Football season is in full swing, and the Highland Rams clenched their first win of the season at their third game against the Granger Lancers on Friday night. 

The Rams will be on the road for every game due to COVID-19 restrictions in the Salt Lake City School District, so they hope that their winning streak will start now. After two losses against Bountiful and Pine View, the Rams held the lead for the entire game and finished with a final score of 31-14.

“Our mindset going into the game was to fight,” junior Ashton Olevao said. “We’ve worked hard for it, and we were really determined to win the game.”

Highland fought through every single play. Their offense was strong from the very beginning, and an 11-yard run into the end zone by senior Ben Boren put them on the scoreboard almost immediately.

Junior Maea Giles followed Boren’s lead and returned a punt for another touchdown. A third touchdown from Peizge Mailei and an extra field goal by kicker Julian Watrin put the Rams into halftime with a score of 24-0.

The Lancers came into the second half of the game strong and scored not only once, but twice. As the teams headed into the final minutes of the game with a tighter score of 24-14, the Rams were still not comfortable. 

“We made a few adjustments (when Granger started moving faster), but the real struggle was wrapping it up,” Olevao said.

With less than two minutes remaining, Olevao returned his second interception 83 yards for the final touchdown of the night. Watrin made his fourth extra point, giving the Rams a total of 31 points.

Granger’s four fumbles and 12 penalties helped the Rams keep their lead throughout the entire game and led them to victory.

As Highland prepares for the rest of the season and focuses on fighting as one, they hope that this is their first of many wins. Catch the Rams next Friday at 7pm, on the road once again to Hillcrest.