Two plays are difference in Highland’s playoff win

DURANT - The plays that score the least points were the most important plays in an Iowa High School Athletic Association Class A football game Friday between Highland and Durant.

The point-after-touchdown kick can score one point for a team, if it is successful. Highland's Brady Hahn made sure Durant's PAT with 3 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game was not successful.

A safety can score two points for a team. Highland's Bradley Rodgers was the one to put that deuce up on the board.

Those two plays were the difference in Highland's 14-13 triumph.

Playoff football is a completely different set of circumstances than a regular-season game. The Huskies had lost to the Wildcats, 14-0, at Highland's Homecoming, which was played in a monsoon on a muddy field.

Friday's game brought more pressure, more urgency, more stress and more meaning since the loser's season would be over and the winner would advance toward a date at the UNI-Dome, where the semifinals and finals are played. Friday's game also brought better weather and better footing, which allowed Highland to take advantage of their speed and advance to play Hudson Friday at 7 p.m. in Hudson in the quarterfinals.

It seemed things would go the same way as the earlier game for much of the first half. Durant had taken a 7-0 lead on a Bryce Lafrentz 13-yard touchdown pass to Drew Delong on the first play of the second quarter.

It was up to Highland's defense to break the goose egg on the scoreboard for the Huskies.

The Huskies had turned the ball over on downs at the Durant 20.

A motion penalty set the Wildcats back five yards. Cael Yeggy set them back another six yards with a sack. An incomplete pass followed. On third-and-21 from the 9, Rodgers stormed into the backfield and upended Lafrentz in the end zone for a safety. then Number 72 had stormed into the Wildcats back field on third down play and sacked Bryson to France for safety and two points.

'To get through the line, I just had to push and move,” Rodgers said. 'I just had to move around them by moving my hands and going hard. I started moving my hands a lot more than I had been. Instead of just driving them back, I drove him back, then ripped through. I used speed and leverage. I just had to get under (the blocker).”

That made the score 7-2, but Highland couldn't do anything with the ensuing punt. The Highland defense forced a punt and the Huskies took over on the Durant 43.

Hahn took a handoff, then lofted the ball downfield. Mason McFarland made a great adjustment on the pass and pulled in the reception for a 43-yard touchdown just two seconds before halftime for an 8-7 Huskies lead.

'I just put it up,” Hahn said. 'I had to watch the whole thing. He made a great catch. It was pretty sweet. It really gave us a lift.”

Highland punted on its first possession of the second half, but got the ball back when Jose Cardenas recovered a fumble at the Durant 46.

Hahn caught a 23-yard pass on third-and-7, then Trey Lasek went around left end on the next play for a 21-yard TD. The PAT kick was no good for a 14-7 lead with 7:30 to go in the third quarter.

Durant started a 17-play 70-yard march with 10:14 to go in the game and scored when Lafrentz bulled in from the 1 with 3:30 on the clock, but Hahn blocked the PAT to keep the Wildcats at 13 points.

'I just knew their long snapper was a small guy and all he did was he just stuck his arms out,” Han said. 'On the PAT before that, I didn't go as hard as I could, so when it came to the play, I knew if I went hard, I could get it. We have always said, ‘11 guys through a brick wall will win a game.' That's what we did. We got down to the nitty-gritty and we just moved 11 guys. That's what it came down to.”

The Durant coach was yelling at the referee that it was illegal to go over the snapper. 'As soon as he gets his head up to make a play, I can do what I can,” Hahn said. 'I am our long snapper for PATs so I know the rule. I knew I was bigger than him, so all I did was run right through it. I knew I had to go get it.”

Highland picked up two first downs, the second on a 43-yard run by Trey Lasek to run out the clock.

Highland had qualified twice before for the playoffs and lost both times. Highland and Lone Tree shared a program and made the playoffs twice previously with a 4-2 record, reaching the title game in 1997.

'I didn't want this to be my last game with these boys, so I wanted to do what I could to help us out,” Rodgers said. 'I had to give it my all.”