Two familiar foes sparked up an old rivalry with a new concept that lived up to the billing Friday night at a standing room only Hornets Stadium Friday night.
River Road and Highland Park met up in the newly formed Dust Bowl, playing for a Golden Boot that will travel between the schools and in this meeting will definitely be remembered with the Hornets erasing an 11-point second half deficit to rally back for a 25-24 win against the Wildcats.
After a rough 0-4 start to the year, Highland Park (1-4) not only claimed the inaugural Dust Bowl Boot, but earned that first win of the year.
“We’ve had four weeks of heartache and we’ve had some injuries,” Highland Park head coach Ty Stout said. “This was a longtime coming. To see these players and these coaches fight all night makes me so proud. Having something to play for like this boot made it special and these guys wanted it.”
Highland Park quarterback Bryce Giles echoed his coaches comment.
“We have been putting in the work,” Giles said. “It felt great to come out with a win and we know we can take some real momentum from this.”
River Road (2-3) was in control in the first half up 17-7 at the half and were seemingly in command.
The Wildcats marched on the opening drive, converting a fourth down and seven on a 22-yard touchdown connection from Ryan Essary to Austin Bartholomew putting the Wildcats up 7-0. The Wildcats then went up 17-7 in the closing minutes of the first half on an Essary 1-yard keeper.
However, the big play for Highland Park came off River Road’s one big first half mistake. Leading 10-0 midway through the second stanza, an Essary pass was picked off by Hornet defensive back Fabian Andrade who took the interception back 55 yards to the house putting Highland Park on the board for seven key points.
In the third quarter, Highland Park took the opening drive right down the field highlighted by a quarterback Bryce Giles 2-yard touchdown scamper off the left side that cut the River Road lead, 17-13 at the 8:07 mark.
The Wildcats were able to answer taking its biggest lead when Bartholomew called his own number getting loose for a 20-yard score around the outside of the Highland Park defense as the Wildcats were up 24-13 with under two minutes to go in the third quarter.
From there, the Hornets didn’t pack it in but instead took over. Giles and the offense went to work. With James Buschman running the ball strong and a quick passing attack, Highland Park drove right down the field. Giles was able to find Andrade on a quick out for a 9-yard pitch and catch. The conversion failed, so the Hornets trailed 24-19. After getting a stop, Highland Park leaned on Buschman who ate up the Wildcat defense, eventually busting loose for a through the middle for a 15-yard score giving Highland Park its first and only lead, 25-24, with 5:46 left.
“We had a huge crowd for Homecoming and we wanted to step up,” Stout said. “We love to make a living running the ball but we also want to be able to throw it. We did a good job of doing both. We were able to pound it when we needed to and give credit to our guys up front.”
River Road had two more late opportunities, but the Hornet defense stood strong with an interception from Dominic Vega and a stop in the final minute to go on to celebrate their first win of 2026.
“I think we had a little bit of complacency set in,” River Road head coach Aaron Wampler said. “We were a little too comfortable and we can’t do that. We should have put them away and we didn’t. They also got after us a little bit and we need to be more disciplined.”
Bushman led the way for Highland Park rushing for 105 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown. Giles ran for 41 yards with a score and went 17-of-24 for 202 yards with another passing score. On top of his pick-six, Andrade had a huge pass breakup late in the game, and finished the game with 32 yards with a TD. Highland Park’s defense played solid throughout holding River Road to 229 yards of total offense.
River Road’s Bartholomew snagged four catches for 107 yards with a score and rushed for another touchdown.
Photo gallery by Carter Pirtle:
