The Highland East matchup has always been the most important game of the season for both football teams. The rivalry between these two teams goes way back, so each team had diligently prepared for this matchup. Going into the game, the fans were already on the edge of their seats due to the magnitude of the rivalry.
“That’s always the game I look forward to going into the season,” said Junior James Conde. “If we beat the team down the street (East) then the season is a success.”
The Rams lost by a score of 40-28 on Friday, but it was a really exciting game until the rams let go during the fourth quarter.
The game began with a bang as Highland opened up the scoring with an early touchdown by Nasa Pela. The Rams quarterback had a big drive with a lot of big runs, including the rushing touchdown. The Leopards quickly responded with touchdown of their own as the two teams headed into the second quarter tied up at 7-7.
“We felt good about how we were playing after the first,” said Senior Ben Hawes. “We were running the ball well and controlling the tempo of the game.”
The second quarter had a lot of back and forth as the teams both had a couple key turnovers that led to scores on both sides. Highland was moving the ball well but couldn’t seem to contain the Leopards run game on the other side of the ball.
Going into half, the Leopards made a big field goal giving them a 17-14 lead as they headed into the locker room. Halftime went on pretty long, due to the many festivities that Highland had going on. But the field goal going into half ultimately proved to be a momentum shift for East, as they came out of the half on fire.
The Leopards outscored the rams 16-0 in the third quarter. The rams fell apart during the second half and had a couple bad special teams plays that resulted in two punt return touchdowns, and they didn’t have an answer for the Leopard running game.
“The third quarter was really frustrating for us,” said Conde. “We couldn’t stop their run game, and we just had trouble moving the ball.”
Despite a valiant effort from the Highland offense in the fourth quarter, they were ultimately defeated, 40-28 in the big rivalry matchup. Aside from the tough loss, there were some bright spots for Highland throughout the game. The coaches still feel optimistic about the playoffs.
The rams had a couple of big turnovers and learned about some weaknesses that they had on special teams.
“It was a tough one,” said Hawes. “It was still a fun game though and it was fun to play on our field with my senior boys for the last time.”
This was the last matchup for the Rams in the regular season finishing with a 3-6 record. Highland’s three wins did end up being enough for the Rams to make the playoffs this year.
They play this coming Friday, and they are preparing hard to go up against Springville at their field.
“I feel like if we play to our potential, this team really has the tools to make a run in the playoffs,” said Hawes.
