[Stardust]

Make that 29 victories in a row for the Highlands football team and 42 consecutive wins for the Bluebirds against Kentucky schools.

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Highlands extended its winning streaks by opening the season Friday night with a 45-14 dismantling of DuPont Manual at David Cecil Memorial Stadium. The three-time defending state champion Bluebirds have won 45 of their last 46 games.

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"These players have such a passion for football that they don’t like to lose," Highlands coach Dale Mueller said. "I really liked the way our guys executed play after play after play."

Highlands was a little slow out of the gate, recording one first down on its first series as quarterback Patrick Towles misfired on four deep passes.

But those long passing attempts paid dividends later in the quarter as the Bluebirds were able to find some running lanes against Rams defenders who were now out of the box to guard against the pass.

Tailback Corey Compton took advantage. He carried five times on the next drive and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run for the game’s first score with 4:15 to play in the opening quarter.

Compton scored twice more before the first half was complete, on another 1-yard plunge with 6:24 to go in the half and then again on a 5-yard run which helped give the Bluebirds a 28-0 halftime lead.

"We like to throw long and we did eventually connect with several long passes," Mueller said. "Patrick can really fire it down the field. And when he does, the defense is so stretched that it opens up other things."

Compton finished with 64 yards on 15 carries. Jordan Streeter ran 11 times for 64 yards as the Bluebirds carved a 286-63 rushing advantage.

"We took care of every gap," Compton said. "Every time, we had them blocked."

Towles finished 11-of-20 passing for 147 yards with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Gold to help give Highlands a 21-0 lead with 57 seconds left before halftime.

The Bluebirds’ Austin Abner intercepted a pass on the Rams' next play from scrimmage. On the ensuing play for Highlands, Towles hit Austin Sheehan with a 52-yard completion down to the Dupont Manual 5-yard line, setting the stage for Compton’s third touchdown.

Sheehan led Highlands with three catches for 65 yards. Gold had three catches for 45.

Highlands outgained the Rams, 433-186. DuPont Manual averaged 2.1 yards per carry and finished 9-of-19 passing for 123 yards while averaging 3.8 yards per play.

"We only had one scrimmage tape of them, so we worked on us a lot during practice," Towles said. "I thought the O-line did phenomenal. They opened some huge holes."

The Highlands defense had five first-half sacks and finished the game with six.

Defensive back Drake Bruns scored on a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown with 10:21 to play in the third quarter.

"He just threw it up there and I was in a great position," said Bruns, whose brother, lineman Devin Bruns, had a sack and a another tackle for loss.

Ty Seidl added a 43-yard scoring scamper for Highlands in the fourth quarter and Adam Weinel booted a 30-yard field goal.