Highlands hires former Ryle, Thomas More standout Suli Kayed as its next boys soccer coach

Highlands High School has hired former Notre Dame Academy head soccer coach Suli Kayed as its newest boys soccer head coach.

"I am very excited for the opportunity to lead this new group of young men, becoming a part of the Fort Thomas community, and excelling on the field together," Kayed said in a statement.

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Kayed has quite the coaching pedigree. After spending two seasons at Boone County, he took over at Notre Dame, winning a state championship in his first year. The Pandas did not lose a game and only conceded four goals during the entire season. In two years in Park Hills, Kayed led Notre Dame to a 45-4-3 record.

Kayed will also be working alongside girls head coach Chris Morris, whom he succeeded at Boone County and faced in the 2021 and 2022 Ninth Region championship games. Kayed has a 4-1 record against Morris, the only loss coming in the 2022 postseason.

The Bluebirds are a perennial contender in the Ninth Region and are coming off a regional quarterfinal loss to eventual state semifinalist Ryle. Highlands last made the state tournament in 2019; they appeared in the state championship game in 2008 and 2018, finishing as runner-up both times.

As a player at Ryle, Kayed led the Raiders in goals in both 2013 and 2014, was the team captain his senior year, and was named to multiple all-district and all-region teams. Kayed appeared in 81 games at Thomas More, scoring 11 goals to go with seven assists. In his senior year, he was named to the all-conference second team.

Kayed succeeds Brandon Ponchak, who took an assistant position with the Jacksonville State University women's team. Ponchak led the Bluebirds to a 14-5-3 record in his lone year at the helm.