The Highland Hawks play host to the Westview Knights in a Class 6A non-region game Friday night where the Hawks look to improve to 5-0.

This year’s Highland team faces a different Westview than in previous years as the Knights are coming into the contest 0-3. But coach Brock Farrel told his players Wednesday during practice that they could not go into the game with the mentality that they were going to win no matter what.

Farrel said his team’s run-first philosophy is not going to change anytime soon.

“I’m going to keep with whatever scores points,” Farrel said. “It’s no secret that Kohner Cullimore, Jacob Wood, Dayton Huffman, when they get the ball in their hands, they make plays, and so that’s what we are going to do get to ball in their hands and see what we can do.”

Quarterback has also been  a position that has been back and forth for the Hawks. Mason Trail, a junior, was the choice to start the season for Highland.

Highland’s last game against Brophy Prep saw the start of junior Kaleb Herbert at the position. This came after he saw some time during the Hawks narrow 24-22 win over Cesar Chavez.

“Obviously we’ve got a lot of youth at quarterback, so that’s not helping, but you know they are getting better,” Farrel said. “Kaleb is getting better every game, but I’m going to do what works, and what’s working right now is running the football, so that’s it.”

Senior running back Jacob Wood said the Hawks biggest challenge for this game would be the Knight offense.

“They (Westview) know how to run it because they’ve been doing that for a long time so they execute super well,” Wood said. “So on defense we are going to have to be able to cover our responsibilities. We’ve got to be sound the whole night.”

Wood is averaging 60.5 rushing yards per game.

Running back Kohner Cullimore said the line needed to work hard and keep improving during the game.

Highland’s kicker/punter, Austin McNamara, is a player who Westview is also going to have to watch for. Westview will have to work hard to gain a field-position advantage to neutralize  the talented kicker.

Other players to watch for the Hawks will be senior cornerback Jalen Johnson, who had two fourth-quarter interceptions last week against Brophy Prep, tight end Riley Bond, and Dayton Huffman, who has talents on both sides of the ball.