Highland rolls past Marion in Mississippi Valley Conference tune-up
A 28-point second-quarter explosion and a big night from running back Travis Porter powered the Highland Bulldogs to an impressive 55-14 win in their home opener on their new turf field Friday, Sept. 9, at Highland High School.
“It was a pretty exciting moment. Brad and Steve were there from Apex and all of our other sponsors (were there) and it was really a cool deal before the game. One of my biggest points to the boys was, in a big game against a Marion that’s had our number the last couple of years, I really felt like they held their water well,” Highland coach Jimmy Warnecke said.
Porter, the Bulldogs’ senior lead running back, posted the first of his four touchdowns on the night from 1-yard out to give his club a 7-0 lead on their first drive.
“We came out on the first drive — an 11-play touchdown drive with all that stuff going on, that was pretty good stuff,” Warnecke said.
Then came the wild second quarter as HHS scored on its first two drives thanks to a 13-yard Brent Wuebbels to Brendan Gelly touchdown pass and another 1-yard TD run by Porter.
Marion (2-1) answered on Brody Larson’s 5-yard scoring run. Tommy Wiseman ran in the 2-point conversion, cutting the lead to 20-8 with 2:39 left before the half.
But the Bulldogs responded decisively as Wuebbels fired an 18-yard TD pass to Gelly and then closed the half with a 21-yard scoring strike to Brodie Lewis, giving HHS a 35-8 cushion at the break.
“Our defense getting takeaways and a combination of making plays and making big plays defensively on first and second down and third down stops short of the sticks and taking advantage of a couple of short fields got it gong pretty good (for us) in the second (quarter),” Warnecke said.
Wuebbels had another efficient night through the air hitting 16-of-21 passes for 233 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
Porter opened the third quarter with his third score of the night on a 12-yard run and then started the running mercy rule clock with his final touchdown of the evening on a 2-yard run early in the fourth quarter. Porter powered the Bulldogs’ run game with 126 yards on 19 carries.
“I thought he ran the ball very well,” Warnecke said of Porter. “Early on there wasn’t a whole lot of room and he still makes one or two guys miss. I thought he hit the hole hard and the offensive line did their thing up front.”
Tyson Rakers’s 10-yard touchdown jaunt with 3:03 left rounded out the scoring.
The Bulldogs’ defense also was strong in the second half as they allowed only a 4-yard touchdown run by Larson in the third quarter. HHS’ stop crew forced three interceptions and recovered two fumbles.
Blake Gelly and Ethan Greenwald paced the Bulldogs’ defense with eight tackles each while Chase Pacatte added six stops.
Senior wideout Cade Altadonna paced the Bulldogs in receiving with seven catches for 126 yards.
HHS coach praises team
Overall, Highland’s bounce-back performance following a 31-28 loss to Edwardsville pleased Warnecke as his squad moved to 2-1.
“I think any time you take a program like Marion and coaching staff like they’ve had together for so many years and you hold them to 14 points and you’re able to put 55 on them for a night that’s a pretty solid night,” Warnecke said. “People don’t do that to Coach (Kerry) Martin too much.”
The Bulldogs resume action at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, at Jerseyville.
