The Highland football team saw their 2020 season come to an end Friday in the opening round of the class A football playoffs at the hands of the Alburnett Pirates on the road 40-19. The contest was a defensive battle through the first quarter and a half with Alburnett up 7-0 after the first 12 minutes, however in the second frame the Pirates outscored the Huskies 20-7 and took a 27-7 advantage in the break they would not give up the rest of the night. The Pirates outscored the Huskies 13-6 in the third quarter to go up 40-13 and put the game out of reach. Highland got a late touchdown in the fourth quarter to reach the final score. Alburnett put up 387 yards of total offense to Highland’s 294. The Pirates outpassed Highland 178 to 14 while the Huskies outrushed Alburnett 279 to 209. Owen Donovan had a huge night in his final game for Highland, carrying the ball 32 times for 207 yards and a touchdown. Connor Grinstead and Caedon Harbison added rushing scores for Highland. The Huskies were hurt by five turnovers. This week, Highland head coach Scott Morel talked about the game and his team. “First time they had the ball they scored. I think our kids were a little nervous early in the playoff atmosphere. After that we settled down. Offensively we started moving the ball by going to back to what we know best, power football on the ground. Owen Donovan had a great game. We continued to fight. One thing we always talking about is competing all the time, and we did compete. We continued to get better each week. We played with a lot of class on Friday.”

With the loss, Highland ends their season at 1-6.