Highland football vs. Tallmadge: Hornets win 11th straight over Blue Devils

TALLMADGE, Ohio — The winning streak continues for Highland.

With the dominant 49-0 win over Tallmadge Friday night, the Hornets, ranked eighth in this week's cleveland.com Top 25, improve to 5-0 on the year with their 11th consecutive win against the Blue Devils (3-2, 1-1).

"I'm proud of the way the kids played and they really came out and executed right from the get-go," head coach Mike Gibbons said.

Gibbons knew his team had to come out and set the tone early on. After junior running back Casey Myser opened up the scoring with a 6-yard rushing touchdown on the team's opening possession, the defense followed suit.

Junior linebacker Kallen Whitling recovered a fumble inside the 5-yard line, where quarterback Dylan Borla would run in a 1-yard touchdown four plays later to start the demise of the Blue Devils.

Myser scored a game-high four touchdowns in the first half, two rushing and two 50-yard catches. He was a player that was often caught behind the Blue Devil defense where his quick speed was unmatched on the field.

Every time the Hornets scored a touchdown, it was their defense that fed off of that momentum. Senior defensive players like Ryan Zywiec, Carson Noonan and Matthew Dean were dominant, getting to Ryan Loveland on a night where he couldn't find success throwing the ball.

It's not just one night, by the way. Entering Friday night's game, the Hornets defense had given up just seven points in the last two weeks and Gibbons likes to think that scoreless trend can continue throughout the year.

"I give all the credit to our coaches, we watch countless film," Noonan, the Miami-Ohio commit, said. "They can't run the ball against us. I don't think any team in the state can run the ball against us."

The Hornets had seven offensive drives in the first half and all seven of them resulted in a touchdown. Dylan Borla threw for three touchdowns throughout the half, each of them was over 50 yards. Senior wide receiver Luke Berkmeyer caught a 65-yard touchdown pass on a seam route along with the two touchdown catches from Myser.

"Dylan is a great quarterback, he's going to find me open and luckily I found those two today," Myser said about the two long touchdowns through the air.

It was a first half where the Hornets garnered 381 total yards of offense (281 through the air and 100 yards rushing) while the Blue Devils had a total of 45 yards of offense while crossing midfield just once.

"We knew this team was going to be good, we prepared hard for them all week," Myser said. "We just came out here and did our job and the game play worked."

The Blue Devils were able to get into the red zone on their opening drive of the second half, but junior defensive back Cooper Zielinski came away with an interception, highlighting a second half with few possessions from both teams due to the ongoing running clock.

The confidence within the Hornet locker room is high, very high right now. That gives players like Borla all the confidence he needs to help lead the offense in the right direction throughout the second half of the year.

"This is our year," Borla said with a smile on his face. "We have everything we need to go far."