Washa has a night, Highland totals 596 yards of offense hammer Wisconsin Heights 70-42WWasha has a night, Highland totals 596 yards of offense, hammer Wisconsin Heights 70-42Pointers fall to Cuba City

By John Dalton

If you like offense, you would have liked Friday night’s Ridge & Valley-8 conference game between Highland and Wisconsin Heights.  Four minutes into the game, Wisconsin Heights had a 14-12 lead, with both teams returning kickoffs back for touchdowns.  

But Highland quarterback Kaden Washa, who earlier scored on a 35-yard run and on an 85-yard kickoff return, found Jack Tarrell on a 43-yard touchdown pass to take back the lead and the Cardinals never trailed again. The two connected again on their next possession, this time on a 79-yard touchdown pass making it 28-14.  Following a muffed Wisconsin Heights punt attempt on fourth down, Washa, on second down, rushed for a 22-yard touchdown. Brady Nankey’s two-point conversion put the Cardinals up 36-14.  

In the second quarter, Washa ran for 23-yard and 43-yard touchdowns, and Nankey added a third touchdown on a 35-yard run and the Cardinals held a 56-28 advantage over the Vanguards at halftime.  

Highland Head Coach Jasen Scanlan following the game, “After a bit of a slow start in the first quarter, the coaching staff was pleased with how our team played on Friday night at Wisconsin Heights. Offensively, we were able to mix the running game with our play-action and drop back passing game to effectively keep their defense off balance. We produced over 500 yards and got several big performances from our players on offense. Jack Tarrell had a strong game at wide receiver.  But clearly, the best player on the field on Friday night was Kaden Washa. He ran our offense efficiently and was involved in 9 scoring plays, with 3 passing, 5 rushing, and 1 kickoff return touchdown.”

Washa would add a 21-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and he also tossed another touchdown pass, this time a 16-yard pass to Koyer Zadrazil to take a 70-28 lead.  The Vanguards scored two late touchdowns to make the final 70-42.

Despite his defense allowing 42 points, Scanlan likes the improvement he sees in his team defensively. “Defensively, we were more physical, tackled better, and played a much more effective brand of team defense than we did last week. We have a number of players who are still figuring out what it takes to be successful varsity defensive players. They are taking coaching from our defensive staff and learning from week to week. They are improving with each game experience, and we are excited to see how much better we can get defensively. Tanner Degenhardt was a physical, disruptive force on the defensive line, with 11 tackles,” he said.  

Offensively, Washa was 10 of 15 passing the ball for 239 yards and 3 touchdowns. Rushing, he carried the ball 10 times for 161 yards and 5 touchdowns. Nankey had 14 carries for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tarrell led the Cardinals in receiving yards with 5 catches for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns.  

Coach Scanlan was pleased with how his team bounced back after last week’s loss to Belmont. “The coaching staff is encouraged by how our team bounced back from a tough defeat last week and re-focused on the fundamentals of good football. We will need to continue to take that "one game at a time" approach going forward,” he said.  

“At the halfway point of the regular season, we are happy with the progress of our offense and defense but realize that we will need to continue to get better each week to compete with the strong teams left on our conference schedule. One area we have to focus our improvement on immediately is our special teams’ units. They have not been good enough to win big games, and if we want to compete at a high level, our special teams’ units need to play at a high level,” said Scanlan.  

 Highland, now 3-1 in the season, will host 1-2 Kickapoo/LaFarge this Friday.  Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.