Highland Takes Care of Palmdale, 17-0

PALMDALE —  Despite the fact that his team lost three of its five nonleague games, Highland High Coach Lin Parker still had a good feeling heading into Golden League play.

After all, the Bulldogs’ losses were to highly regarded Valencia, Clovis West and Corona Centennial

So he was perhaps the least surprised of anyone to see his team thoroughly dominate cross-town rival Palmdale in a 17-0 victory Friday night in the league opener for both teams at Highland.

That was just what the Bulldogs (3-3) needed heading into a showdown against league favorite Littlerock next Friday.

“We’ve been telling the kids that next week we have Littlerock,” Parker said. “The newspaper said Highland is poised to make a run for the title, and I think they’re right.”

The Bulldogs used a ball-control rushing attack, a stingy defense and a brilliant performance by kicker Jose Duarte to make it a long night for the struggling Falcons (1-5).

Duarte kicked three field goals, including a school-record 51-yarder in the fourth quarter.

That, combined with the ones he kicked from 34 yards in the first quarter and 36 in the fourth quarter, effectively ended Palmdale’s hopes for a comeback.

“He kicks with great distance and accuracy,” Parker said. “The only one he missed all night was a punt he hit off the side of his foot [in the second quarter].”

While Duarte was putting the finishing touches on Highland’s drives, the Bulldogs kept Palmdale on defense most of the night behind their wing-T rushing attack.

Highland finished with 221 yards rushing. Kevin Morris had 102 yards in 15 carries and Justin Wyatt had 69 yards in 17 carries.

It didn’t seem to matter that quarterback Jeremy White completed only four of 11 passes for 33 yards, although one of his completions was a 10-yard touchdown pass to Ramsin Younan in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs also kept Palmdale in check with a sterling defense that limited the Falcons to 218 yards.

That might be surprising considering that Highland entered the game allowing 335.2 yards a game.

But it didn’t surprise Parker.

“I think we just have an underrated defense because we played teams like Centennial and Clovis West,” he said.

Leading the way for Highland was linebacker Paul Soto, who made two interceptions.

“Those interceptions were big,” Parker said. “That really stopped their momentum.”

Meanwhile, Palmdale struggled on offense for much of the first half and was limited to 74 yards.