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By Brett Bibbins
NKyTribune contributor
Every year since 2011, the Highlands Bluebirds and the Covington Catholic Colonels have met in the playoffs with the same result. The Bluebirds have won and advanced to the next round while ending the Colonels’ season.
This season is no different. In the Class 5A regional final on Friday, Highlands defeated CovCath, 44-22, at David Cecil Memorial Stadium.
It was the Bluebirds’ highest scoring output versus CovCath since 2011 and their 15th consecutive win in the long-standing rivalry dating back to 2006. That’s a streak that the Highlands players take pride in year after year.
“We don’t want to be that team that loses to CovCath because it’s been something like 3,000 days the last time I checked, and we’re not looking to start that over,” said senior running back Nick Kendall.
Each team had a rough first half of the season and came on strong in the second half. Highlands started out losing five of its first six games and has now won seven in a row. The Colonels started the year 1-5 before winning four of their last seven games.
“We really started off bad, and this playoff run now just brings joy to everyone involved with this team,” Kendall said. “And we’re looking to keep it going.”
Kendall was one of several big performers for the Bluebirds in Friday’s game, finishing with 222 yards on 25 carries and three touchdowns. While the running game started slow for Highlands, Kendall stepped up when his team needed him the most. He scored all three of his touchdowns in the final quarter to put away the Colonels.
“We just knew that when we needed it that we could get him the ball and he was going to put the team on his shoulders,” said Highlands coach Brian Weinrich.
While not being able to find holes in the Covington Catholic defense with their ground game in the first half, the Bluebirds had success moving the ball through the air with quarterback Austin Hergott and wide receiver Eric Miller.
Miller finished with seven catches for 124 yards and two scores, including 81 yards receiving and a touchdown in the first quarter alone.
When the two teams met earlier this season, Highlands edged CovCath, 14-10, in a defensive battle. The story was different Friday as the Highlands offense shined bright on the big stage.
“The offense has matured as the season’s gone on,” said coach Weinrich. “There were some things that we’re doing now that we weren’t comfortable doing back then. We did what we had to do to win that game, and this game we felt we couldn’t lay back, we had to put the pedal down.”
Highlands (8-5) will host Pulaski County (12-1) in the Class 5A state semifinals next week at David Cecil Memorial Stadium.
COVINGTON CATHOLIC 0 7 0 15 — 22
HIGHLANDS 10 3 10 21 — 44
H — Dougherty 38 field goal
H — Miller 14 pass from Hergott (Dougherty kick)
H — Dougherty 28 field goal
CC — Pitzer 10 pass from Mayer (Kloska kick)
H — Miller 26 pass from Hergott (Dougherty kick)
H — Dougherty 43 field goal
H — Kendall 28 run (Dougherty kick)
CC — Best 6 run (McGinness run)
CC — Summe 68 pass from Mayer (Kloska kick)
H — Kendall 31 run (Dougherty kick)
H — Kendall 20 run (Dougherty kick)
RECORDS: Highlands 8-5, CovCath 5-8.
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