Tied at halftime, Highland’s turnovers end run to the Dome

HUDSON - Highland was right where it needed to be at intermission of Friday's Iowa High School Athletic Association class A football quarterfinal playoff game. But a 14-14 halftime score turned into a Hudson Pirate blowout behind Christian Seres and three Huskies turnovers in the second half.

'I just thought they came out and flexed their muscle after halftime and we didn't respond to that,” Highland co-head coach Joe Donovan said. 'Then when they got up 28-14, that was the killer for us.”

Hudson, which has been ranked No. 1 all season and has an 11-0 record, won the game 41-14 and advances to play West Hancock of Britt (9-2) at 10 a.m. Friday. The winner will play the winner of Edgewood-Colesburg (10-1) and AHST of Avoca (11-0) for the class championship.

The final Highland play of the first half was a turnover and foreshadowed what was to come.

The game started out in fine fashion for the Huskies as they forced a three-and-out for a punt.

Highland ran Brady Hahn for an 8-yard gain, then completed a pass to Hahn. With third-and-1, Trey Lasek followed his blocks over the left side of the line, bursting through for a 71-yard touchdown. With 9 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first quarter, the Huskies had a 7-0 lead.

'We knew they wanted to run outside because I would too if I had that kid (Lasek) playing for me,” Hudson coach Justin Brekke said.

The Pirates picked up one first down on their next possession before having to punt.

Highland took over at its own 36. Two Hahn runs and a complete pass to Cole Adamson left the Huskies with a fourth down and an inch to go. Lasek picked up two yards on a quarterback sneak and picked up another first down on a third-and-8 pass completion to Hahn. Facing another fourth down, this time with 3 yards to go, Highland was stopped short.

Hudson got 34 yards from Christian Seres on two runs, then completed a pass for another 11 yards. Starting at Highland's 20, three Seres runs resulted in a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter and a tie game.

Highland went three-and-out.

Starting at the Highland 46, Seres ran five straight times. The fifth run started on the 18 and ended in the end zone for a 14-7 Pirates lead with 8:18 to go until halftime.

The Huskies got a 20-yard return from Brody Burton on the kickoff. Starting on their own 30, Highland picked up a first down on their 47 with two Lasek runs. A 20-yard completion to Mason McFarland on second-and-7 put the Huskies at the Pirates' 30. On third-and 4, Lasek's 24-yard scamper into the end zone on a sweep left tied the game at 14 with 5:15 before intermission.

'Those guys have excellent fundamentals and they play downhill,” Brekke said of the Huskies.

The Huskies defense stepped up and forced a punt that was blocked by Cael Yeggy.

Starting at the Pirates 35 with 2:52 before the half, Highland picked up a first down on a Lasek scramble on third-and-7. The next play, the ball was snapped over Lasek's head but he picked it up and managed just a 6-yard loss that could have easily been 20. A pass interference got the ball to the 12 and a Lasek run got it to the 5-yard line for a first-and-goal with 20 seconds left. A Lasek run got to the 3 and with 17 seconds a pass was intercepted.

'We had to throw because I didn't think we could get two running plays off,” Donovan said. 'We have been through so much adversity this year that I didn't feel like our kids were down at halftime. Knowing we got the ball first in the second half, I thought we would come out and do the same thing we did in the first half. I was asking myself all halftime what we could have done different, but I don't think we could have got two plays off, not with 17 seconds. Maybe I call a different pass play, but we had to throw it.”

That interception may have determined second-half momentum.

'To get that momentum play to go into the half was absolutely very huge for us,” Brekke said.

Highland punted on its first possession of the second half, fumbled on its second, lost 18 yards and punted on its third, went three-and-out on its fourth and threw interceptions to end its next two possessions.

'I am not so sure that they did anything different after halftime,” Donovan said, 'but they probably got a good chewing out.”

The Huskies totaled just 25 yards in the second half.

'We just told the kids they had to do their jobs,” Brekke said of his halftime talk.

'The first turnover in the second half they scored on, but we were still OK,” Donovan said. 'We started moving the ball again, but then we kind of lost it. When they punched the second one in to go up 28-14, that's when I thought we kind of stepped back. They really established themselves after that. It just kind of snowballed and forced us to do things we did not want to do.”

Seres totaled 253 yards in the game on 35 carries, 140 on 20 attempts in the second half.

'I think our line really picked it up in the second half,” Seres said. '(Assistant) Coach (Zane) Sittig's speech at halftime really fired us up.”

Seres scored twice more in the second half while Jacob Murray and Ethan Fulcher also found the end zone for the Pirates.

Highland's 8-3 season ends with the first playoff win in program history. The Pirates advance to the UNI-Dome for the second consecutive season.

'We thought we were going to have the edges on them, but we couldn't get there,” Brekke said. 'It wasn't our game plan, but we ended up getting our yards in the interior.”

'You have to give their center and left guard some credit,” Donovan said. 'Their running back was probably the best we have seen. He was hard to bring down.”