Highland Park Welcomes Bagpiper, But Falls to Washburn 49-0 in Homecoming Football Game
Highland Park had a gentleman in Scottish garb playing the bagpipes during warmups for its football homecoming game Saturday. Once competition commenced, however, it was the hosts who were blown away by Washburn, 49-0.
Henry Eichten ran 17 times for 181 yards and three touchdowns, and backfield mate Kevin Hayes III ran 13 times for 73 yards and two touchdowns while the beleaguered Scots didn’t produce a first down until late in the fourth quarter.
“We came off our best game of the season, and we had a good week of practice,” said Dave Zeitchick, Highland Park’s 22nd-year head coach, whose team beat Como Park-Washington Tech last week, 42-6. “We thought we were progressively getting better, but they just outmuscled us and knocked us down a peg. We’re devastated after falling off a cliff.”
Washburn quarterback Andrew Backhaus ran seven times for 23 yards and a touchdown, and he completed 6 of 15 passes for 49 yards and another score. He had a pass intercepted.
Highland Park was led by quarterback Eric Reed, who ran 18 times for 47 yards, often while escaping a collapsing pocket or downfield congestion caused by a lack of blocking. Reed completed 1 of 5 passes for 1 yard.
Zeitchick said Reed is truly a running back filling in under center for junior Leo Clifford, who has been out since suffering a knee injury late last season.
“We’re trying to use his skills, and he has done a great job. But he’s not a traditional quarterback,” said Zeitchick, noting that Clifford chose to sit out the current football campaign in hopes of being able to play basketball this winter. “We had to reconfigure our offensive plan and we love [Reed], but we just have to help him more.”
Washburn pounded away on the ground, although coach Ryan Galindo wanted more precise execution from his troops, who improved to 4-2 while dropping the Scots to 2-4.
“The point is to chase greatness, and the process for that is what we want to focus on,” Galindo said. “It’s all about doing the little things to make the bigger things come out the way you want. We have some blocking scheme things we need to clean up, and some of our playmakers didn’t make plays like they normally do.”
Eichten, 6 feet and 184 pounds, and Hayes, 5-10 and 225 pounds, wore down a Scots defense that spent most of the game on the field.
“They’re tough runners,” said Galindo, in his 11th year at the Millers helm. “They’re seniors who want the ball in their hands, downhill runners who don’t mind contact. They’re going to make their one cut like they’re taught and then go as fast as they can.”
Highland Park’s highlight was a Ronald Thompson interception inside his team’s 20-yard line that ended the visitors’ first drive after halftime.
The Scots host St. Paul City Conference rival Central next week, while Washburn, winner of three of its last four games, clashes with Minneapolis Southwest.
“All we did was lose one football game today,” Zeitchick said. “It was a horrible loss, and we’re super disappointed. But we just have to wake up and get ready for Central.”
https://www.twincities.com/2025/10/04/high-school-football-washburn-shuts-down-highland-park/