[nky]

final

[Spud]

No surprise!!

[cuppett777]

congrats to Highlands

[MtnHSFootballFan]

Congratulations Highlands.

[Stardust]

No surprise!!

Well, for most of the people, but it sure was a surprise for some. I'm confident that there were a few who did not expect that JC would be completely dominated in this fashion!

[pirate_time]

jc just cant be one dimensional an play with these good schools

[2dog]

Birds beat Johnsonville like a rented mule! Johnsonville chokes like Liz Taylor on a chicken bone! Ouch!:biggrin:

[nky]

mmmmmmmmm Johnsonville
or Mama Cass choking on a ham sandwich

[Frozenbird]

Go Birds! Beat CovCath!

[Stardust]

jc just cant be one dimensional an play with these good schools

Especially if that dimension does not work

[GetChili]

Highlands win....nothing shocking.

[BondJamesBond]

Tough way for the seniors of Johnson Central to end up with such a lopsided loss. Congrats to Highlands

[Stardust]

Highlands win....nothing shocking.

The win yes, the margin - WOW!!!

[tradition]

In all fairness, this is a rebuilding year for JC.

The young man that was taken by ambulance at half is in our thoughts.

[whackem'n'stackem']

Tarred and feathered.

[Wise one]

unofficially, JJ Jude had 56 yds on 15 carries in the first half.

Does anyone know his final statistics?

[Stardust]

Tarred and feathered.

And where have you been?????:biggrin:

[Blau Vogel]

I am listening to the WSIP state football show. I got some of the stats.

Highlands 606 total yards
Towles was 22 of 29 for 381 yards
JC had 267 total yards including a 72 yard run by the QB very late in the 4th quarter.
Jude had 98 yards on 21 carries

Birds penalized a whopping 11 times for 120 yards. I only saw one of those penalties that was questionable. Without those free yards, I don't think JC scores either of their first two TD's.

[nky]

http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/201...ext|Sports

Johnson Central was able to put up more of a fight in the first half than most teams Highlands has rolled past this season, but the end result was the same – a Bluebirds wipeout to extend a 17-game winning streak.
Highlands got five rushing touchdowns by senior running back Jake True and beat the Eagles 67-20 Friday night in a Class 4A second-round playoff game at David Cecil Memorial Stadium in Ft. Thomas.
The Bluebirds’ last loss was a 28-26 final Week 10 last season at Ryle, but Highlands then easily won five straight to claim its fourth straight Class 5A state title. It has been more of the same this season with only Covington Catholic and Cincinnati Elder challenging. Highlands beat Elder 34-29 late in the season and got past CovCath 42-37 early in the season.
The Bluebirds will host Covington Catholic next Friday at 7:30 p.m. in a regional final between two cross-town rivals.

“Our offense is really on fire right now,” True said. “We’re looking to keep that up and take it all the way to state. We’re going to blow right by CovCath because their D can’t stop our O.”

The Colonels, who beat Ashland Paul Blazer on the road Friday to advance, were immediately on the Bluebirds’ minds.

“It will be my last game here regardless and you want to go out on top,” Bluebirds senior quarterback Patrick Towles said. “You want to go out and send a message to them that they aren’t anywhere close.”

Johnson Central was somewhat close in the early-going, but the high-powered Highlands offense simply crushed the Eagles. Highlands outgained Johnson Central 583-239 and 433 of those yards came through the air. Towles, a University of Kentucky recruit, completed 25 of 33 passes for 407 yards and a touchdown.

“We spread the ball around. It went really well,” Towles said. “We’re the kind of offense that can go 100 yards and score in five seconds. That’s what’s most dangerous about us is we can score whenever we need to.”

Johnson Central senior running back J.J. Jude is the state’s all-time leading rusher and entered the game with 8,539 yards during his career. But the Bluebirds held Jude to 94 yards on 23 carries. Eagles sophomore quarterback Zach Gound went for 99 yards on 13 carries and three touchdowns.

“Last year we played these guys and we only put up three touchdowns so we definitely wanted to come out and perform,” Towles said. “With their offense, they can really control the ball. They’re dangerous and their best defense is keeping our offense off the field.”

Gound briefly kept the Eagles in the game with a 22-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, but the Bluebirds scored six straight touchdowns to erase any doubt that remained. The only question was whether True would get to five scores. And the senior did after a long fumble return out the Birds on the 1 early in the fourth quarter.

“Me and the other running backs were kind of arguing back and forth who should take it in after (the defense) took it to the 1. Coach (Dale) Mueller let me take it in.”

True finished with 57 yards on 10 carries. Sophomore running back Zach Harris added 46 yards on eight carries and a touchdown and junior running back Colin Seidl ran for two touchdowns.

Sophomore Luke Brockett was 5-for-6 on point-after attempts while filling in for senior kicker Carter New who was not in pads and was wearing a boot on his right foot during the game.

“Just a little ankle sprain,” New said. “I’ll be good to go next week.”

