Highlands dominates short-handed Southmoreland in 1st round

By: Paul Brittain
Friday, November 1, 2024 | 9:37 PM

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A football playoff victory and an eight-win season have eluded Southmoreland for years.

Against Highlands in Friday’s WPIAL Class 3A first-round playoff game, the Scotties were impacted by a variety of maladies.

Southmoreland had eight players inactive for illness, injury or ineligibility.

Quarterback Anthony Smith was cleared from concussion protocol, center (Jarrell Braxton) had a broken hand and moved to guard and the top receiver (Elliot Premus) was playing after suffering a separated shoulder against Greensburg Salem last week.

As coach Tim Bukowski said beforehand, “In my 34 years of coaching, I’ve never had eight starters out in a playoff game. That’s definitely a first.”

The absences were evident as Highlands (6-4) rolled to a 56-20 win.

But Southmoreland (7-4) battled throughout the game with some inexperienced players on the field.

The Scotties wanted the ball first to attempt to run some time off the clock. But a fumble and shanked punt at the Scotties 33 gave the Rams good field position.

On Highlands’ second play, Menage Lucas completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jahmar Wright for a 7-0 lead with the conversion kick by Jackson Babinsack.

The Scotties defense stiffened the next two possessions with sacks of Lucas by Premus and Jackson Mickens to drive the Rams back to a third-and-28.

But Lucas hit Montrell Johnson for a 32-yard touchdown to start the second quarter for a 14-0 lead.

On the next possession, the Rams drove from their 17-yard line in nine plays, with Lucas going the final yard for a 21-0 lead.

Passes of 16 yards to Premus and 6 yards to Stanley Betters put Smith over 2,000 yards on the season.

Cam Phillips then galloped 28 yards to the end zone to cap a 50-yard drive in three plays and cut the deficit to 21-7 with Jake Kaylor’s conversion kick.

Highlands answered with a 50-yard touchdown run by Lucas to build the lead back to 28-7.

Southmoreland refused to fold as Smith’s 45-yard pass to Mickens set the Scotties up at the 2-yard line.

Smith’s 1-yard keeper on fourth down cut the deficit to 28-13 after the conversion kick was blocked.

But Darius Cherry’s 98-yard kickoff return made it 35-13.

Southmoreland caught a break after a fumble on the second-half kickoff as Zion Mitchell recovered the ball.

On third down, Smith hit Stanley Betters on the run for a 45-yard scoring play that cut the deficit to 35-20.

Several possessions later, Highlands drove 52 yards to score on a 2-yard run by Darius Cherry for a 42-20 lead. A 1-yard run by Lucas made it 49-20.

A 70-yard touchdown pass from Lucas to Johnson provided the final margin.

The Rams had an unofficial yardage advantage of 435 to 191.

Bukowski said afterwards, “I’m proud of my team. They played as hard as they could. Braxton and Premus were really beat up, and they never came out of the game.”

Tags: Highlands, Southmoreland