“That was big,”
said Dale Mueller, Highlands Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator. “That was the first time all year we called
runs for Drew. He’s scrambled for first downs. Drew did a good job to get it in
(the end zone).”
The
Bluebirds threw a lot of short passes over the middle and to the sidelines
because Covington Catholic played back defensively to make sure Highlands did
have success over throwing the ball deep. Ryan Greene and Brandon Hergott had
four catches each for 56 and 45 yards respectively with Beau Hoge recording
three for 47 yards.
“They were saying they weren’t going to get beat deep,” Greene said. “That
really opened up the running game. Drew did a really good job checking down on
the shorter routes. We don’t want to end the season with any regrets so we’re
going to go all-out the rest of the season.”
The
Colonels managed just 217 yards of total offense. They rotated sophomore Ben
Dressman and junior Adam Wagner in at quarterback. Wagner and running back Luke
Bir did not play in the Sept. 28 meeting that Highlands won 42-6.
Dressman
gave Highlands some problems on CovCath’s first drive. He responded to
Houliston’s first score with a 51-yard touchdown on a quarterback keeper
following a fake to Bir on a read-option with 7:11 left in the quarter. But the
Colonels missed the extra-point attempt and trailed 7-6 entering the second
quarter.
“(CovCath) executed in the beginning,” said Brian Weinrich, Highlands Assistant Head
Coach/Defensive Coordinator. “We just
settled down and got into a feel for the game. We were caught up in the moment
(early). We played pretty well defensively.”
But
Highlands contained the read-option after that. Dressman finished with 12
carries for 103 yards and two touchdowns. His second one came with 3:57 left in
the fourth.
CovCath
rushed for 172 yards and passed for 45. Wagner completed 7-of-10 passes for all
the Colonel passing yards.
After
missing on a few opportunities in CovCath territory, Highlands put together two
drives to finish the first half and extend the lead. Houliston rolled to his
left and scored from nine yards out with 4:55 left and Harris scored from two
yards out in the full-house backfield with 51 seconds to go.
“They punted out of the end zone and we took it 80
yards in about a minute (on the first Harris score),” Mueller said. “That
was a huge drive for us. Once we got up 21-6 on them, we really felt confident
in our defense and we were really looking to take some clock so we got more
conservative. We felt that was the way to do it.”
The
Bluebirds managed to add some distance with another long drive in the second
half. Harris finished it with 11:32 left in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard run.
The game
had plenty of hard hits. But the officials did a good job separating players as
only one personal foul on either team occurred. It came against Highlands in
the second quarter.
“Our teammates have our backs,” said Thomas Wrobleski, Highlands senior linebacker. “If they see us getting into it, they’re
going to come up and break us apart. We all care about each other. We don’t
want to get kicked out of the game.”
Highlands
will have another round of playoff rewind in the state semifinals this Friday.
The only difference is the Bluebirds have to travel to Lexington Catholic
(10-3). The Knights knocked off the Mercer County Titans, 49-14. The Bluebirds
have beaten LexCath in the previous two 4A semifinal games en route to state
championships.