Highland overcomes strong Poky start to push ‘Black and Blue Bowl’ win streak to 15

POCATELLO — With time dwindling in the first half, the upset-minded Pocatello Thunder were driving for a potential go-ahead score against the stingy Highland Ram defense. But as they approached field goal range, senior linebacker McKay Galo made one of Highland’s biggest plays of the night, snatching an interception from Pocatello quarterback Rhev Stucki.

In just 27 seconds, the Rams (5-1, 1-0) moved the ball 41 yards to set up senior Seth Bartschi for a field goal to take a 12-7 lead into the break.

Riding the momentum of a potential 10-point swing, Highland dominated the second half, scoring 20 unanswered points for a 32-7 win and 15th consecutive “Black and Blue Bowl” victory over the Thunder (1-4, 0-0), at Lookout Field.

The Galo pick was monumental in helping Highland settle down, according to head coach Nick Sorrell

“That swing was huge,” he said. “It was just a testament to how these kids believe in one another and just stuck with the process even though things weren’t going the right way.”

The ensuing possession, Sorrell continued, was purely focused on getting into range for Bartschi, who had already made a 43-yarder earlier in the game and hit a 48-yarder two weeks ago against Lake City. Having those extra three points, the coach said, allowed the team to use halftime focusing on settling the emotion of a rivalry game and cleaning some things up, rather than having to release the frustration of a deficit.

Pocatello took control from the opening kick, when wide receiver-defensive end-kicker Hunter Cordell hit a Highland up-man with the kick and the Thunder recovered to steal the Rams’ opening possession.

Galo and the Highland defense held though, forcing a three-and-out and punt.

But the ensuing Ram possession ended four plays later when Cedric Mitchell was stopped for a loss on fourth and one.

Sorrell called the aggressive call to go for it at their 20 a “dumb decision on my part.”

Stucki hit the 6-foot-5 Cordell on the fade route in the back of the endzone on the very next play, and Poky grabbed an early 7-0 lead.

Both defenses took over from there, sending the game into the middle of the second quarter with a 7-3 Thunder lead.

Pocatello got its first good look at another score, and possible double-digit lead, when they set up a first and goal at the four yard line.

The Ram defense, which shut out its opponents twice in four games coming into Friday night’s showdown, held — with the help of a Cordell unnecessary roughness penalty. Sorrell called the stop the turning point of the game.

After the game, Galo said it feels great for his defensive unit to make those stops when the offense is struggling to gather momentum.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “When our offense isn’t moving the ball, we come out on D and get three-and-outs.”

“It gets them moving. When we start, they start,” added defensive lineman Porter Burrows.

Highland took the ensuing possession the length of the field, scoring on a touchdown pass from Jacob Vincent to Easton Almond. Almond finished the night with five catches for 59 yards and one score. Kona Baldwin also hauled in a touchdown pass from Vincent, in the fourth quarter.

Galo’s interception came on Poky’s next possession.

For three quarters, the Black and Blue Bowl was a defensive struggle. Highland held the slight 12-7 advantage, despite Pocatello’s Huston Himmerich leading the battle of explosive running backs.

At the end of the third, Himmerich had out-rushed Highland’s all-everything back, with 82 yards to Mitchell’s 10.

The fourth quarter though, was an entirely different story.

Himmerich’s only carry in the fourth quarter resulted in a two-yard loss. While Mitchell ran for 120 yards in the final 12 minutes, including a 78-yard score to give his Rams an 18-7 lead on the second play of the fourth.

“He can break it at any time. He’s that explosive,” Sorrell said of Mitchell, who is among the state’s top ball-carriers averaging more than 100 yards per game. “We’re just waiting for him to go, it’s the catalyst for us. … Poky did a great job of bottling him up, but it’s hard to keep him bottled up all game long.”

Mitchell finished with 130 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries. Himmerich matched him with 15 totes for 80 yards.

While the offense was finding its rhythm, the Highland defense kept riding the high of Galo’s tenor-shifting interception.

Immediately following the Mitchell TD, the Rams got to Stucki on back-to-back plays, with Jaxson Collard recoding a sack and Karver Kap following with a strip-sack on the very next snap. Burrows, the only other man in the offensive backfield, scooped the free ball and took it to the endzone for another Rams score.

Usually, Burrows admitted, the instruction from his coaches would be to fall on the ball. But, he knew he was alone and had points on his mind. He credited his baseball background for being able to scoop the bounding pigskin, saying he was like a first baseman picking a short-hop.

Sorrell said he was happy to see Burrows make an aggressive play for the ball, explaining that Highland practices two different fumble situations.

“We have what we call ‘city fumbles,’ where there’s a whole bunch of people around and we’re diving on it,” the coach said. “Then we have ‘country fumbles,’ where, hey, we can scoop and score this thing. That was a country fumble that he picked up, I was good with that.”

Asked what was going through his mind as he saw Burrows scampering toward the endzone, Galo said: “It’s over. This game is done.”

Highland will use the momentum of this win to carry them into Rigby next week, when they will face another rival in the Trojans (4-1, 0-0), who bested Lewiston 46-0 Friday.

Burrows and Galo agreed that the key to winning next week and beyond is maintaining their “physical mentality” and continuing to play “Highland football.”

Pocatello will look to end their current three-game slide when they visit Twin Falls next week.