CovCath sophomore running back Casey McGinness, No. 13, breaks through the Highlands defense for a gain. (Photo by Steve Dyer)
The NKyTribune will be providing focused coverage of NKY high school football throughout the season, thanks to support from St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine. See all of our pre-season features on each of NKY’s 21 high school football teams and follow our coverage, including roundups each week at Northern Kentucky High School Football.
By Evan Merrill
NKyTribune contributor
In 2006, Covington Catholic’s football team defeated Highlands twice and went on to win a Class 3A state title. The Colonels lost the next 15 games they played against the Bluebirds, but the streak ended Friday night in Ft. Thomas.
CovCath came out firing on all cylinders — blazing to a 35-0 lead midway through the second quarter — and defeated Highlands, 63-26, to end their rival’s 10 years of dominance in the series.
CovCath junior quarterback AJ Mayer, No. 7, rushed for 168 yards and scored four touchdowns in the win over Highlands. (Photo by Steve Dyer)
“Ten years is a long time,” said CovCath coach Eddie Eviston. “Some of those years you’re playing twice a season so that’s a lot of games. It was good for our school, good for our program, good for our community.”
Despite a 10-year, 15-game gap between victories against Highlands, CovCath’s team approached Friday’s game as they do for any opponent.
“We were treating every game (the same),” Eviston said. “Our kids have done a nice job of just taking each day and trying to get better. They’re really focused in on that. Obviously, we knew who we were playing, but we treat it just as the next opponent. When we do that and focus in on what we’re doing, good things happen.”
The Colonels were led offensively by junior quarterback AJ Mayer, who rushed for 168 yards and four touchdowns and threw for 93 yards and one TD. Sophomore running back Casey McGinness tacked on 266 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
“I think we were confident the whole way,” Mayer said. “The mental part is a lot of it. But coming in we had momentum. They were a little down, so we came in and we knew we just needed to come out and play physical.”
Highlands rallied to make it 35-20 with a few drives led by senior quarterback Brady Gosney, who threw for 304 yards and two touchdowns. After the Bluebirds got an 80-yard touchdown run from senior running back Grant Murray, they were outscored 28-6 after that point on.
“We knew it was going to be a battle at first,” Mayer said. “They came out and started to get some momentum. We came back out and brought the momentum. We knew it was going to be big, so we had a game plan coming in. We knew we were going to want to run the ball and get them where they’re weakest.”
The win puts CovCath in a tie for first place in the Class 5A district. The Colonels will play co-leader Dixie Heights next Saturday to decide the winner.
“It’s really important to win this game (Friday),” Mayer said. “Obviously, we have bigger goals. We wanted to beat Highlands, but we’re setting our eyes on better things. It was important getting a lot of momentum coming through the next couple days and also the playoffs.”
With the win, the Colonels improve to 6-2 and look to set themselves in good position for a potential playoff run. Highlands drops to 1-7, the worst record since a 3-8 finish in 1948.
HIGHLANDS 0 14 6 6 — 26
COVCATH 21 14 14 14 — 63
CC – Mayer 1 run (Kloska kick)
CC – Mayer 1 run (Kloska kick)
CC – Mayer 33 run (Kloska kick)
CC – Best 2 run (Kloska kick)
CC – McGinness 44 run (Kloska kick)
H – Wogan 12 pass from Gosney (Bowman kick)
H – Pulsfort 10 run (Bowman kick)
H – Murray 80 run (kick missed)
CC – Dyer 4 run (Kloska kick)
CC – McGinness 14 run (Kloska kick)
H – Posey 5 pass from Gosney (conversion failed)
CC – Mayer 47 run (Kloska kick)
CC – Butler 11 pass from Mayer (Kloska kick)
RECORDS: CovCath 6-2, Highlands 1-7.
Highlands last TD was scored by Braden Posey not Huber. Everytime Posey scores you guys say Huber. Get it right.
Checking with our reporter as we speak. Thanks for calling this to our attention. If we have made an error, we will happily correct it — and be sure the right team player is credited. Again, our thanks for the heads up.
Scoring summaries from both teams did indicate that the last touchdown was scored by Braden Posey. The story has been corrected and I do apologize for the error. Thank you again for the heads up.