Huskies’ knowledge of game leads to victory

Highland High School's football co-head coaches, Scott Morel and Joe Donovan, have stressed how important knowledge of the game is to becoming better at playing it.

The emphasis on being more than football players, of being students of the game, paid off for the Huskies Friday at Durant in a 14-13 Class A playoff victory when Brady Hahn blocked a point-after-touchdown kick with 3 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game to preserve the lead.

Durant's coach screamed at the referee that Hahn had illegally gone through the center to block the kick.

'I think as the year has gone on, the kids have become students of the game and that has made them better players,” Donovan said.

'Brady made a great play,” Morel said. 'He didn't touch the center, the center tried to tackle him. Because he is a student of the game, he knew the rule.”

When Highland got the ball on the kickoff after that blocked PAT, the students of the game knew they didn't need to score, they just needed first downs. Trey Lasek picked up one on second-and-3, then got the game winner on third-and-4 with a bootleg that went for 43 yards. He knew he didn't need to score so he just let himself be tackled at the 14-yard line.

'They were diving their defensive ends down hard, so we called the bootleg and Trey did a great job,” Morel said.

Lasek finished with 123 yards on 22 carries and was 7 of 12 for 75 yards passing.

Lasek threw an interception on Highland's first possession of the game.

'It's never good to have a mistake, but I think our nerves settled down after that,” Morel said.

Durant went 62 yards in nine plays after the turnover and scored on a 13-yard pass from Bryce Lafrenz to Drew DeLong on the first play of the second quarter. The kick for the PAT was good, but Hahn learned something on that play that made the difference later.

'I didn't go as hard as I could,” he said. 'And I almost got to it, so I knew if I went hard I could get it.”

Lafrentz finished with 16 completions in 26 attempts for 148 yards and ran 14 times for 28 yards. He was fifth in Class A in passing yardage.

The Highland defense was stingy as it allowed just 86 rushing yards on 32 attempts.

'We stayed with what we were doing on defense,” Morel said. 'We were not going to do anything we were not used to.”

The teams exchanged punts then Highland took over at midfield and picked up two first downs before two holding penalties stalled the drive and a Lasek dive on fourth-and-1 was stopped short.

Durant took over at its own 20 and went backward on a motion penalty, a Cael Yeggy sack, an incompletion and faced a third-and-21 from the 9 when Bradley Rodgers sacked Lafrentz in the end zone for a safety and two points with 3:18 before halftime.

'That was all effort on BR's part,” Morel said. 'Jack Baker did a good job of containing their quarterback in the pocket, Zack Lasek did a good job collapsing the pocket and BR did a great job.”

The Huskies turned the ball over on downs after the punt, but forced a Durant punt just seconds before halftime.

There was just enough time to run a play or two. Highland had the perfect call reserved for such a situation.

'We had a trick play in our pocket and we called it at the right time,” Morel said.

The play looked like a run as Lasek handed off to Hahn, who rifled the pass in the area of Mason McFarland, who made a great adjustment to snag the ball, then eluded two defenders on his way to the end zone. With 2 seconds before half, the Huskies led 8-7 after the conversion pass fell incomplete.

'Mason is a really good receiver,” Morel said. 'He made a great play.”

McFarland finished with two receptions for 55 yards. Hahn caught four passes for 47 yards. Jordan Sosa caught one pass for 4 yards and Cory Stewart caught one for 17.

'That was really nice to have the lead at half,” Morel said. 'That gave us some energy and was great for the kids, but they had to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Highland went 3-and-out with the second-half kickoff. Durant picked up a first down on three running plays then fumbled.

Jose Cardenas came up with the ball for Highland.

'He is our defensive tackle and he has been playing really well,” Morel said.

Starting at the Durant 46, Lasek ran once for three yards before a motion penalty made it second-and-13. Two passes to Hahn made it first-and-10 on the 21 and Lasek swept left for a TD.

'We were able to get that score because of some things we did at halftime when we made some adjustments,” Morel said.

Durant picked up four first downs on its next possession, but a sack by Zack Lasek led to a fourth-down incompletion.

Highland went 3-and-out. Durant picked up a first down but that possession ended when Sosa intercepted a pass.

'That was a big-time play,” Morel said. 'His assignment was to cover Mason Compton (who caught four passes for 35 yards) and he did a great job.”

Compton had 50 receptions for 996 yards which led Class A. The second leading receiver on Durant had 17 for 195.

Highland picked up a first down as the fourth quarter started, but eventually had to punt with 10:14 left in the game.

Durant ran three plays, then came out in punt formation, but ran a fake, which was a pass to a freshman receiver.

The Wildcats ended up going 70 yards on 17 plays to score on a Lafrentz sneak with 3:30 left.

'It was frustrating to not be able to stop them,” Morel said of the four first downs the Wildcats made on the drive. 'But what was very frustrating was that fake punt. That was really the key for them.”

Highland started on its own 24 after the kickoff. After picking up the first first down, Durant called a timeout before second-and-5, then again before third-and-4, but it was all moot after Lasek's gallop to the Durant 14.

'It was a great night and a great win for the kids,” Morel said.

Friday's quarterfinal playoff game at top-ranked Hudson starts at 7 p.m.