Highland Homes defeats Isabella 61-0

Published 8:00 pm Thursday, October 10, 2024

By Gary Thomas

Highland Home School’s (HHS) wing-T offense erupted during the second half of the matchup Friday with the Isabella Mustangs, pulling away for a 61-0 shutout victory, the Flyboys seventh win of the football season. After a sluggish first half, the Squadron entered their locker room leading only 14-0 and found the motivation to pull out all the stops on their return to the field.

The Squadron’s scoring game in the first quarter saw an eight-play, 47-yard drive as senior quarterback TJ Washington went in from four yards out to put the  home team up 7-0. Then, on the last play of the half, Washington hit senior teammate JJ Faulk on a 35-yard strike to put them up 14-0.

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But the Flyboys left 10 points on the field as Washington’s 13-yard scoring pass was called back and the 24-yard field goal attempt failed.

In the second half, the Squadron got the scoring machine started when Washington rambled 35 yards for the score. Leading 21-0, the Flyboys’ Austin Crittenden got his name in the scoring column when he scored from 17 yards out to put HHS up 27-0.

Then, the Squadron special teams got into the scoring column when defensive end CJ May blocked a Mustang point that was recovered by Long Taylor in the end zone. Norman’s PAT kick was true as the Flyboys were up 34-0 over the visitors from Chilton County.

The HHS offense got their sixth touchdown of the night when Washington hit Crittenden on a 60-yard scoring toss and the score stood at 41-0 in the Flyboys’ favor. With 11:58 to go in the game, Washington gave the Squadron a 48-0 lead, scoring from two yards out. Tyler Chaney and Norman closed out the Squadron game as HHS won 61-0 to remain undefeated at 6-0 on the year.

Couch Justin Braggs’ offense has a win-balanced running attack with Washington, Crittenden and Chaney as they rolled up nearly 500 yards of offense against Isabella. The win gave the defense their fourth shutout of the year, holding opponents to only six points a game.

But this week they will host their longtime nemesis, the Luverne Tigers. As always, the contest will be a bigtime game as both teams are battling for the top spot in the 2A Region 3 play.

The Tigers have won 66 of the 90 matchups against the Squadron, but have a two-game losing streak against them, including last year’s 60-0 thumping at the hands of the Flyboys.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Clay Jordan Stadium.