The boys’ varsity team faced off against their rival, Covington Catholic, on Friday, January 16th. The game was led by top point scorers Finn Bouldin (12) with 16 points, Owen Ebert (12) with 11 points, and Vinny Listerman (12) with 11 points. This game was a well-fought battle between the two teams, but unfortunately, the boys lost 88-65.
These types of big games are nerve-racking for the players, and adding the rivalry on top of it only adds to the pressure. It is mentally challenging for the players, and they have to prepare differently for these types of games.
“I was pretty nervous because of the stakes at hand and how big this rivalry is. I usually try to mentally prepare for the yelling and their students being crazy and just the gym being loud for the entire game,” Listerman said.
This rivalry has been going on for many years and always brings in a good crowd who are all full of school spirit. That being said, the big crowd adds to the pressure for the players.
“It is really cool to see all of those fans coming to watch you, but it does add on to the pressure of the game,” Listerman said.
The gym was packed with students and fans from Cov Cath, Highlands, and even other schools. The Highlands ozone brought the energy all the way to the end of the game. The ozone leaders make sure that everyone cheers and helps the younger kids step out of their comfort zone.
“The turnout from the students and parents was great, but some of them need not be scared to cheer,” Max Merz (12) said.
The ozone does chants to keep the energy up, but sometimes the game itself is intense enough to keep the energy going.
“I got the ozone to be energetic by starting chants, and just the game itself, the people can get hype from big plays. The game naturally brings the energy to us, and it gets us hype,” Merz said.
When coming out of these games and learning from them, it is important to keep a positive mindset.
“I felt pretty good coming out of this game, you know, Cov Cath is a very good team, and I felt like we kept up with them, but we still have some things we need to improve on,” Listerman said.
Learning from these games is a good way to find things to improve on to make sure the team is the best they can be for the future.
“I think we are all focusing on improving and progressing and being fully prepared for other big games and especially for the postseason,” Listerman said.
These types of rival games are energetic, fun, and nerve-racking for the parents, students, and especially the players. They bring in school spirit and intensity from everyone. It is always fun to see Fort Thomas come together to cheer on the Highlands teams when they play the schools from Park Hills.
