KEOSAUQUA

Trailing 6-0 late in the third quarter, Van Buren County needed a big play to get on the scoreboard and bring its homecoming crowd to life. 

Instead, an overthrown pass was collected by Highland senior safety Jared Diaz and returned 20 yards to set up the game’s only touchdown in a 13-0 win for the Huskies. 

“I think we handled their passes very well,” said Diaz, who had three of the Huskies’ five interceptions in the shutout. 

“We were reading the offense,” he said. “All week we’ve been working on their plays and we saw what they were doing the whole time… so the interceptions were there.”

The Huskies have allowed just two touchdowns through three games this year, and just one on defense with one special teams score. 

“Our guys communicate really well,” head coach Cory Quail said. “They know where they are and they’re able to play confidently because of that.”

Three weeks into the season, the Huskies (2-1) have already matched their win total from the previous two seasons combined. 

“I love our guys,” Quail said. “They’ve been working three years for this and I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am for them to have a night like this at somebody else’s homecoming on their field too.”

Highland scored the winning points on the first drive of the game, converting third-and-long three times to set up a 34-yard field goal attempt for Diaz.

Quarterback Sage Hartley-Norman found Colton Sypherd for gains of nine and 32 yards to move the chains before connecting with Ayden Havel for nine yards for another conversion. 

Havel would extend a scoring drive again with an eight-yard reception on fourth down, following a Diaz interception that put the Huskies just 42 yards from the endzone. The drive stalled at the eight yard line, but Diaz was good again from 25 yards for the 6-0 lead. 

“He’s my vote for player of the week, I’ll tell you that,” Quail said. “And people don’t want to throw at him, so he helps other guys get interceptions. People don’t want to throw that ball deep because he’s so quick and instinctive with it.”

Sypherd led the Huskies defense with nine tackles and one pick return. Logan McFarland had six tackles, a sack, and a fumble recovery, while Tyler Pierson also made an interception.

Louis Horak had 7.5 tackles and Diaz made five solo stops to go with his three takeaways. 

“We have some aggressive dudes all over the place,” Quail said. “Our front four, those guys just go hard every play. They’ve got an aggressiveness that I can’t even teach — it’s already in them. They’re dogs, they’re Huskies. Our linebackers do such a great job of moving and flowing to the spots they need to go, and then our (defensive backs) take advantage of that.”

On the offensive side of the ball, McFarland picked up 58 yards on 15 carries. Hartley-Norman added 20 yards on the ground to his 61 through the air. The senior quarterback had only completed two passes through the Huskies’ first two games before connecting on five passes on Friday. Four of those went for critical first downs on Highland scoring drives. 

Neither team took control of the game during the quarter as all five possessions ended with turnovers. The two teams traded fumbles before the next three drives would end with interceptions.

The first play of the fourth-quarter was a handoff to sophomore Garrett Beeson from the Warriors 10-yard line. The right side of the offensive line opened up a huge hole and Beeson followed his two lead backs, sprinting untouched to the 2-yard line where he broke an arm tackle for the score. 

“Obviously with Garrett putting that in, once we went up two scores, we knew there was no chance we were losing this game,” Quail said. 

The Huskies will have a challenge on Friday, facing eighth-ranked Lisbon (3-0), who has outscored opponents 127-6 so far this season. 

GAME SUMMARY

HIGHLAND 13, VAN BUREN 0

Highland      3     3    0    7  --  13

Van Buren    0     0    0    0  --   0

H: Jared Diaz 34 field goal

H: Diaz 25 field goal

H: Garrett Beeson 10 run (Diaz kick)