Three Highland touchdown drives in succession against Casteel began its 6A playoff game Friday night and was the start the Hawks craved. The defense took its turn in the second half to protect the lead and guide Highland to a 30-20 victory over the Colts in the first-round contest at Highland.

#4 Highland (6-3) moves on to next Friday's semifinals to visit top-seed Boulder Creek, a 38-22 winner over Shadow Ridge. Casteel (5-4) saw its season end - a fifth year in as many seasons of the school's existence qualifying for postseason. The other 6A semi matches #7 Chaparral at #3 Sandra Day O'Connor. Chaparral beat #2 Queen Creek, 26-8 and O'Connor bested #8 Basha in OT, 27-21.

Highland used three Gage Dayley first-half touchdown passes - he added fourth in the second half - to build an early lead and force Casteel to play from behind all evening. Dayley, a 5-foot-10, 150-pound junior, engineered drives of 67 yards, 63 yards and 68 yards to produce a 23-13 hafltime lead. Dayley missed four full games last year due to injury, including one of two playoff games. He returned for a quarterfinal loss to Queen Creek in which he passed for 425 yards.

Highland's defense, which was on the field much of the second half, gave up its share of yardage. The Hawks, however, limited Casteel to seven points on four drives that filtered into or just outside the red zone. 

Highland coach Brock Farrel was confident in his defense and felt that way early in the second half when it forced Casteel to a field-goal try that was no good.

"As soon as we got that stop in the third quarter, I thought we'd be OK," Farrel said. "Our plan was to dare them to run. They did a good job of running it. We didn't want them beating us with the pass. Their drives took a lot of time, and they had to work for their points. Our defense made important stops the second half."

Casteel received the second-half kickoff and proceeded  to drive from its 26 to Highland's 8 using 16 plays and almost seven minutes. A 5-yard field goal that could have cut the lead to 23-16 missed wide right by inches.

What bolstered Farrel's confidence was Highland's response offensively. The Hawks drove 80-yards to improve their lead to 30-13 with 1:40 left in the quarter. The scoring play was Dayley's fourth TD toss - 15 yards to Ammon Allen. Dayley passed for 234 yards (18 of 23). His other three TDs were to in order (Max Davis, Jace Patton and Joshua Schenks).

Casteel, known this season for second-half comebacks, had their chances. After Highland's final TD, the Colts shifted to pass mode as  quarterback Dane Christensen spread the ball around to four receivers and ultimately snuck in from the 1 for this third short TD run to cut the lead to 30-20 with 9:13 to go.

Casteel forced a punt and was on the march again at Highland's 27. Facing a fourth-and-one, the Hawks' Kam Cullimore darted through the line and picked up a tackle for loss giving the ball back to Highland. 

Casteel got one more possession with 1:12 to play moving frm its 20 to Highland's 12. Ammon Allen intercepted Christensen to close it out.

Casteel running back Jayce Knutsen rushed for 108 yards unofficially, only his second game breaking the 100-yard mark this season.  He also tossed a 38-yard completion to Zach Miller to jump start a fourth-quarter drive that eventually stalled. Top receiver Isaiah Newcombe caught 10 passes, but did not score. Only one catch went for more than 10 yards (22 on a second-period scoring drive).

Although Highland scored only seven points in the second half, senior running back Max Davis had a strong final two quarters rushing for 80 yards after intermission to finish with 117 on 20 carries. He had a late TD called back that would have put the Hawks up 37-20.