Plum edges Highlands for conference victory

By: William Whalen
Friday, October 1, 2021 | 10:43 PM

It was Military Appreciation night Friday at Highlands’ Golden Rams Stadium, night but Plum showed up for a car show.

The Mustangs started fast and needed a kick at the end from freshman Angelo Baleno as Plum outlasted Highlands to pull out a thrilling 23-21 Class 4A Allegheny Conference win.

“I’m so proud how these guys fought. I saw it their eyes,” Plum coach Matt Morgan said. “Our guys fought their butts off, and Highlands played a very physical game. I couldn’t be more prouder of these young guys.”

Trailing 21-20 with 9 minutes, 52 seconds remaining, Plum (2-4, 2-1) went on a 10-play drive to get the ball down to the Highlands 20-yard line before Baleno kicked the winner. The Highlands defense had its chances to stop the Mustangs, but sophomore quarterback Sean Franzi connected with senior wide receiver David Westrick for 21 yards to put Plum in field-goal range.

“I have a lot of trust in the freshman kicker over there, too,” Morgan said. “I said to my offensive coordinator, ‘Give me another five yards, and we’re gonna kick it.’ It was major kick. He has a bright future ahead of him.”

Westrick caught two passes for 76 yards and one touchdown.

“I trusted my line,” Franzi said. “They blocked and let me do me. I saw my receivers, threw it to them, Eryck (Moore) did his job, and we won the game.”

Down 23-21 with 5:32 remaining, Highlands (4-2, 1-2) had plenty of time to retake the lead. The Golden Rams took over at their 21-yard line and gave it to their bell cow, Luke Bombalski.

Highlands crossed midfield before, on second down from the Plum 44-yard line, Chandler Thimons fumbled the exchange with Bombalski. Plum pounced on the ball and took over.

“We made too many mistakes, too many turnovers and penalties hurt us,” Highlands coach Dom Girardi said. “Looks like (Chandler) was trying to pull it, and it got tugged on a little bit.”

Highlands turned the ball over four times.

The defense forced the Mustangs to go three-and-out to give its offense the ball back, but with no timeouts remaining, the Rams rushed down the field but couldn’t get into field-goal range. Thimons’ Hail Mary pass failed as time expired.

Plum started the game fast and built a 14-0 lead with touchdown runs of 13 and 23 yards by Moore. Moore finished with 89 yards on 21 carries.

Bombalski put Highlands on the board with a 13-yard run to cut Plum’s lead to 14-6 after a failed extra-point attempt. Bombalski scored on a 1-yard dive to send Highlands into the locker room at halftime trailing 14-13.

He finished with 168 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns.

“Today, it’s difficult to swallow when your tailback has that many yards,” Girardi said.

Thimons scored on a 10-yard keeper and connected with Brock White for the 2-point conversion to give the Rams a 21-14 lead.

Franz threw a 55-yard bomb to Westrick to bring the score to 21-20 after a failed extra-point attempt.

“We’re a very, very young team, and at times we looked like a JV team earlier in the year because had so many moving parts,” Morgan said.

“It just speaks volumes as to how much our kids have grown.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Highlands, Plum