G. Michael Graham Photo. Highlands senior Zach Harris (center) pounces on the ball after a John Hardin onside kick attempt with about 43 seconds left in Saturday's game while teammates like Luke Brockett (88) and John Hardin's DaQuan DeVille (33) converge. Highlands held on for a 33-26 non-district victory to move to 4-0 on the year.
By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
RADCLIFF –
Like many coaches, Highlands Bluebirds football Head Coach Dale Mueller may not
be crazy about his record.
But one can
only admire the body of work done since the 1973 alum came back to his alma
mater in 1994. Mueller recorded his 300th win in 29 seasons as a head coach in
Highlands’ 33-26 win over the John Hardin Bulldogs on Saturday.
Mueller’s
record is 300-65 overall and 241-34 at Highlands with 11 state championships,
including the last six in a row. Mueller guided Cincinnati Withrow to a 48-12
mark and Cincinnati Sycamore to an 11-19 mark before coming back to Fort Thomas.
“We wanted to win the game, but numbers aren’t that
big of a thing to me,” Mueller said. “What really means a lot to me is being a
high school football coach for so long. I’m just so blessed that this is what I
can do for a living. That’s what I’ll look back on (when retired).”
The
Bluebirds are 846-225-26 overall good for second in the country so about 35
percent of the wins in school history have come since Mueller became head
coach. That includes a 91-3 mark since the start of 2007.
The
milestone win puts him there with the elite coaches in Kentucky. Mueller’s
record at Highlands ranks 21st in all-time wins in Kentucky. The Kentucky High
School Athletic Association only recognizes wins in the state of Kentucky
toward its coaching wins list.
Of those 20
coaches ahead of him, only five are still actively coaching in Kentucky.
Longtime Newport Central Catholic Head Coach Bon Schneider (second with an
overall record of 345-183-2 in 44 seasons) still assists current head coach Dan
Wagner and 32-year Danville Head Coach Sam Harp (fifth at 326-106) took a job
east of Nashville in Lebanon to be closer to his daughter and family who live
in Hendersonville just north of Nashville.
The leader
for the most wins in Kentucky is 39-year veteran Belfry Head Coach Philip
Haywood. Haywood’s record is 365-124 at the 3A school located in Pike County of
eastern Kentucky.
Mueller can
pass two coaches this year. Longtime Murray Head Coach Preston “Ty” Holland finished
249-159-28 in 43 seasons and Hilliard Howard finished 244-69-1 in 25 seasons at
Pikeville and Letcher County Central.
Improvements needed on Defense:
The
Bluebirds know things need to improve on defense with Covington Catholic and
Cincinnati Elder on the horizon. Highlands has allowed an average of 361.8
yards a contest on 252 plays for an average of 5.7 a play. Teams have run for
617 yards and passed for 830.
“The big plays just killed us,” said Patrick Schoepf, Highlands junior linebacker. “We just want to keep them short and get
three-and-outs. Other than that, I thought we did pretty well. They didn’t pull
(offensive linemen) as much as University Christian. They were more of a get
downfield team.”
On the
other side, the Bluebird offense averages 443 yards per game on 203 plays for
an average of 8.7 yards a play. Highlands has passed for 1,316 yards and run
for 456.
Record against schools in Hardin County:
Saturday’s
game marked the first time in school history Highlands played a regular-season
game against a team located in Hardin County just south of Louisville.
Highlands
has won both meetings against John Hardin. The other one came 35-7 in the 2009
Class 5A state championship game.
The only
other two times Highlands faced a team from Hardin County came when the
Bluebirds beat the Elizabethtown Panthers twice for two of their state-record
22 state championships. The first came in the 1981 Class 3A title game, 40-24
in Louisville. The other came in the 1968 2A title game, 32-7 in Lexington when
Mueller was in the eighth grade.
Highlands has
never played North Hardin or Central Hardin. Central Hardin is in Class 6A and
North Hardin is in Class 5A, District 3 with John Hardin.
More Saturdays on the Road:
Highlands
plays the second of three straight road Saturday games at Paducah Tilghman on
Saturday. Game time is 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
“Honestly, the bus rides are a lot of fun. It helps us
focus too,” said Beau Hoge, Highlands
junior wide receiver/quarterback. “We go
over things on the bus. I think it’s an advantage because we have time together
compared to the other team. We make sure things are down 100 percent.”
The Blue
Tornado enter the game on a three-game losing streak at 1-3 overall. Tilghman
opened the year edging newly-formed McCracken County, 24-23 comprised of
players from the old Heath, Lone Oak and Reidland High Schools.
But since
then, Tilghman has lost to Evansville (Ind.) F.J. Reitz (28-16), 1A power
Mayfield (28-21) and Graves County (30-27) in overtime.
Highlands
is 4-1 all-time against Tilghman. That includes the two Class 3A state
championships in Louisville when Tom Duffy was head coach. The Bluebirds won
the 1992 game 15-6 and the 1989 contest 27-3.
This comes
a week before the annual showdown at Covington Catholic in Sept. 28. That game
starts at 1 p.m. in Park Hills.
District 7-4A update:
All three Highlands
district opponents played Friday. Covington Catholic also traveled west and won
18-0 over Henderson County. The Colonels are 3-1 with the only loss coming 45-7
to defending Ohio Division I champion Cincinnati Moeller. Moeller is the high
school alma mater of Colonel Head Coach Dave Wirth.
Covington
Holmes also improved to 3-1 with a 27-14 home win over Class 2A Walton-Verona.
Holmes and first-year Head Coach Ben Nevels have only lost to undefeated Class
5A Scott, 40-14 on Aug. 30.
Harrison
County fell to 2-2 with a 41-19 home loss to Mason County. The Thoroghbreds
have still doubled last year’s win total.
Valdosta update:
Highlands’
overall record since starting the program in 1915 ranks second in the country
only behind Valdosta of south Georgia. The Wildcats entered the year at
876-209-34.
So far, the
Bluebirds have gained just one game on the Wildcats because they started their
season one week earlier. Valdosta moved to 3-0 on the year with a 40-6 win over
Crisp County (Georgia) on Friday.
The
Wildcats started their program in 1913. They have one non-region game left
before venturing into play in the rugged Class 6A (largest in Georgia), Region
1.
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