FOSTORIA — Highland knew it had its hands full with Fostoria star Micah Hyde in their Division IV playoff game on Friday, but Hyde proved unstopable in the Redmen’s 33-12 victory.
Hyde, a senior quarterback/kicker/punter, accounted for a combined 410 yards of the Redmen’s 440 yards on the evening. He completed 13-of-21 passes for 287 yards and two TDs, and rushed 16 times for 120 yards and another two scores. If that wasn’t enough, he also caught one pass for 3 yards, and kicked a pair of field goals. He is being recruited by a number of NCAA Division I schools, and has a brother playing for Michigan State.
Keeping the ball away from Hyde was the Scots’ top priority, and they succeeded early in the first quarter. Justin Staton completed a Highland (6-5) drive with 5:23 left to play in the period on a 9-yard run, and the Scots led 6-0. But Fostoria gave its home crowd a glimpse of what to expect for the rest of the game on its next drive, scoring in less than one minute on Hyde’s 36-yard scoring pass to Derrick Pullom to tie the game at 6.
The Redmen (10-1) had a surprise waiting on the kickoff with an onside kick, and they recovered it to set up another score. This one came 1:11 later, with Hyde taking the ball 11 yards to score at the 3:05 mark of the first quarter. Shaquile Taylor’s 2-point conversion run gave Fostoria a 14-6 lead.
Highland kept the ball moving with its ground game, but could not break into the end zone for the rest of the half. The Redmen had their longest drive of the game in the second quarter, one lasting 3:05, and scored on Hyde’s 25-yard field goal for a 17-6 advantage with 2:07 left. They snuffed the Scots next drive and finished the half with Hyde’s 28-yard field goal with 2.9 seconds to play to lead 20-6 at halftime.
The Scots were still in the game, and relied on Staton to carry the load and keep the ball away from Hyde. Staton rushed 37 times for 125 yards as Highland won the battle for time of possession. But the Redmen got the second-half kickoff, and Hyde scored an a 44-yard run with 10:53 to play to give his team a 27-6 lead. Fostoria forced a punt later in the third quarter, and just 16 seconds later Hyde and Jon Ramirez hooked up on a 72-yard touchdown pass to put the Redmen up 33-6. Highland finally found the end zone again in the fourth quarter, as Staton bulled in from 1 yard out at the 9:12 mark.
The Scots had 65 plays to 47 for Fostoria, but the Redmen had six scoring drives for the game, of which five took 1:11 or less. Fostoria made only five plays in the entire third quarter.
Ryan Barnett rushed for 62 yards on 13 carries for Highland, and Lance Stambaugh was 2-of-5 with six yards through the air. Barnett also caught two passes for 19 yards. Ramirez and Taylor each caught four passes for the Redmen, for 122 and 72 yards, respectively.
