Highland took down Mesa 31-21 on Friday night to extend its winning streak to four games.
Two turnovers in the third quarter allowed Highland take control of the game against Mesa, and the Jackrabbits couldn't recover.
Mesa (3-6) looked good in the first half; quarterback Jeremy Noble rushed for 88 yards and the Jackrabbits led 14-10 going in to the third quarter.
Highland (4-5) came out firing in the second half, however, and a 55-yard pass from Blake Young to receiver Bill Johnson put the Hawks up 17-14 just minutes into the third. Johnson had 127 rushing yards on the night, including a 47-yard run in the first half.
Young also connected with receiver Tyler Hatch in the first half for a 32-yard touchdown.
"Our connection on the field has been growing," Young said. "I've been working with him a lot this season and we're getting the chemistry down."
The Hawks would go on to score 21 unanswered points in the second half, and led 31-14 at the end of the third. Young finished with 143 yards passing and two touchdowns.
"They made a great play to open up the second half, and number 87 (Johnson) did a great job all night." Mesa coach Kelley Moore said. "I've got to hand it to him. The wheels just came off, and we fell apart."
Two Jackrabbit drives in the third quarter ended with Noble turning over the ball on a fumble; the first was picked up by linebacker Mason Darveaux and returned 55 yards for a Hawks touchdown. The second Noble fumble, on the next drive, was recovered at midfield by Tre Tyler. The Hawks turned that into an 8-yard touchdown run by Jacob Vehonsky, putting away the game.
"We struggled a bit in the first half but our assistant coaches did a great job of making adjustments at the half and we came out strong," Hawks coach Pete Wahlheim said.
Mesa would get on the board late in the fourth on a Noble 3-yard touchdown, but the deficit would be too much to recover from. Noble had 15 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns, but had only three completions for 30 yards passing.
"That's four in a row, our kids have gotten healthy, and I'm just so proud of them," Wahlheim said. "After starting 0-5, and hanging in there, they could have laid down but we're improving every week and we have a lot of guys chipping in."
