Highland takes firm control of conference race with decisive win against Waterloo
A lightning-fast start keyed by the running of Highland tailback Travis Porter and passing of quarterback Brent Wuebbels allowed Highland to quickly and easily dispatch host Waterloo in a battle of the top two teams in the Mississippi Valley Conference on Friday night.
Porter scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground and Wuebbels threw for three scores as Highland hit paydirt its first five drives and rolled to a shockingly easy 49-10 conference victory at Waterloo High School.
Highland (6-1, 4-0) has won five-straight games since losing to Edwardsville on Sept. 2 and now sits in the driver’s seat in the MVC race. All the while, Highland appears to be virtually unstoppable with an offense that basically can score at will week after week.
“That’s our No. 1 thing — to come out fast on top and just play our game and not play the other team’s game,” Wuebbels said. “Just get in our mojo and get going. Whenever we keep moving (the ball) and have that momentum, we feel like we’re unstoppable.”
Highland came out hitting on all cylinders on its opening drive as Porter finished off the seven-play, 64-yard march with a 23-yard touchdown run.
Just over three minutes later, HHS scored on its second series as Wuebbels hit Cade Altadonna on a 27-yard TD pass. Then, on Highland’s third drive, Porter capped it with a 3-yard scoring run for a 21-0 bulge with 2:48 left in the first quarter. A bruising 35-yard run by Porter where he carried almost the entire Waterloo defense on his back for the last 15 yards of the play set up his second touchdown.
“Our line did their part and I did my part and at the end, they just came through and they were pushing me through like 10 plus yards,” Porter said. “I just saw the end zone and I was just trying to get there.”
A 17-yard Wuebbels to Brodie Lewis touchdown pass stretched the lead to 28-0 just 2:44 into the second quarter.
It was a strong start that left Highland coach Jimmy Warnecke feeling good about the offense’s performance.
“I thought that our biggest goal going into the game tonight was to win the line of scrimmage and I thought we did that,” Warnecke said. “I thought (we had) offense, defense, and special teams really meshing together and we’ve had some pretty good starts the last couple of weeks, but that (tonight) was a good one.”
Wuebbels connected with Cam Willis on an 8-yard scoring strike late in the second quarter. Then, the Highland defense chipped in as Dylan Beadle returned an interception of Waterloo quarterback Aidan Morrow 39 yards for a pick-6, giving HHS a 42-0 lead, which kicked off the running mercy clock for the second half.
Thoughts from Waterloo’s coach
Falling behind early was not what Waterloo had in mind, but WHS coach Dan Rose knew his club had its hand full from the start.
“Highland is very efficient (offensively) and if you don’t make a perfect tackle, they make you pay,” said Rose, whose club dropped to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in league action. “We were hoping we could weather that (early) storm and then get the ball back like we did against Mascoutah but we had some trouble on the defensive end a bit and when they get the ball, they score.”
Waterloo got on the board when Lexi Stephens hit a 24-yard field to make it 42-3 with 5:44 left in the third quarter Koby Osterhage later broke off a 36-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 42-10 early in the fourth quarter.
Highland iced the game on its next drive on Hunter Frey’s 5-yard touchdown run with 8:15 remaining.
Next up
Warnecke praised his club’s performance in all three phases of the game against a stout Waterloo squad.
“It’s kind of where we’re at this year is a good balance as a team just responding and competing,” Warnecke said. “Competing and having fun.”
Both teams resume conference play at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, as Highland hosts Mascoutah and Waterloo visits Triad.
This story was originally published October 8, 2022 at 7:30 AM.