One trademark of Covington Catholic’s recent dominance over Highlands has been the CovCath defense shutting down the Highlands offense.
That trend continued Friday night as the ancient archrivals played a slugfest that came down to clutch defensive plays.
None were bigger than senior Trevor Wilson's, a CovCath senior who blocked Davis Burleigh’s 30-yard field goal in the final minute of play, giving the Colonels an 8-7 win over the Bluebirds at Highlands’ Cecil Dees Memorial Stadium.
CovCath is 3-0 and 2-1 in Class 5A, District 5. Highlands drops to 4-5 and 1-2. CovCath can win the top seed in the district playoffs by defeating Conner next week, but Conner (2-1) and Cooper (2-1) can forge a three-way tie for the top.
CovCath beat Highlands for the eighth consecutive meeting, all in head coach Eddie Eviston’s tenure.
Four of the previous six wins had come by the Colonels shutting out the Bluebirds, and in this one, Highlands’ only touchdown came after the defense recovered a CovCath fumble in the end zone for a score.
“No matter what year it is, no matter what records the two teams have, when these guys get together, it’s going to be a battle,” Eviston said. “That’s the greatest thing about this game: You never know what you’re going to get, especially when you come up here to Fort Thomas. Tonight, it was low-scoring. Both teams battled, and someone had to win this one.”
CovCath got its only touchdown with 2:50 left in the game on a short TD run by sophomore Owen Leen. It was set up by a 33-yard run to the 4-yard line by senior Preston Agee, his second such run of the drive. The first one was called back by a penalty.
After Leen’s TD made it 7-6, Highlands, the Bluebirds committed an encroachment penalty on the extra point. After a timeout, CovCath decided to go for two and the lead.
Senior Brayden Collins ran off right tackle. Highlands junior Adam Dunn grabbed him at the goal line, but Collins was able to get the ball across for the lead.
“We got half the distance and you got to think about it,” Eviston said. “I trust my offense and I trust my guys up front. That’s what we deiced to do, and it worked out for us”
Highlands came right back behind junior quarterback Charlie Noon. Two passes to Carson Class, one on fourth-and-15, set up Highlands inside the 20.
On third-and-5 from the 15, Noon ran to the sideline but was tackled three yards short of the line to gain. Highlands elected to go for a 30-yard field goal. Wilson sprinted in from a linebacker spot and leaped to easily block the attempt.
The ball ricocheted to midfield, and a Colonel returned it to the Highlands 20, where the Colonels were able to run out the clock.
The defensive highlights won the night in a game with very few successful pass plays and few gains overall of over 10 yards.
Highlands’ best opportunity in the first half came after an interception at midfield. Highlands took over and drove to the CovCath 36, but the Colonels stopped the Bluebirds on fourth and four.
CovCath drove twice inside the Highlands 30 in the final minutes of the first half.
After Highlands booted a punt of only eight yards, CovCath took over at the Bluebirds 43. But Highlands stopped Preston Agee on a fourth-and-1 from its 27.
In the final minute of the half, CovCath drove from its 45 to the Highlands 25. But the Bluebirds stopped the Colonels on the next two plays.
Sophomore QB Evan Pitzer threw an incomplete pass to the end zone, and on the next play, threw a screen to Agee, but the Bluebirds stopped him well short of the endzone.
Highlands took the second-half kickoff and held the ball for nine minutes. Two runs of 5 and 6 yards by Noon gave the Bluebirds a first-and-goal from the CovCath 2. But the Colonels stuffed the Bluebirds on four straight running plays.
CovCath was able to shut down Noon and Highlands’ offense, which has been explosive at times this year. Noon didn’t play last week.
“The last couple of weeks they’ve been playing multiple guys, so we weren’t exactly sure who they would play tonight,” Eviston said. “Noon had the call and he’s got a lot of weapons. He can run and he can also throw. Our defensive staff did a great job of getting our guys ready.”
After starting at the 1, CovCath moved out to its 20 from there, then a bad snap on a shotgun play resulted in Highlands’ only touchdown with 1:12 to go in the third quarter.
The ball went over Pitzer’s head. He got to the ball first and picked it up, but was hit immediately. The ball caromed to the goal line, where Highlands’ Henry King recovered and was credited with the touchdown. Pitzer was shaken up and missed the rest of the game.
Now trailing 7-0, CovCath got a big kick return to near midfield, and a 20-yard run by Reid Hummel to the Highlands 29 put the Colonels in business. But the Bluebirds held on fourth down.
Highlands wasn’t able to do anything on its next two possessions, and CovCath got the ball at the 35 with 4:40 to play for its winning drive.
We were moving the ball pretty well,” Eviston said. “We could get two plays but we couldn’t get the third play. It was hard to move the chains and keep the drive going. We needed a couple of big plays and we got the big one to get down inside the 10 and we were able to punch it in.”
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