The Highland Community College Scotties (1-0) opened their 2021 season with a 21-13 win on the road at Fort Scott Community College (0-2). The Fort Scott game, while a victory for the Scotties, was a typical first game of the season filled with penalties, missed assignments, and players learning their places within a new collegiate system.

Freshman Andrew Burnette opened the scoring for the Scotties off a short run to the left side of the line into the endzone. Burnette finished the day with 57 yards and a touchdown. The Scotties ended up running the ball 53 times versus Fort Scott for a total of 235 yards, with Ty-Kei Hines leading all Highland rushing with 98 yards on a team high 23 carries.

Highland quarterbacks Darrias Pearsall and Mustapha Yekini combined for 94 yards through the air on only 10 passing attempts. Yekini was able to scramble for a Scottie touchdown in the 3^rd quarter to extend the lead to 14-3.

After a second Fort Scott field goal, the Scotties extended their lead to 21-6 off a short touchdown run by Jaheim Atkinson in the 4^th quarter. Fort Scott was able to return a punt, late in the game, for a touchdown to draw the score to 21-13. From there the Scottie Defense took over the game and closed out the final Fort Scott attempts to take the lead.

One of the leaders of the Highland defense, EJ Thomas, said "It was a good team win, but we didn't achieve all of our goals we set as a defense. As a unit, we still have room for growth to become a better team. We can't get complacent at this point in the season". Thomas, who is certain to move on to a 4-year program, is still undecided where he will finish his athletic career. "I am still looking for the best fit for me before I settle down with one school", said Thomas.

The Scotties face a slightly tougher opponent this weekend as the #2 Garden City Broncbusters (1-0) travel to Highland for the Scotties home opener. Highland's Defensive Coordinator Jake Landoll is excited for the opportunity to test the Scotties against a national ranked opponent. "We've had a great week of practice and our guys are ready to take on a challenge like Garden City. We had a tough loss on the road to Garden last year and we have been using that experience as motivation throughout the last couple weeks of practice", said Landoll.

Head Coach Jeff Hancock added, "This is a tremendous opportunity to be able to play a team the caliber of Garden City and their national championship coach".

Kickoff is scheduled for 1pm CST at Porter Family Stadium in Highland, Kansas. If you can't make it to Highland to cheer on the Scotties, you can always catch all the action on the Scottie Sports Network!