Poll: Winner
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Beechwood
Highlands
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09-03-2010, 10:29 AM
cougarpride08 Wrote:What has happened to Beechwood. 4 or 5 years ago I would say this was a great game, but from what I can see they have fallen hard fast.
It's not what happened to Beechwood. They have stayed consistently above average and will still compete for a state title each year. Beechwood has by no means fallen.
It's Highlands who has sky-rocketed beyond their own normal superiority.
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09-03-2010, 10:30 AM
http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...2/9030376/
Before the Highlands football team steamrolls its way toward a new Northern Kentucky record for consecutive wins, it must defeat the current record holder, a program that just so happens to have a reputation for pulling off upsets in games like this.
Beechwood will travel to Highlands tonight with hopes of ending the Bluebirds' winning streak at 30 games. Considering the Bluebirds are No. 1 in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches' poll and the Tigers are unranked, most feel the streak will continue.
It's a sentiment that Beechwood coach Noel Rash addressed with his players through a message that ran across the bottom of each of their Highland scouting reports.
"No one believes you can win," it read. "Do you?"
Scores of Beechwood players have seemingly believed their way to victories when the odds - like Friday's figure to be - were long.
"They have to believe in it," said Rash. "More than anything, it's a mental toughness issue. It's making a mistake on one play, but overcoming it. So many programs get to a point when bad things happen and they get worse. You've just got to play. Everyone says it; everyone teaches it. But our players believe it.
"We expect to win. We don't try to win; we expect to win. We approach this game like Highlands is the team that has to play us. We don't approach it like we can't beat them. We're going over there to beat them."
A Beechwood victory would be a huge upset. But it wouldn't be the first such victory in the program's storied history.
There was the time in 1984 when the Tigers upset CAPE 33-14 and held all-state running back Carlos Snow to 70 yards.
There was the time in 1997 - in the midst of the Tigers' area record 38-game winning streak - that Beechwood upset Wyoming and all-state running back Richard Hall 21-7.
Also during the winning streak, the Tigers beat Harrodsburg in back-to-back state championship games when Harrodsburg, loaded with talent, had four future Division I players on the defensive line alone.
The Tigers beat big-school rival Covington Catholic seven times during the 1990s, including victories in 1994 and 1997 over the eventual state champion Colonels.
Other big-school victims of the overachieving Tigers in recent years include Boyle County, Warren Central, Ryle and Dixie Heights. Highlands is one of the few local teams missing from Beechwood's resume. The Bluebirds are 4-0 against the Tigers.
"Highlands is the premier program, so it's a measuring stick for you," said Rash. "And I took this from (former Beechwood coach) Mike (Yeagle): it's a way to find your faults. We want to find them now so we can start working on them. We don't want to find them in Week 6 or 7. Let's find out where we have deficiencies and let's fix them now."
That said, the players insist they're not thinking long-term.
"We just focus on the team next on the schedule - whether it's a small school or if it's Highlands," said Beechwood senior quarterback Michael Colosimo. "... We're Beechwood; we expect to go out there and beat whoever we're playing."
The Tigers are coming off a season-opening loss to Dixie Heights. Their roster has just 38 players, compared to the Bluebirds' 81. And they're playing on Highlands' home field. If Beechwood has any kind of advantage, it's this: The Tigers' current class of seniors won the Northern Kentucky freshmen championship, 39-21, over Highlands.
Rash said the result of that game will have little effect on what happens tonight, but it can't hurt.
"It's two years later. And here's the other thing: that was just freshmen playing freshmen," he said. "When you mix in other classes, it's no longer apples to apples. But what I do want that junior class to bring to us is that idea of 'nobody can beat us.'"
Before the Highlands football team steamrolls its way toward a new Northern Kentucky record for consecutive wins, it must defeat the current record holder, a program that just so happens to have a reputation for pulling off upsets in games like this.
Beechwood will travel to Highlands tonight with hopes of ending the Bluebirds' winning streak at 30 games. Considering the Bluebirds are No. 1 in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches' poll and the Tigers are unranked, most feel the streak will continue.
It's a sentiment that Beechwood coach Noel Rash addressed with his players through a message that ran across the bottom of each of their Highland scouting reports.
"No one believes you can win," it read. "Do you?"
Scores of Beechwood players have seemingly believed their way to victories when the odds - like Friday's figure to be - were long.
"They have to believe in it," said Rash. "More than anything, it's a mental toughness issue. It's making a mistake on one play, but overcoming it. So many programs get to a point when bad things happen and they get worse. You've just got to play. Everyone says it; everyone teaches it. But our players believe it.
"We expect to win. We don't try to win; we expect to win. We approach this game like Highlands is the team that has to play us. We don't approach it like we can't beat them. We're going over there to beat them."
A Beechwood victory would be a huge upset. But it wouldn't be the first such victory in the program's storied history.
There was the time in 1984 when the Tigers upset CAPE 33-14 and held all-state running back Carlos Snow to 70 yards.
There was the time in 1997 - in the midst of the Tigers' area record 38-game winning streak - that Beechwood upset Wyoming and all-state running back Richard Hall 21-7.
Also during the winning streak, the Tigers beat Harrodsburg in back-to-back state championship games when Harrodsburg, loaded with talent, had four future Division I players on the defensive line alone.
The Tigers beat big-school rival Covington Catholic seven times during the 1990s, including victories in 1994 and 1997 over the eventual state champion Colonels.
Other big-school victims of the overachieving Tigers in recent years include Boyle County, Warren Central, Ryle and Dixie Heights. Highlands is one of the few local teams missing from Beechwood's resume. The Bluebirds are 4-0 against the Tigers.
"Highlands is the premier program, so it's a measuring stick for you," said Rash. "And I took this from (former Beechwood coach) Mike (Yeagle): it's a way to find your faults. We want to find them now so we can start working on them. We don't want to find them in Week 6 or 7. Let's find out where we have deficiencies and let's fix them now."
That said, the players insist they're not thinking long-term.
"We just focus on the team next on the schedule - whether it's a small school or if it's Highlands," said Beechwood senior quarterback Michael Colosimo. "... We're Beechwood; we expect to go out there and beat whoever we're playing."
The Tigers are coming off a season-opening loss to Dixie Heights. Their roster has just 38 players, compared to the Bluebirds' 81. And they're playing on Highlands' home field. If Beechwood has any kind of advantage, it's this: The Tigers' current class of seniors won the Northern Kentucky freshmen championship, 39-21, over Highlands.
Rash said the result of that game will have little effect on what happens tonight, but it can't hurt.
"It's two years later. And here's the other thing: that was just freshmen playing freshmen," he said. "When you mix in other classes, it's no longer apples to apples. But what I do want that junior class to bring to us is that idea of 'nobody can beat us.'"
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