HIGHLAND FOOTBALL

Huskies fall to Alburnett on late TD, 26-21

Highland's Logan Bonebrake scores twice in heartbreaking district loss

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 9/27/21

ALBURNETT

When Highland quarterback Connor Grinstead sprinted right through the middle of Alburnett’s defense from 14 yards out and wound up in the end zone this past Friday night, he threw …

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HIGHLAND FOOTBALL

Huskies fall to Alburnett on late TD, 26-21

Highland's Logan Bonebrake scores twice in heartbreaking district loss

Posted

ALBURNETT

When Highland quarterback Connor Grinstead sprinted right through the middle of Alburnett’s defense from 14 yards out and wound up in the end zone this past Friday night, he threw his hands up into the air in celebration.

Grinstead got up and jumped into the air with teammate Brenton Bonebrake.

Highland players on the sidelines hooped and hollered.

Grinstead’s touchdown had tied the score at 20-20 with 3:30 left in the game. Soon, Jared Diaz’s extra-point kick put the Huskies up, 21-20.

Oh, how things changed in those final 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

Alburnett receiver Gavin Soukup slipped behind Highland’s defense for a 41-yard touchdown catch with 1:09 left, and the Pirates danced away with a 26-21 victory in a Class A, District 5 battle.

The loss was the first in three district games for Highland (2-3 overall, 2-1 A-5).

Highland’s celebration turned into silence.

“We talked about how little things equal to big things, and that’s what kind of happened,” said Highland head coach Scott Morel. “We had a few little mistakes that turned into big plays.”

One of those big things came on Alburnett’s game-winning score. The Huskies chased Alburnett quarterback Connor Rock out of the passing pocket and for what seemed to be a sure sack. Instead, Rock somehow avoided the trouble, spotted Soukup drifting all by himself 15 yards behind the closest Highland defender and lofted a pass before he was buried into the ground.

Soukup caught the pass and walked into the end zone for the score.

The Huskies still had 1:04 to attempt their own game-winning play, but were stopped on a 4th-and-10 pass. Highland lined up in a variation of a wildcat formation on fourth down, forcing Alburnett to take a timeout.

“That’s something we’ve been working on,” Morel said. “They burned a timeout and everything like that.”

Then, after the timeout, Highland went to the wildcat again, with the linemen and receivers lining up away from center, but a pass fell incomplete, essentially ending the game.

Grinstead had a strong game for the Huskies, throwing a scoring pass to Logan Bonebrake in the first half and running for 37 yards and a score. He had 8.5 tackles on defense.

Logan Bonebrake scored two touchdowns. He had 9.5 tackles and an interception on defense.

Jaden Schmid, a senior, had a game-high 10 tackles and a fumble recovery.

The Huskies went deep into the playbook all night. They went to the wildcat formation twice. They attempted runs while in punt formation on fourth down twice, one of the times resulting in a first down.

Defensively, Highland forced five Alburnett turnovers. The Huskies intercepted Rock three times and twice recovered Alburnett fumbles, including a crucial recovery by Kolton Miller in the end zone when the Pirates attempted to score on a fourth-down play at the Highland 2-yard line in the second quarter.

The Huskies went ahead less than two minutes into the game when Logan Bonebrake scored a touchdown following a 70-yard return of the opening kickoff by Brenton Bonebrake. After Alburnett went ahead 8-7 on a 3-yard scoring run by Carson Klostermann and a two-point conversion, Grinstead finished off an 80-yard scoring drive by delivering a 32-yard touchdown pass to Logan Bonebrake.

Alburnett tied the game at 14-14 on a 15-yard scoring run by Brody Neighbor in the third quarter and pulled ahead 20-14 on a 2-yard touchdown run by Klostermann in the fourth quarter. Klostermann ran for a game-high 153 yards on 34 carries.

The Huskies host Wapello in its Homecoming game at 7 p.m. Friday.

Highland, football