Sunday, October 03, 1999
Highlands 45, CovCath 7
Bluebirds score 4 TDs in reverse
BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer contributor
PARK HILLS — Senior running back Brenden Zenni ran for 191 yards and two touchdowns, and junior Brian Barre added another 113 and two TDs in a 45-7 Highlands victory over Covington Catholic in a Class AAA district game Saturday.
Highlands (5-1) beat CovCath for the fourth straight time and seventh in the last eight dating back to 1995. The 38-point margin was the second highest against the Colonels in the 1990s, next to last year's 70-26 regular-season blowout in Fort Thomas.
“I grade our players an A, but we can play better,” Highlands coach Dale Mueller said. “Early in the game we could've controlled the line of scrimmage better. The rest of the game we played pretty good.”
For the day, Highlands gained 325 yards on the ground, and junior quarterback Gino Guidugli was 8-of-14 for 164 and two touchdowns. The Bluebird defense held CovCath to 222 yards, junior linebacker Brent Grover had 10 tackles and junior lineman Ben Scott had two of his team's four sacks.
Highlands' counter reverse handoff caught CovCath asleep all day. Barre's TD runs of 20 and 83 yards in the second quarter came on reverses, as did Zenni's fourth-quarter scores of 2 and 88.
“I think they keyed on me, which gave Brian an opportunity,” Zenni said. “We know he's a weapon, but they didn't know that.”
The counter reverse is not a new play, and Mueller didn't include it in the game plan until defensive coordinator Mike Burns suggested it.
From the Bluebirds' third snap it worked. Junior receiver Brett Hamblen took one from Zenni 26 yards to the CovCath 31. CovCath eventually held, and senior Brennan Jones' 27-yard field goal gave Highlands a 3-0 first-quarter lead.
The CovCath (2-4) game plan on the following drive was simple: give the ball to junior Cole Chadwick. It worked — Chadwick carried 12 of the Colonels' 14 plays, including a 3-yard score with 1:01 left in the first in which he carried Grover and senior Adam Johnston on his back.
The rest of the day, it didn't matter who ended up with the ball in Highlands' double reverse. Three plays into the second quarter, Zenni took the ball around right end for 30 yards to the Colonel 20, and Barre did the same thing around left end for his first score the next play.
The final 2:32 of the half finished CovCath.
Zenni's 83-yard TD made it 17-7 with 1:23 left. After Highlands' defense held, Dietz's fake punt pass flopped.
After Guidugli's first pass fell incomplete, Hamblen saw the second was well short. He cut off his route, outjumped Colonels Nick Beck and Blake Sabo for the ball at about the CovCath 30 and cut across the middle of the field for the rest of a 61-yard TD and 24-7 halftime lead on the half's last play.
Said Mueller: “I'll have to see the film to see how he could do it. Brett Hamblen has been doing that kind of thing his whole career.”
Said CovCath coach Lynn Ray said, “Things that plagued us in the past, plagued us again.”
Guidugli also found Johnston with a 15-yard score with 2:21 left in the third quarter.
Highlands ....... 3 21 7 14—45
Cov. Catholic ....... 7 0 0 0— 7
H-Jones 27 field goal
CC-Chadwick 3 run (Goetz kick)
H-Barre 20 run (Jones kick)
H-Barre 83 run (Jones kick)
H-Hamblen 61 pass from Guidugli (Jones kick)
H-Johnston 15 pass from Guidugli (Jones kick)
H-Zenni 2 run (Jones kick)
H-Zenni 88 run (Jones kick)
Records: H 5-1 (1-0 in Class AAA Region 3, District 5), CC 2-4 (0-1).
Sports Stories
