Five games this season and five down to the wire contests with plays down the stretch helping seal the game as the Highland football team played another close game, their 11^th in last 15. Scotties opened up a tough road stretch traveling to Fort Dodge, Iowa to take on Iowa Central and Highland held on to a 21-18 win picking up their fourth win in the last five meetings with Iowa Central.

Scotties saw Iowa Central open the game by putting the opening drive together for a score as the Tritons went 73 yards on five plays including a 54-yard touchdown pass from Blake Dever to Emmanuel Greene to take a 7-0 lead over the Scotties two minutes into the game. After a three and out for Highland's offense, the Scottie defense forced a three and out and Brian George made the first big play of the game for Highland as he busted a punt return for 74-yards taking it to the house and with the extra point the Scotties tied the game at 7-7 with eight minutes left in the first quarter.

The first lead of the game for Highland came later in the first quarter at the 5:05 mark after Jonathan Thompson intercepted an Iowa Central pass and the Scotties, on just four plays, found the endzone on a 21-yard pass from Avery McCall to Bernard Porter for the 14-7 lead. The second turnover of the game by Iowa Central happened early in the second quarter as Ronald McGee forced a fumble and the Scotties recovered it setting up a short field and ultimately a one-yard touchdown run by Naricuss Driver.

Iowa Central cut into the Highland lead just before halftime as Dever connected with Eldrigde Joyce for a 10-yard touchdown pass making it 21-13 at intermission as the Scotties blocked the extra point.

The second half didn't feature many points or offense overall but the Scotties got pinned back in the field possession battle and Iowa Central used that to their advantage. The Tritons hit a 44-yard field goal and then recorded a safety when Highland was pinned back at the one yard line and with those five points the contest was 21-18 at the 5:20 mark in the third quarter.

It remained 21-18 the rest of the way but Iowa Central had a chance to tie it late as they set up for a 43-yard field goal which fell yards short and Highland took over on downs. Down the stretch of the final minute a clock issue arose and the Scotties battled through that and derailed Iowa Central's final attempts in the final seconds securing a 21-18 win.

The Scottie defense had a strong performance with two turnovers forced and had seven sacks. Reco Hannah led the charge with 15 tackles and 3.5 sacks, while Jahkeem Green tallied 11 tackles with 2.5 sacks. Both Amarrian Brown and Donnell Lowery each had 10 tackles and Thompson and McGee each posted six tackles with an interception and forced fumble, respectively. On offense the Scotties managed only 136 yards but did not turnover over the ball. McCall was 11-17 for 88 yards with a touchdown, Porter caught two passes for 31 yards and a touchdown and Kevin Brown ran for 43 yards on 14 carries.

"I love this team; this is a fun team to coach. I don't know if I've ever coached a team that is as grittiest as these guys are. It just doesn't matter what you throw at them they just keep coming back and throwing punches and throwing punches. And today we won it with almost no time left on the clock again and it's just what we do," said Head Coach Aaron Arnold on his guys performance in the road win.

The win moves the Scotties to 4-1 on the season giving the team a 4-1 start to a season for the second time in the last three years.

Highland stays on the road next week as they travel to No. 7 Hutchinson (5-1, 3-0) for a 12:00pm kickoff in KJCCC action.