By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

University of Cincinnati football coach Rick Minter says he isn't worried that his Division I-A college team could be outdrawn Saturday by a high school game.

"I don't think it would be out of the realm (of possibility) for them to have a larger crowd," Minter said Monday. "You're looking at two of the most prominent, drawing high schools. Elder has been known to bring 15 to 18,000. That's life."

A year ago, Elder and Colerain played a regional semifinal game as part of a playoff doubleheader at Paul Brown Stadium and attracted a state-record 47,743 fans.

On the same day, UC played Conference USA rival East Carolina at Nippert Stadium and drew only 19,504.

A similar situation might arise Saturday when Colerain and Elder meet in the regional final at 8 p.m., a few hours after the completion of UC's 1 p.m. conference game against Houston (4-5, 2-4 C-USA).

Both games will be played at Nippert Stadium, which means comparisons will be made about the size of the respective crowds.

The high school game could be tough for UC to beat. Last year, a week after the doubleheader at Paul Brown, Elder and St.Xavier drew a sellout crowd of 35,000 for their regional final game at Nippert.

Rather than fret about those comparisons, though, Minter embraces the high school game and tries to use it to his advantage.

"I like it," Minter said. "Area high school teams look forward to playing at Nippert. We don't mind that at all. Personally, I thought the ones last week should have been played here. ...

"If it means having to move our game up to 12 to accommodate them, I'd be for that. I want to make Houston get up as early as possible and try to play a game."

UC (4-5, 3-2) has made strides in its attempts to persuade the city's best high school players to stay home and play for the Bearcats.

Doug Monaghan, a starting strong safety for UC, is a Colerain graduate. Bill Poland, Elder's star receiver, has made an oral commitment to attend UC next season.

Minter and the staff believe that exposing local high school talent to Nippert Stadium and UC's campus can only help when those players choose a college.

Ideally, Minter said, Elder and Colerain fans will attend the UC-Houston game first, then stay around campus and return for the high school game.

"If it means coming to our game, camping out and hanging around, that's fine, too," Minter said.

Bearcats defensive end Andre Frazier was named Conference USA defensive player of the week for his performance against Louisville. The sophomore from Hughes made a career-high 12 tackles and forced a fumble that Antwan Peek returned 15 yards for a touchdown.