A win against Butler has been elusive as of late for the Highland football team and despite leading in the first half multiple times and tallying 27 points in the contest it was Butler handing the Scotties their first loss of the season as Highland fell 35-27.

The contest started well for Highland as the Scotties went down the field on six plays and booted a 48-yard field by Ryan Schemtob and less than two minutes into the game Highland owned the 3-0 lead. It remained a Scottie lead until strung together an eight play drive covering 63 yards that ended in a seven-yard Darius Timmons touchdown run and the Grizzles took the lead with 4:10 left in the first. Scotties swung the lead back to their side in the final minute of the first stanza as Donnell Lowery picked off Butler's quarterback, Trae Self and returned the interception back 45-yards for a Highland touchdown and 10-7 lead.

Butler scored their second touchdown of the game at the 9:46 mark in the first half as Timmons punched it in from five yards out giving the Grizzles the lead again. The Scotties were not deterred as Avery McCall entered the game at quarterback and hit Emanuel Stores in the flat for a short pass that turned into a big gain as Stores tight rope walked the sideline all the way to the endzone for a 50-yard touchdown run and a 17-14 Highland lead with 7:24 left in the first half. Butler however made the lead change hands for the sixth time in the first half with Self hit Darren Wilson with a 44-yard touchdown pass and the Grizzles held the 21-17 lead at the half.

Out of the half it was Butler to score first marking the first time in the game that back-to-back scores were by the same team as the teams traded scores in the first half. A 20-yard pass from Self to Larry Jones pushed the lead to double figures for the first time on the day as Butler led 28-17. The Butler score was set up on a short field at the 20-yard line after a fumble by Damarion Williams on a punt return for Highland. Highland cut into the lead early in the fourth quarter as Schemtob split the uprights with a 32-yard field goal to cut the deficit to eight.

The Scotties pinned back had to punt with around seven and half minutes to play and the snap went over the head of Maxim Spruell and after an recovering the ball he threw it away and was flagged for intentional grounding resulting in the ball being turned over to Butler on the two-yard line. The Grizzles took advantage and a few plays later Self had a one-yard touchdown run and Bulter led 35-20.

Highland now late in the game put together a long 11 play drive that ultimately was capped by a McCall 29-yard touchdown pass to Bernard Porter to cut the Butler lead to eight again but only 2:37 remained in the contest. The Scotties elected to kick it to Butler and play defense and use their timeouts and after forcing a Butler punt Highland got the ball back with still over two minutes to go but was unable to get the offense going and Butler took over on downs to finish the contest.

On offense McCall led the way as he was 7-19 for 119 yards and two touchdowns going to Stores and Porter, while Justin Ruiz on the ground ran for 67 yards on 12 carries. On defense both Reco Hannah and Darius Johnson each tallied 10 tackles, while Lowery had nine tackles and a pick-six. Amarrian Brown added nine tackles and Sterling Stone had nine tackles including a sack.

Football season continues on Saturday, September 15^th as Highland will host Gordon's Fine Arts and Sports Academy at 1:00pm.