The Highland football team gets ready for a road test Friday when they travel to Lisbon for district action. Highland enters play with an overall record of 1-3, fresh off of their first win of the season, a 55-14 Homecoming victory over North Cedar last week. In that game, Highland was led by Owen Donovan and Connor Grinstead’s combined 300 yards rushing and four touchdowns. On the season the Huskies are led by Grinstead through the air at 14 of 39 for 122 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. His favorite target is Owen Donovan with six catches for 20 yards. Donovan is the leading ground gainer for the Highland offense with 75 carries for 624 yards and six touchdowns. Grinstead leads the Highland defense with 23 tackles. The Huskies have six takeaways on the year.

Lisbon comes into tonight with an overall record of 3-2, having dropped a pair of games in a row, including a 56-26 loss to No. 2 Regina last week. The Lions are ranked No. 10 in this week’s class A poll from the Iowa Associated Press. On the season, Lisbon is led by Gavin Wollum under center at 15 of 31 for 228 yards and three touchdowns. His favorite target is Cole Clark with six catches for 81 yards. On the ground, the Lions have four players with at least 20 carries, at least a five yards per carry average and one touchdown, led by Jamien Moore with 57 carries for 318 yards and three scores. Clark leads the Lion defense with 37 stops. Lisbon has forced 11 takeaways this season on defense. This week, Highland head coach Scott Morel talked about the challenges Lisbon presents, “Lisbon is a really good team. They do a great job of blocking, tackling, the little things. We are going to have to play at their level. After how well we played last week in getting the win, we can’t take a step back this week. They have good athletes at skill positions. Their defense is sound. If we execute, we’ll compete, and that’s what we’re asking for our kids to do, compete every week.”

These teams met a year ago with the Lions edging Highland 20-12. Action begins tonight at 7p.m. at Lisbon High School.