Highland Crushes Mountain Ridge 55-6 to Remain Undefeated

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The Highland Hawks dominated the Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions 55-6 on Tuesday night.

After being nationally ranked #9 by USA Today and #24 by MaxPreps earlier this week, Highland proved to the country why they are the team to beat in Arizona.

Highland head coach Kenny Golladay said the team sees it as an accomplishment but still understands the Hawks have to put in the work.

“Hey, the work's paying off,” Golladay said, referring to how his team views the national ranking. “I’ll be honest, I pushed the girls really hard in practice. Sometimes they may question, ' Why are we doing all of this? Then, to be able to see something like that, it makes sense.”

From start to finish, the entire game belonged to Highland.

On their first drive of the game, the Hawks put together an 86-yard drive.

Not only was the length of the drive impressive, but Highland converted three third downs during the march downfield.

Capping off the drive, 2028 quarterback Lacie Nemchick tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to 2029 athlete Alyha Morgan on 4th and goal.

Not only did the offense come out firing, but the defense did too.

After catching a touchdown pass on the previous drive, Morgan was in the right place at the right time on defense and snagged an interception that she took back for six points.

Rounding out the first quarter, Highland extended their lead further.

Marching down the field again, the Hawks got right back into scoring position.

The final play of the drive saw Nemchick call her own number to score a 1-yard touchdown.

Multiple times in the game, Highland kept their scoring drives alive by converting crucial third and fourth downs.

Nemchick said it’s a four-down game for the Hawks.

“Third and fourth downs, we like to make them as short as possible,” Nemchick said. “It’s a four-down game; we know anything can happen.”

With one quarter down, Highland led 20-0.

Heading into the second quarter, the Hawks kept finding the end zone.

In their first three drives of the game, Highland was able to score every time.

For their fourth touchdown of the game, it was Nemchick directing traffic in the pocket until she eventually found 2029 athlete Ela Witcher for a 1-yard score.

Even though they trailed 27-0 to begin the game, the Mountain Lions kept showing fight.

As before halftime, Mountain Ridge put together their best drive of the game.

With only seconds remaining in the first half, 2028 quarterback Amiaya Tice launched a deep bomb to 2027 running back Emily Scott for a 46-yard touchdown.

At halftime, Highland led 27-6.

While other teams may have taken their foot off the gas, Highland responded in the second half with another strong 24 minutes.

In the third quarter, the Hawks rattled off two more scores.

For their first drive of the third quarter, Nemchick tossed another touchdown pass, this time to 2030 athlete Kaliyah Kisler for a 1-yard touchdown.

Then, rounding out the third quarter, Highland scored yet another touchdown and put a running clock up on the board.

With only 30 seconds remaining in the quarter, Nemchick launched a ball in the corner of the end zone to 2028 wide receiver Hadley Wine for a 7-yard score.

At the end of three quarters, Highland led 41-6.

Due to the running clock, the fourth quarter went by in a hurry.

Even though it was a quick quarter, Highland found a way to score two more touchdowns.

For her fifth and final touchdown pass of the contest, Nemchick once again connected with Kisler for a touchdown.

Then, rounding out the game, Morgan would snag her second pick-six of the night to close out a remarkable game for the Hawks.

Highland now moves to 4-0, and at this point it seems like they can’t be stopped.

Even though the score didn’t show it, Golladay said the game gave their team a lot of tension throughout, and it is something they needed to help them for the rest of the season.

“Regardless of the score, it was a close game,” Golladay said. “We could feel the tension; it made us uncomfortable. That’s what we need to learn and grow as a team.”

Next up: 4-0 Highland looks to keep it rolling when they face 3-1 Mesa. 3-1 Mountain Ridge looks to get a bounce-back win when they face 4-1 O’Connor.