Highlands defeats Ambridge for 2nd straight victory

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 28, 2018 | 11:54 PM

For the first time in the 15 games of the Dom Girardi era at Highlands, the Golden Rams have a two-game winning streak.

Highlands built a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back in a 56-17 victory over Ambridge in a Northwest Eight Conference game Friday night at Ambridge’s Moe Rubenstein Stadium.

“We’re just getting started,” said senior quarterback Seth Cohen, who completed 7 of 10 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns.

Highlands alternated wins and losses all last year to arrive at its 5-4 final record.

The Golden Rams got started Friday with two rushing scores from Cam Taylor in the first quarter, and by halftime, Highlands built a 42-3 advantage.

Cohen tossed second-quarter scores of 13 yards to DJ Loveland, 79 yards to Gabe Booker and 67 yards to Johnny Crise and had 266 passing yards at the break.

Booker, who had been battling injury in the first half of the season, finished with two catches for 112 yards.

Taylor, who finished with 10 carries for 73 yards, added a 7-yard score before the break.

The Golden Rams are 2-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play after last week’s 40-19 win against Beaver Area.

“After four weeks, we came in and realized we were making improvements and liked what we were doing,” Girardi said. “There were situations early on in the season where we shot ourselves in the foot or we didn’t come out and take a game. We were givers the first part of the season with penalties or stupid mistakes. We talked about making it a six-game season and becoming takers. We’re not perfect by any means, but I am seeing more and more good things each week.”

Highlands also started 0-4 in 2012, but that team won its next four games before falling in the regular-season finale.

This year’s Golden Rams squad hopes to make it three in a row next week with a homecoming game against Montour (1-5, 1-2). The Spartans knocked off Knoch, 35-33, on Friday.

“There’s no long bus ride next week, so we’re happy about that,” Girardi said. “We’ll enjoy this win, but we’ll get right back at it in practice and be ready for Montour.”

With the 39-point halftime differential, the running clock went into effect in the second half, and numerous backups entered the game for the Golden Rams.

Ambridge got on the board late in the third quarter as Deyvon Gill-Martin ran it in from 20 yards.

He added a 55-yard scoring scamper midway through the fourth quarter and finished with 14 carries for 145 yards.

Jake Gorman gave Ambridge its first points with a 32-yard field goal in the first quarter.

Bridgers coach Terry George was unavailable for comment after the game.

Ambridge’s 17 points marked its highest point total of the season. The Bridgers (1-5, 0-3) suffered their 19th straight conference loss.

After Ambridge’s second touchdown, some of the Highlands starters re-entered the game, including Cohen, who threw a 38-yard touchdown to Kaeleb Radashak with 5:32 left to set the final.

“I didn’t want our younger kids to have a bad experience,” Girardi said. “They had a lot of their starters in still. It was just about getting our guys in. I didn’t want to have anybody get hurt.”

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-388-5825, mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MLove_Trib.

Tags: Ambridge, Highlands