Highland opened up their 2017 football season Friday night with a preseason game against the Mountain Crest Mustangs. It was a close game right until the very last minute, and in the end, the Rams fell to the Mustangs with a score of 22-21.

The Rams started the game off strong with Cole Peterson connecting to Marlon Jones for a touchdown early on in the first quarter. Despite that opening drive, the Rams were unable to score anymore points in the first and second quarters. The Mustangs took that opportunity and tied the game 7-7 to end the first half.

As the third quarter was underway, the Rams scored a touchdown with only three minutes left to go. The Mustangs quickly responded by scoring a touchdown of their own with 32 seconds left, making the game tied at 14-14 at the end of the third quarter. Four minutes into the fourth quarter, Peterson connected with Jones again for a touchdown, putting Highland back on top and making that Jones’ third touchdown of the evening. With only about a minute left in the fourth quarter, Mountain Crest was down 21-14 and they weren’t giving up quite yet. They put up a fight, and scored a touchdown, tying the game at 21-21. They were then faced with the decision to go for a field goal and possibly go into overtime or try for a 2-point conversion and take the lead. They chose the latter, which worked in their favor and the Mustangs were up 22-21. Highland was unable to get into field goal position after that, and Mountain Crest came out with the victory after a very close fight between both teams.

“We got cocky because we were up,” Jones said. “To prepare for next week, we need to continue to work on our offense.”

Highland will have a chance to work on their offense and improve in areas they were lacking in this next week as they prepare for their upcoming game against Layton on the 25th.