Going into the first week of playoffs, Highland had to prepare for their upcoming opponent, the Wasatch Wasps, whom they have never played before. The only way they could prepare was to watch film from five years ago, which didn’t seem to faze them as they still defeated the Wasps, 61-24.

At the start of the game, both teams were pretty evenly matched with Wasatch scoring their first touchdown rather easily with a little under eight minutes left in the first quarter by passing at will. However, Highland answered quickly scoring their first touchdown three minutes later all by rushing attempts. After driving down the field again, Wasatch was held to only a field goal, giving them a 10-7 lead going into the second quarter.

However, the second quarter proved to be huge for the Rams. Early in the second quarter, Highland quarterback Cole Peterson ran for a one yard touchdown, making the score 14-10. After stepping up their defense and forcing Wasatch to punt for the first time, with 4:21 left in the first half, Highland senior Trayton Keyes ran for 19 yards for a touchdown, increasing Highland’s lead to 21-10. After a run for four yards, Peterson scored yet another Highland touchdown with around three minutes left. The point-after kick by senior Fernando Treceno was not good, but the score was extended to 27-10. Keyes and Peterson helped Highland out again with less than a minute to go in the quarter when Peterson threw a perfect 76-yard pass to Keyes, making the score 34-10, but not for long as Wasatch was not giving up. Wasatch drove quickly down the field and scored a touchdown right before halftime, with five seconds left, putting the Wasps on the board with a score of 34-17. With only 5 seconds left on the clock, Wasatch kicked off and Highland sophomore Ousmane Doumbia returned it for 98 yards, scoring his first touchdown of the game making the score 40-17 going into halftime.

In the beginning of the third quarter, after a 31 yard run, Doumbia scored his second touchdown of the evening. Highland’s lead increased even more to 47-17.

“Having my teammates be there for me helped me out, allowing me to score those two touchdowns,” Doumbia said. “There was also good blocking.”

Wasatch tried to stay in the game by scoring their third and final touchdown with around eight minutes left in the quarter, after a pass for 16 yards. However, Highland’s offense continued to dominate by finishing off the third quarter, with sophomore Colton White running for four yards for yet another touchdown, putting the score at 54-24.

In the fourth quarter, Peterson threw a 19-yard pass to junior Jackson Hawes, scoring the final touchdown of the game. After dominating most of the game, the Rams came out with the victory and the final score of the game was 61-24.

There were things the Rams did well, as shown by the score at the end, but also things they need to work on. The offense had a total of 504 yards, with 333 rushing yards and 171 receiving yards, and did a good job of communicating and making adjustments when needed.

“The guys up front did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage,” Highland head coach Brody Benson said.

Defensively, the Rams need to tighten up as they were playing too loose and off the ball in the beginning of the game. However, junior Siope Tenifa did a good job of adding some physicality at the corner spot.

As the Rams go into the second week of playoffs this upcoming week, offensively they will need to work on recognizing what the defense is giving them and not to panic, but to settle down. Also, both defensively and offensively, they will need to work on fighting till the end and not giving up. Highland will be playing the Corner Canyon Chargers next Friday, November 3rd, in the second round of playoffs.