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11-24-2011, 06:41 AM
Football coaches like to tell their players to enjoy wins for a day or, in the case of high school teams in the playoffs, overnight.
Highlands coach Dale Mueller took his own advice after Friday's 49-14 Class 4A regional championship victory against Covington Catholic, at least for a couple of hours.
Then Mueller started working on how to get the Bluebirds to another state final.
Highlands, 13-0 and ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press state poll, travels to No. 3 Lexington Catholic (11-2) Friday night for a state semifinal matchup. The winner advances to the state championship Dec. 3 at Western Kentucky University against No. 5 Franklin-Simpson or unranked Collins.
The win over CovCath was the second of the season against the Colonels for Highlands. The Bluebirds won in the regular season, 42-37, so Mueller wanted to soak up what he felt was one of his team's best all-around efforts.
"I went home on Friday night and a lot of times I'll study film of the next opponent that night, but this time I didn't," said Mueller. "From the end of the game at about 10 o'clock to midnight, for about a solid two hours, I said 'That was fun.' And that was plenty."
One area Mueller was particularly pleased with was the play of his offensive line and tight end. CovCath's defense took away the passing game, so Highlands switched game plans and ran the ball for 352 yards. The Bluebirds play junior Mitch Dee at center and senior Ian McGurn at tight end to go along with a rotation of seniors Aaron Robinson, Jason Waldenmeyer and junior Jason Thome at the two tackle spots, and seniors Austin Trapp, Drew Napier and sophomore Tyler Schweitzer at the two guard spots.
"They played phenomenally well and they're a group that just continues to improve and allowed us to control the ball up front," said Mueller.
Lexington Catholic will present many of the same obstacles for Highlands that CovCath did. The Knights' two losses have been to John Hardin and Bowling Green, teams that will play in a Class 5A state semifinal Friday night. They won their first regional title since 2007 last Friday by beating Boyle County for a second time this season.
Junior quarterback Kyle Bowlin, who has verbally committed to Louisville, has thrown for 2,865 yards and 26 touchdowns against just nine interceptions this season. Senior wide receiver Adam Bush has 63 catches for 1,061 yards and 12 touchdowns, while the Knights have five players who gained between 133 and 500 yards on the ground.
"We were young at the running back position early in the year and had some injuries in the offensive line, so we were piecemeal-ing things together, but once those young kids got some experience and we got our offensive line together our running game did improve," said Lexington Catholic coach Bill Letton Sr.
A balanced offense would be Lexington Catholic's best defense against Highlands. The Bluebirds have scored 765 points this season, the most in the state, according to Kentucky High School Athletic Association stats. They are 37 points from eclipsing the 1998 team's state record of 801 points in a season.
Senior quarterback Patrick Towles (Kentucky commit) has thrown for 3,505 yards and 40 touchdowns.
The programs have met four times previously; Highlands leads the series 3-1. They've split a pair of playoff matchups, while Highlands won regular season meetings in 2007 and 2008.
http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/201...ext|Sports
Highlands coach Dale Mueller took his own advice after Friday's 49-14 Class 4A regional championship victory against Covington Catholic, at least for a couple of hours.
Then Mueller started working on how to get the Bluebirds to another state final.
Highlands, 13-0 and ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press state poll, travels to No. 3 Lexington Catholic (11-2) Friday night for a state semifinal matchup. The winner advances to the state championship Dec. 3 at Western Kentucky University against No. 5 Franklin-Simpson or unranked Collins.
The win over CovCath was the second of the season against the Colonels for Highlands. The Bluebirds won in the regular season, 42-37, so Mueller wanted to soak up what he felt was one of his team's best all-around efforts.
"I went home on Friday night and a lot of times I'll study film of the next opponent that night, but this time I didn't," said Mueller. "From the end of the game at about 10 o'clock to midnight, for about a solid two hours, I said 'That was fun.' And that was plenty."
One area Mueller was particularly pleased with was the play of his offensive line and tight end. CovCath's defense took away the passing game, so Highlands switched game plans and ran the ball for 352 yards. The Bluebirds play junior Mitch Dee at center and senior Ian McGurn at tight end to go along with a rotation of seniors Aaron Robinson, Jason Waldenmeyer and junior Jason Thome at the two tackle spots, and seniors Austin Trapp, Drew Napier and sophomore Tyler Schweitzer at the two guard spots.
"They played phenomenally well and they're a group that just continues to improve and allowed us to control the ball up front," said Mueller.
Lexington Catholic will present many of the same obstacles for Highlands that CovCath did. The Knights' two losses have been to John Hardin and Bowling Green, teams that will play in a Class 5A state semifinal Friday night. They won their first regional title since 2007 last Friday by beating Boyle County for a second time this season.
Junior quarterback Kyle Bowlin, who has verbally committed to Louisville, has thrown for 2,865 yards and 26 touchdowns against just nine interceptions this season. Senior wide receiver Adam Bush has 63 catches for 1,061 yards and 12 touchdowns, while the Knights have five players who gained between 133 and 500 yards on the ground.
"We were young at the running back position early in the year and had some injuries in the offensive line, so we were piecemeal-ing things together, but once those young kids got some experience and we got our offensive line together our running game did improve," said Lexington Catholic coach Bill Letton Sr.
A balanced offense would be Lexington Catholic's best defense against Highlands. The Bluebirds have scored 765 points this season, the most in the state, according to Kentucky High School Athletic Association stats. They are 37 points from eclipsing the 1998 team's state record of 801 points in a season.
Senior quarterback Patrick Towles (Kentucky commit) has thrown for 3,505 yards and 40 touchdowns.
The programs have met four times previously; Highlands leads the series 3-1. They've split a pair of playoff matchups, while Highlands won regular season meetings in 2007 and 2008.
http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/201...ext|Sports
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11-24-2011, 06:56 AM
11-24-2011, 09:28 AM
sstack Wrote:Usually studies films of next opponent after Friday nights game, but did not do that this week. Was he just very excited about a big win,or just not too worried about the next opponent?
Article seems to point to the former, praising the O Line play. To follow up on the article, I was driving by Highlands on Sat a.m. Around 9:00 a.m. And saw Dale going into the school.... I'm sure working on the game plan for Lexington Catholic.
11-24-2011, 10:58 AM
sstack Wrote:Usually studies films of next opponent after Friday nights game, but did not do that this week. Was he just very excited about a big win,or just not too worried about the next opponent?
I wouldn't put any thought into it at all. Besides giving his family some valuable time, I'm confident that Dale did his work at home and came in the next day just as prepared had he gone into school and sat down with his coaches.
11-25-2011, 12:14 AM
^ Maybe he has a tunnel and no one really knows how much he is in the school anyhow....
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