Triple option stymies Highland-Lone Tree football in Senior Night loss

The Highland-Lone Tree football team’s season came to an end Friday night, as HLT took a 31-16 Senior Night loss to Midland.

The Eagles’ triple option attack gave HLT fits throughout the night, as Midland felt unstoppable turning to both the dive and the pitch. The Eagles controlled the middle of the line, forcing the home team back and generating chunk runs on play after play. The moment HLT adjusted and moved more players down to the box, the Eagles pivoted and pitched the ball outside for gash run plays.

The result was a 364 yard game on the ground for Midland, led by senior Dane Ballou’s 212-yard, 2 touchdown performance at fullback, where he took the dives up the middle for an average of 7.3 yards per carry.

“Everyone has to do what they’re supposed to do to stop it,” head coach Thayne McElhinney said of facing a triple option scheme like Midland’s, a similar scheme to what he ran in high school. “We repped it all week long, but they ran hard and they’re a good team. They played a really tough district and they’re a good squad themselves.”

Offensively, HLT was slow to move the ball on the ground, averaging just 2.5 yards per carry, while quarterback Caleb Wheeler struggled with accuracy issues, throwing three interceptions on the night.

After what had been a flat game to close the season, though, senior Presten Smith had HLT’s biggest defensive highlight of the year to give fans reason to celebrate and the team something to rally around as they left the field one last time.

Lining up for a fourth and short in an attempt to end the game, Midland quarterback Corbin Eganhouse turned to his right to make the pitch, and Smith read the play the whole way.

“They hadn’t passed the ball all night, and they’re going right up the middle every time,” Smith said. “I was just waiting for that pitch, I figured they’d do it at the end of the game.”

He jumped into the line of fire and snatched the ball out of the air, returning the ball 45 yards to the house as his team rushed to meet him in the end zone.

“I knew it was a touchdown right as I caught it. That was a lot of fun. That was a great way to go out. I mean, it sucks to lose, but a great way to go out.”

HLT successfully executed a trick play for a two-point conversion, as Garrett Beeson took a wildcat snap and found Wheeler in the end zone. Arlo Means successfully kicked an onside that was recovered by HLT. Things were looking up as the clock ticked under a minute.

Wheeler’s third pick on the ensuing drive ended the game, but it gave fans and returning players something to hope for as the program makes plans for year 2, should the sharing agreement be extended by the Highland and Lone Tree school boards.

“We need to put some muscle on and we need to get a little bigger,” McElhinney said of what his team needs to do in the offseason. “We’ve been undersized all year, but we’ve competed pretty well for the most part. It’s going to take a good offseason of kids buying into what we want to accomplish.”

HLT’s extra game against North Mahaska that was originally scheduled for Friday was cancelled. According to McElhinney, the Falcons pulled out last week and HLT was unable to find a partner after he called around to find a replacement game. HLT ended its season 2-6, a mark that would have placed the team in the playoffs over Columbus had it been eligible this year.