Salem Hills Hands The Rams Their First Loss
September 17, 2019
Two undefeated powerhouse teams went at it under an earlier Friday night lights football game with the Rams looking to win a huge game over the Salem Hills Skyhawks. The Rams went in knowing they had to be aggressive from the start and keep the pace high. In the end, Salem Hills was able to top the Rams in a hard hitting game 28-14.
The Rams kicked off to start the game and had a huge defensive stop forcing the Skyhawks to punt on their first possession. But after a muffed punt the Skyhawks converted in the endzone with a touchdown pass to lead 7-0. After multiple defensive stops on both sides the first quarter ended with Salem Hills leading 7-0.
Early in the second quarter the Rams were able to put some points on the board after a nice touchdown pass caught by Senior Drilon Collaku to tie up the game 7-7. But after that the Skyhawks had two straight rushing touchdowns to take a commanding lead of 21-7 going into halftime.
After halftime the Rams looked to spark some much needed energy to pull off the comeback. But the Skyhawks had different ideas after stopping the Rams and scoring on a 76-yard touchdown pass to increase the lead to 28-7. The rest of the third quarter was very defensive ending the third with the Rams trailing 28-7.
The Rams fought hard in the fourth quarter and had a 28-yard touchdown run by Senior Paul Clark to close up the gap. The final whistle blew as Salem Hills takes a huge road win against the Rams winning 28-14.
“We just need to focus on being assignment sound and having a next man up mentality”, Highland Junior Christian Hilborn said.
Something that plagued the Rams production was a few injuries between key players which held them back against the Skyhawks.
“Definitely our run game…, our offense is definitely a run first offense and pass never kind of team,” Hilborn said concerning the strength of the Rams so far in the season.
The Rams look to bounce back next week with a huge region game against the (4-1) Olympus Titans who will have home field advantage against the Rams.
