Bluegrassrivals

Final.
Highlands advances.

Same score as last year.

2013 STATE CHAMPS!!!!! 7 in a row!!!!!!

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Looks like FT Highlands vs Lex Cath for 3rd straight year in a row. Lex Cath leading Mercer Co. 49-14 w/ 5 minutes left in the game.

delete

Where was the high powered passing machine tonight?:lame: Cov Cath shut em' down.

Big shout out to COV CATH for playing through all their injuries this year and finishing second best team in 4A. Much improved from early in the year. Most conservative game on offense Highlands has run in years, got a three score lead and was content to run clock. Must have run ten plays on offense without a QB in the game. Got to love Dale's coaching. He knew this was biggest game to win state and was not worried about score, just the win. Big night for Harris!

Congrats to the Birds and my 2 td margin prediction!

Congrats to Highlands. CovCath with another good season ended by Bluebirds.

Spirit100 Wrote:Congrats to the Birds and my 2 td margin prediction!

My 3 TD prediction looked really good until 4th quarter when Dale was totally content to just run the clock. How many plays did they go without a QB on the field?

sstack Wrote:My 3 TD prediction looked really good until 4th quarter when Dale was totally content to just run the clock. How many plays did they go without a QB on the field?

Why not, you only have to win by one point and they were ahead by 15.

HHS has to play CC again next year and you don't need to give them any further incentive to be ready for the next game, isn't the rivalry enough reason for CC, so don't run up the score.

The starters had been much longer than any game since Elder. No need to get them hurt again.

Actually, I thought that Zach Harris could have come out on the last drive also, but then he just ran it down the throats of CC. Now a certain other team would have tried to put Harris out for the rest of the season, but CC is above that.

Congrats to HHS and to CC, get into the weight room and get ready for 2014.

Written by
Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor


Filed Under
Sports
Kentucky high school

Purchase Image Zoom Highlands' Ryan Greene catches a pass in front of Covington Catholic's Ryan Greene. / Tony Tribble for the Enquirer More
By Drew Houliston’s high standards, he was a little off with his passing at the start of Friday’s Class 4A regional final against Covington Catholic.

Houliston, Highlands’ senior quarterback and senior running back Zach Harris made up for it with their feet. At David Cecil Memorial Stadium, Houliston scored the Bluebirds’ first two touchdowns on runs of four and 10 yards and Harris added their last two and Highlands (12-1) went on to eliminate the Colonels with a 28-13 win.
Harris gained 194 yards on 30 carries and scored on runs of two and three yards out of the Wildcat formation as the Bluebirds, winners of six straight championships and the No. 1 team in the Associated Press Class 4A statewide poll and the Enquirer Kentucky coaches poll, earned a berth in the state semifinals at Lexington Catholic, who beat Mercer County 49-14 Friday.
“I don’t think I’ve carried the ball that much since junior league,” said the bearded Harris, who was out the last two weeks with an problem about which coach Dale Mueller couldn’t be more specific. “There’s no greater feeling than beating CovCath on this field in my last game here.”
Mueller turned the ball over to his running game after Highlands grabbed the lead.
“We had confidence in our defense and we wanted to take time off the clock,” said Mueller, whose team didn’t throw a touchdown pass for the first time this season.
Sophomore quarterback Ben Dressman had a 52-yard touchdown run on the first possession of the game and a one-yard scoring run late in the fourth quarter for Covington Catholic (10-3), the Enquirer’s No. 3 team and the AP’s fourth-ranked team.
Houliston, who went into the game with a 69.6 completion percentage before completing just five of his first 11 and 11 of his first 19 passes, capped Highlands’ first possession with his first touchdown run on fourth-and-goal from the four-yard line.
“That’s the first running play we’ve called for him this year,” Mueller said.
After Dressman’s touchdown, the two teams exchanged punts until Highlands scored on its last two possessions of the half. Houliston added his second scoring run before starting the Bluebirds’ next possession with three consecutive completions for 52 yards, helping set up Harris’s touchdown with 51 seconds left in the first half.
Harris scored his second touchdown on the second play of the fourth quarter.
Play of the game: Ben Dressman’s 52-yard touchdown run on the Colonels’ first possession. Dressman scored on a run up the middle after executing a play-action fake so deftly that Boomer Esiason would’ve been taking notes.
Star of the game: Harris, who carried the ball on 12 of Highlands’ last 13 plays. Houliston was sacked on the other play.
View from the sideline: Colonels coach David Wirth season: “I’m not happy with losing, but I’m proud of how much we overcame to get this far. We lost to Moeller and twice to Highlands.”
Extra points: Highlands extended its winning streak in the series against Covington Catholic to 12 … The Bluebirds have won 44 consecutive games against Kentucky teams … Senior linebacker Blake Nelms had three sacks for Covington Catholic.

http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20131122/SPT0302/311220173/&nclick_check=1

Wise one Wrote:Why not, you only have to win by one point and they were ahead by 15.

HHS has to play CC again next year and you don't need to give them any further incentive to be ready for the next game, isn't the rivalry enough reason for CC, so don't run up the score.

The starters had been much longer than any game since Elder. No need to get them hurt again.

Actually, I thought that Zach Harris could have come out on the last drive also, but then he just ran it down the throats of CC. Now a certain other team would have tried to put Harris out for the rest of the season, but CC is above that.
Congrats to HHS and to CC, get into the weight room and get ready for 2014.

I totally agree with what he did, but it did blow my prediction, lol.

whackem'n'stackem Wrote:Where was the high powered passing machine tonight?:lame: Cov Cath shut em' down.

Houliston went 17-26 for 191 yards on a cold windy night with a few drops (and a couple of just off target throws). That being said they didn't throw the ball at all in the 4th qtr when they were running out the clock with lead. I wonder how many teams in Ky threw for more than 191 yards last night under those weather conditions? Also had 205 rushing yards led by Zach Harris.

Good article and even better extensive video highlights of game in Fort Thomas Matters article linked and copied below.


http://www.fortthomasmatters.com/2013/11...egion.html

, November 23, 2013




Highlands picks up another region championship







By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter


Editor’s Note: More details to come.


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 by a similar 28-13 score.


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.


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.


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.


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.



Posted by G. Michael Graham at 11:04 AM