By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Three first-year starters on the Highlands football team made big plays that the Bluebirds needed to defeat Campbell County, 27-20, in overtime on Friday in Ft. Thomas.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Bluebirds tied the score on a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown by junior safety Bailey Armstrong. On the third play in overtime, junior running back Cooper Schwalbach scored what proved to be the winning TD on a 3-yard run.
The other varsity newcomer who had a major impact on the game’s final outcome was senior quarterback Carl Schoellman. He completed 20 of 26 passes for 174 yards to lead the Highlands’ offense that finished with a scant 204 total.
“I think it was a true testament to our team,” Schoellman said of the victory. “We just do our job and fight until the end and good things are going to happen for us.”
Highlands never had the lead until the end of Friday’s game. The Bluebirds trailed 14-0 in the second quarter and 20-14 in the fourth quarter, but they still managed to post their second straight win. Last week, Highlands came from behind and beat Cooper, 42-22.
“This is two weeks now we’ve started off (behind) like that and I have yet to hear one negative comment on our sideline,” said Highlands coach Brian Weinrich. “And that’s the reason we’ve been able to pull both of these games out, because every guy on the sideline was ready to go out and do whatever they needed to do to get us back in it. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys right now.”
Campbell County took a 20-14 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. That’s when senior running back Alex Dowds scooted around right end, raced down the sideline and dove into the end zone to complete a 36-yard touchdown run.
Highlands came right back with a drive to the Campbell County 7-yard line. But a quarterback sack broke the Bluebirds’ momentum and they attempted a field goal that was blocked.
Campbell County picked up good yardage on runs by Dowds until a holding penalty set the Camels back. On a third-down play, senior quarterback Austin Hoeh lofted a downfield pass that was picked off by Armstrong, who darted down the sideline to score his first touchdown as a varsity player.
“It was a team effort, honestly,” Armstrong said. “If our defense hadn’t come together and made plays that (interception) would never have happened.”
In the overtime period, each team got four downs to score from the 10-yard line. Highlands got the ball first and picked up seven yards on a pass from Schoellman to senior Nick Veneman. On the next play, Schwalbach took it into the end zone from 3 yards out.
“Cooper just has such great vision,” coach Weinrich. “You get him the ball and he made a beautiful cut. He’s just got a nose for the end zone.”
Campbell County ran the ball on the first three plays of its overtime possession and managed to get only one yard. After a pass interference penalty moved the ball to the 5-yard line, the Camels tried another pass play. Hoeh couldn’t find an open receiver and threw a desperation pass as he was being tackled that was incomplete.
That triggered a wild victory celebration by the Highlands players, who didn’t get many chances to do that during last year’s disappointing 3-8 season.
“It was just so exciting and so much fun jumping around with everybody on the team,” Schoellman said. “It’s great to be talking with fans after the game and everyone’s happy. We don’t have to go into the locker room all mad and whatever. We’re going to keep it up, hopefully.”
Campbell County finished with a 360-204 advantage in total yardage, but the Camels had three turnovers during the game. Their team leader was Dowds, who rushed for 166 yards on 23 carries and scored twice. Hoeh completed 16 of 24 passes for 121 yards and one TD.
The leading rusher for Highlands was Schwalbach with 29 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns. Schoellman got most of his 174 passing yards in the second half.
“We struggled to run the ball early, but after we started to pass the ball better the run game started to open up,” Schoellman said. “It worked out in the end. We were able to put some nice drives together, which really helped us and helped our defense, too.”
CAMPBELL CO. 7 7 6 0 0 — 20
HIGHLANDS 0 7 7 6 7 — 27
CC — Hoeh 2 run (Oehrle kick)
CC — Dowds 3 run (Oehrle kick)
H — Schoellman 3 run (Bowman kick)
H — Schwalbach 1 run (Bowman kick)
CC — Dowds 36 run (kick failed)
H — Armstrong 55 interception return (kick blocked)
H — Schwalbach 3 run (Bowman kick)
RECORDS: Highlands 2-0, Campbell County 1-1