[nky]

Johnson Central 7 6 0 7 --20
Highlands 12 27 7 21 --67

H-Seidl 3 run (kick failed)
H-Harris 3 run (pass failed)
J-Gound 1 run (Davis kick)
H-McCoy 14 pass from Towles (Harris run)
H-True 5 run (run failed)
J- Gound 22 run (kick failed)
H-True 5 run (run failed)
H-True 30 run (Brockett kick)
H-True 3 run (Brockett kick)
H-Seidl 2 run (Brockett kick)
H-True 1 run (Brockett kick)
H-Hergott 12 pass from Houliston (Brockett kick)
J- Gound 72 run (Davis kick)

[Stardust]

Johnson Central senior running back J.J. Jude is the state’s all-time leading rusher and entered the game with 8,539 yards during his career. But the Bluebirds held Jude to 94 yards on 23 carries. Eagles sophomore quarterback Zach Gound went for 99 yards on 13 carries and three touchdowns.

I said Jude would need 250 to make it a game, I would not have come close even it he did get 250.

[Stardust]

Johnson Central 7 6 0 7 --20
Highlands 12 27 7 21 --67

H-Seidl 3 run (kick failed)
H-Harris 3 run (pass failed)
J-Gound 1 run (Davis kick)
H-McCoy 14 pass from Towles (Harris run)
H-True 5 run (run failed)
J- Gound 22 run (kick failed)
H-True 5 run (run failed)
H-True 30 run (Brockett kick)
H-True 3 run (Brockett kick)
H-Seidl 2 run (Brockett kick)
H-True 1 run (Brockett kick)
H-Hergott 12 pass from Houliston (Brockett kick)
J- Gound 72 run (Davis kick)

LOL, wow, I expected that Highlands would score with their passing - EIGHT rushing TDs - WOW! And Highlands was not the team with the running game....

[Blau Vogel]

Not meaning it in any way that anyone is any tougher then anyone... Fact of the matter is this... East Ky teams play smash mouth football... Other parts of the state do not... If you don't play it every week, then who do you think that this would favor? Highlands hasn't had a rough time with JC the past few years because JC can match up with Highlands by any stretch of the imagination... Its simply because of the style of play... Line up and try to play smash mouth with us and you are playing into our strength!

The BIG smash mouth d line was usless...Towles had time for a sandwich and a pop on every play. Highlands d line was in JC's backfield more than their QB. Take away the long run by the QB against the Bird's JV and the Eagles had less than 200 yards.

I think the Bruns brothers might show JC a little smash mouth football tonight!

And they did!

Last year Jude was getting hit 3 yards deep in the backfield. HHS's quickness will make that the same this year. Jude might have negative yards after the 1st quarter.

HHS-63
JCHS-6

Pretty good prognostication!

And I would argue that it is not because this year's Highlands team played a much weaker schedule than last year's team. However, fortunately for the Birds, this Johnson Central team is very young compared to last year's team, so it probably won't matter whether Highlands is as good as last year or not.

Ask you friends that saw last year's team and this year's team...get their opinion.

[Stardust]

^ Nice :Thumbs:

[sstack]

In all fairness, this is a rebuilding year for JC.

The young man that was taken by ambulance at half is in our thoughts.

I heard the young man had a fractured sternum and was in and out of consciousness. Keeping the young man in our prayers.

All so keeping Shehan in our thoughts after he was hurt tonight.

[sstack]

The BIG smash mouth d line was usless...Towles had time for a sandwich and a pop on every play. Highlands d line was in JC's backfield more than their QB. Take away the long run by the QB against the Bird's JV and the Eagles had less than 200 yards.



And they did!



Pretty good prognostication!




Ask you friends that saw last year's team and this year's team...get their opinion.

I told you the Bruns brothers would show them smash mouth football!

[Can you dig it?]

Johnson Central 7 6 0 7 --20
Highlands 12 27 7 21 --67

H-Seidl 3 run (kick failed)
H-Harris 3 run (pass failed)
J-Gound 1 run (Davis kick)
H-McCoy 14 pass from Towles (Harris run)
H-True 5 run (run failed)
J- Gound 22 run (kick failed)
H-True 5 run (run failed)
H-True 30 run (Brockett kick)
H-True 3 run (Brockett kick)
H-Seidl 2 run (Brockett kick)
H-True 1 run (Brockett kick)
H-Hergott 12 pass from Houliston (Brockett kick)
J- Gound 72 run (Davis kick)

Didn't True start the season as #23?

[Frozenbird]

I heard the young man had a fractured sternum and was in and out of consciousness. Keeping the young man in our prayers.

All so keeping Shehan in our thoughts after he was hurt tonight.

Ouch! A sternum is not an easy thing to break. Assuming no complications such as bruised heart or dropped lung, he should be okay but it will be a painful and long recovery.

Yes, he should be in our prayers.

[Redneck]

Like I predicted, Highlands is a freight train rolling full steam ahead. Tough way to go out for the JC Seniors.

[Wideleft01]

Johnson couldn't stop Highlands or get much on offense. Highlands was a bit sloppy all night. Those penalties did look like penalties to me. They were legit. Jude is a nice player. Johnson asks a lot out of the guy. And finally, what was going on over in the visiting section??? Saw the police hustling up the aisle over there early in the game.