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When Highland's football team came up empty in three tries from the one on their first possession the Cardinals knew things had to change.
And change they did.
Helped by a Benton-Scales Mound turnover for their first score the Cards went on a roll and followed a scoreless first quarter with 14 second quarter points and an explosive 27 in the third.
The first score for Shaun Reuter's Cardinals was courtesy of a bad snap and a good defense.
"They snapped the ball over the head of their quarterback in the end zone and Alex Kutzke was able to get to the quarterback and knock him down so he couldn't get the ball," Reuter said. "Andrew Wolfe was able to recover it for a touchdown.
That may have just flipped the switch the Cardinals were looking for.
"That was a huge play for us and kind of got us going," said Reuter. "We then were able to get our running game going with some long runs for scores. We also had a passing touchdown that was called back because of a penalty."
Austin Yager added a touchdown on a 22 yard run and two extra points by Wolfe made it 14-0 at the half.
Blake Bomkamp took off for a 50 yard scoring trip to start the huge third quarter. Freshman John Ross Linschied then scored on a seven yard run. Bomkamp tallied on a one yarder and Yager scored again on a 48 yard scamper.
Wolfe was four for five kicking extra points and Bomkamp ran in a two point conversion.
"John Ross had an excellent game for us carrying the ball 17 times for 130 yards and a touchdown," Reuter said. "He doesn't run like a 140 pound freshman. He runs much tougher than what his size would lead one to think. "
The coach said the third quarter was the turning point.
"We had the ball most of the 3rd quarter getting four touchdown runs," he said. "We came up with two interceptions in the quarter to get the ball back. One was by Austin Yager and the other was Blake Bomkamp, who caught a deflected ball when Nathan Robinson was able to knock the ball away from their receiver."
Reuter said he has been impressed with the leadership shown by Blake Bomkamp.
"Blake has been doing a great job of leading both our offense and defense. As our quarterback he has been more of a threat on the ground so far this year and defensively as our safety is doing a great job of communicating and making sure we are lined up correctly. So far he has two interceptions and has returned them a combined 65 yards."
Reuter was pleased with how the defense approached the battle.
"Defensively I thought we played much more aggressively and that is something that we have been working on," Reuter said. "Austin Yager led us with 11 tackles and had an interception. Andrew Wolfe had six tackles, recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchdown and blocked a punt. I thought that Nathan Robinson did a much better job in pass coverage this week and had the big deflection that led to Blake's interception. They completed 5 out of 18 passes and we held them to 54 yards rushing through the first three quarters."
Perhaps the best thing about the win was it came after a lopsided loss last week to Cassville.
"It was nice to see the guys bounce back after the ugly loss the week before and come out and play aggressively and with some passion and emotion," Reuter said. "Our goal is to improve every week and I think we were able to do that."
Next up for the Cardinals will be the ever dangerous Belmont Braves.
"We now travel to Belmont on Friday night," Reuter said. "They have two very good running backs and a lineman that could be the best in the conference on both sides of the ball in Stoney. They are coming off of a hard fought loss to Cassville and will be looking to turn things around at their homecoming this week. We will need to play our best game yet in order to get the win."