Highland offense sizzles early but eventually contained in 35-24 GEICO State Champions Bowl Series loss to Chaminade-Madonna

LAS VEGAS - After the final high school football game of his career, Highland High School quarterback Gage Dayley walked around a bit in a haze.

The Class 6A champions from Arizona had more than held their own as underdogs against highly-touted Chaminade-Madonna before falling, 35-24, on Friday night in their GEICO State Champions Bowl Series matchup.

But it wasn't a happy ending as the Hawks' offense not only was shut out in the second half - it did not gain a single yard.

And Dayley took a few hard shots, adding afterward he was "beat up."

Added Highland coach Brock Farrel: "We schemed them well in the first half, but everything we tried in the second half - we didn't have enough bullets in the gun."

But Highland accomplished something no offense had done all season against this vaunted Lions' defense: Score on its opening three possessions.

On the first series, it was the run game between Carson Mullenaux and Steven Trujillo that led the offense all the way to the Chaminade-Madonna 12-yard line before settling for Crew Crockett's 29-yard field goal.

It was the second drive where Dayley - the school's all-time passing leader - took advantage of the Lions' man-to-man pressure, connecting with Kaimana Hanohano for 24 yards before finding Trujillo out of the backfield on a 29-yard gain.

Two plays later, Dayley went back against the grain to find Jacob Soehl for a 4-yard touchdown, capping a seven-play, 73-yard march. Dayley added a two-point conversion run.

"They just weren't ready for our complicated offense with all the shifts and movement," Dayley said.

At one point, Highland led, 18-7 - with its final offensive touchdown coming on Trujillo's 9-yard run with 5:17 remaining in the first half. It had gained 157 yards in the first 22 minutes of the game.

After that, the Lions changed a couple of things on defense - playing more reactionary zone defense in the back end while also shifting standout defensive end Jamaal Johnson more to the interior to bring pressure up the middle, Farrel said.

"They are faster than we are, so they could do that," Farrel said.

After that final score, the Highland offense had six consecutive three- or four-and-out drives.

"That is a good ballclub over there," Chaminade-Madonna coach Dameon Jones said. "Once we got some points on the board, we could open it up and do some things."

This was a history-making season for Highland, which captured its first state title with a lot of seniors.

"We put a lot of bricks on the foundation this year," Farrel said.