Highland Defeats Brunswick 28-7 On A Big Night By Jake Rogers

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BRUNSWICK, OHIO– Finally the time has come for cooler weather and Friday night lights, which means it is time for high school football once again in Northeast Ohio.

The visiting Highland Hornets came into Friday’s game against the Brunswick Blue Devils leading the all-time series 12-8-1, including winning two out of the last three, with the last win coming last season at Highland 28-14.

Friday the Hornets made it two wins in a row against Brunswick with a 28-7 clobbering of the Blue Devils.

Brunswick’s defensive game plan was to make sure that Highland’s star running back Jake Rogers did not beat them on offense, and they did just that. Rogers only gained four yards on the ground and 13 yards in the air, but unfortunately for the home team, their special teams gave up big returns.

Rogers had a a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 43-yard punt return that led to Highland’s first score of the night, a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jack Mcginty.

“I just followed my blockers,” Rogers said when asked about his great night. “I am good at seeing the cut and that’s my specialty.”

Highland’s defense played outstanding as well, holding Brunswick to only 172 total yards, and joined in the scoring fun when Brady Linder stepped in front of a Josh Stacho pass and ran it all the way back for a 32-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 Highland in the high-scoring second quarter.

Brunswick’s special teams got in on the fun when senior defensive back Anthony Staimpel ran the very next kickoff back 96 yards for a touchdown, making the score 14-7 before Rogers 74-yard touchdown return made the halftime score 21-7.

The only real slip-up the Brunswick defense had for the night was allowing a 25-yard scoring pass from McGinty to junior wide receiver Bryce Proffitt in the third quarter to make the final score 28-7 in favor of Highland.

Player of the game: 

With 135 total yards including 116 yards on three punt returns and a touchdown, I can’t imagine giving this to anyone but Jake Rogers. This player is just explosive and teams actually game plan to try to stop him, usually to no avail. I only see big things happening in the future for this one-of-a-kind player.