By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter
The visit to Edgewood for Dixie Heights’ Homecoming Friday could not have been more worrisome for Highlands’ high-flying Bluebirds.
After all, their fellow Class 5A Colonels had played Covington Catholic down to the wire, a lot closer than Highlands did, and they could not have come closer to Beechwood than that one-point overtime loss.
And now the Bluebirds found themselves trailing, 7-6, in the first quarter of a district-seeding game as the large and loud home crowd could not get enough of a potential upset that could turn around a tough-break season.
But Highlands wasn’t having any of it. The Birds answered with their 1-2 senior ball-carrying duo of tailback Cam Geisler and quarterback Brody Benke. All the 5-foot-7, 195-pound Geisler did was pick up 196 yards on 19 carries – in the first half.
All the 6-4, 223-pound Benke did was run for five touchdowns, and throw for another, on 166 yards rushing on 17 carries while throwing for 125 on eight-of-14 passing with a TD as Highlands sprinted out to a 30-14 halftime lead the Birds would not relinquish.
All a 6-1 Highlands team did was rack up 381 yards of offense in a 19-first down first half with a total of 546 yards of offense (421 rushing, 125 passing) and 26 first downs for the game on their way to 51-14 edge midway through the final quarter that initiated a running clock. From the time Dixie Heights took that 7-6 lead, Highlands went on a 45-7 tear.
The final score ended up 51-21 as Dixie Heights managed three big plays – two Armani Gregg TD passes of 44 and 52 yards to Nolan Goetz and an 84-yard kickoff return by Tyson Beach. But it wasn’t enough. It would not be a replay of the CovCath or Beechwood games.
“At the end of the day, we played great,” said Highlands Coach Bob Sphire of his team’s fourth game scoring more than 50 points. “As a head coach, I love it,” he said of his fast-scoring offense.
“But as the defensive coordinator, . . . “ Well, it’s not always fun to get into a shootout, Sphire said. Call this one a semi-shootout, at least.
Dixie Heights’ Coach Pat Burke saw the other side of this onslaught. “We didn’t play our game tonight,” he told his players afterward. “We flat got our tails kicked . . . we put the ball on the ground . . . “
But the Dixie defense couldn’t get Geisler on the ground as Highlands brought him back in the second half to get above the 200-yard mark (206) on 21 carries. Or Benke, who finished with those five rushing touchdowns. Geisler scored his TD on an 18-yard burst
“Oh, yeah, he’s stealing ‘em from me,” Geisler said with a big grin about Benke’s TDs, although on this night, Geisler was hoping he could stay in the game longer “to get 300 yards.” He’s hearing now from the likes of Bowling Green and Morehead State. “I’m just getting started,” Geisler said, “everything’s coming to me.”
“It’s a struggle,” Sphire said of the lack of recruiting opportunities for Northern Kentucky players in what he calls “a dry hole up here” compared to when he coached in Georgia. “But I’m still convinced the more successful you are as a team, you’ll get it going (in recruiting).”
Geisler’s quickness combined with power, not to mention his durability to carry the ball again and again, is hard to overlook. He powers into the line of scrimmage and after a pause as he sheds tacklers, he’ll emerge from the scrum and just keep chugging along.
Then there’s Benke, who never looks like he’s going full speed as he shifts smoothly into top gear. “He’s much faster than he looks,” Sphire says, something defenders learn to their dismay. Like on the play where Benke, a top rebounder in basketball, had to sky for a high snap that he barely pulled down at the Dixie 21, then looked around, saw a crease at the line of scrimmage and sprinted, almost untouched into the end zone.
His defense, Sphire said, “has moved on” from last week’s surrendering of 51 points and more than 600 passing yards at Cooper. “Other than (those three big plays), I thought we played pretty well on defense.”
And did so against a team that has talent in Gregg, backs Tyson Beach, who recorded that 84-yard kickoff return, and Goetz, who pulled in those two long TDs from Gregg, who never stopped working. On the night, he carried the ball 14 times for 49 yards and a TD and threw it another 23 times, completing 11 for 171 yards, and the two TDs. Dixie totaled 275 yards of offense (104 rushing, 171 passing) with nine first downs.
For Highlands, junior wide receiver Adam Surrey made a pair of terrific plays on a 38-yard catch against tight coverage and that 21-yard slip screen TD with an impressive cutback behind a block into the end zone on his way to four catches for 93 yards.
SCORING SUMMARY
HIGHLANDS (6-1) 13 17 14 7—51
DIXIE HEIGHTS (2-4) 7 7 0 7—21
HIGHLANDS: Benke 18 run (PAT blocked)
DIXIE HEIGHTS: Goetz 44 pass from Gregg (Kohls PAT)
HIGHLANDS: Benke 1 run (Nickelman PAT)
HIGHLANDS: Benke 12 run (Nickelman PAT)
HIGHLANDS: Nickelman 20 FG
HIGHLANDS: Geisler 18 run (Nickelman PAT)
DIXIE HEIGHTS: Gregg 1 run (Kohls PAT)
HIGHLANDS: Benke 9 run (Nickelman PAT)
HIGHLANDS: Benke 21 run (Nickelman PAT)
HIGHLANDS: Surrey 22 pass from Benke (Nickelman PAT)
DIXIE HEIGHTS: Goetz 52 pass from Gregg (Kohls PAT)