POCATELLO − Highland hasn’t been earning any style points this season.
But with an entirely new starting lineup on both sides of the ball, that’s to be expected. The Rams are still finding ways to get the job done, though.
They did so again Saturday despite having almost as many penalty yards (57) as passing (66) in a 22-7 win over Carson City (Nevada) at the annual Rocky Mountain Rumble inside the ICCU Dome.
“It definitely wasn’t pretty,” said Highland head coach Nick Sorrell. “But we preach being a fourth-quarter, second-half team, all the way through the summer, all the way through fall camp. And if you look at the past two games, we’ve won the game in the fourth quarter. They don’t give up, even when things are really tough and we’re shooting ourselves in the foot over and over again. They’re finding a way.”
The fourth-ranked and defending Class 6A state champion Rams (2-0) had to do so again following a costly turnover towards the end of the third quarter.
Up 7-0 and faced with a 4th-and-inches at the Senator 41-yard line, they went for it. Keaton Belnap got it with the old-fashioned quarterback sneak. But the junior transfer out of Marsh Valley coughed the football up in the process.
And Carson City (2-1) took full advantage.
It went 65 yards in nine plays and two minutes and 45 seconds to tie the game at 7 apiece a little more than a minute into the fourth quarter.
The Senators then had a chance to take the lead after Highland was forced to punt the ball on its ensuing possession following another Belnap fumble that went out of bounds this time around.
But McKay Galo had other ideas.
The junior linebacker and one of only a few returning players who saw significant time last year, stepped in front of a Drake Hardcastle pass on a 3rd-and-6 for the interception at the Carson City 25-yard line.
“It was almost a mere representation of what we did last week. He dropped the one last week. It was the same play actually. They ran curls, he got underneath, it bounced off his hands, but this one he corralled in,” Sorrell said. “When you give your offense a short field like that, it really helps, especially as they’re struggling moving the ball down the field.”
It actually set up his own touchdown. Five plays later, Galo gave the Rams the lead for good on a 9-yard touchdown run with just under two minutes left in regulation.
“It was a great moment,” Galo said. “It was a fantastic feeling and I thank Dane Beorchian (offensive coordinator) for having trust in me to score that touchdown.”
Speaking of “trust,” the touchdown would not have been possible without Belnap.
Just one play earlier, Highland had another 4th-and-inches with the ball sitting at the Senator 16. The Rams took a full timeout to think about it. But they decided to go for it on a keeper with Belnap no less. He made amends with a 7-yard run this time out.
“Keaton’s awesome,” said senior cornerback Carson Bates. “He definitely fought through some adversity this game, but stepped up at just the right moment.”
So did Bates.
He came into this season with the tall task of having to replace Kai Callen. The multiple-time all-state defensive back transferred to Carrollton High in Georgia. He’s committed to James Madison, a two-time FCS national champion, which was ranked as high as No. 19 in the country at the FBS level last season.
But Bates came in for during last year’s state championship game when Callen got hurt. He proved his worth again by sealing the game on a 45-yard pick-6 with only 53 seconds remaining.
It was the first interception return for a touchdown of his career.
“I was just guarding the guy, breaking inside, looking at the quarterback the whole time like, ‘Please throw it backside. Please throw it backside. Please throw it backside.’ And I was like, ‘Give me that!,’” Bates said. “I started skedaddling. I got to the sideline, saw someone coming, so I was like, ‘Oh shoot, I’ll turn it on, whoosh, score.’ It was pretty crazy. I can’t believe that happened.”
Highland’s other touchdown of the game came on its opening drive. Zaydin Alo capped it with an 11-yard touchdown run at the 2:53 mark of the first quarter.
The Rams piled up 167 yards on the ground, led by Cedric Mitchell’s 84. The sophomore tailback was also the leading receiver with two catches for 39 yards for 123 all-purpose yards.
Belnap added 61 rushing yards on 11 carries for the Rams, who now move west. They will play Summit at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Northwest Showdown at Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian. The Storm out of Bend, Oregon, were the Class 5A state champions of the state just two years ago.
“We got a lot of growing up to do,” Sorrell said. “We’re making young mistakes due to inexperience. But it’s that competitive spirit that these guys have. They’re finding a way. We’ll clean up the physical mistakes. We got to figure out the mental mistakes. That’s some accountability on their part, and once we figure that out, the sky’s the limit for us.”
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