In a lopsided week-two home victory the night of Aug. 31, the McLean Highlanders improved to 2-0 for their best start to a full 10-game regular-season high-school football schedule since 2014.
On Aug. 31, McLean routed the Lewis Lancers, 50-9, in non-district action. The Highlanders opened the season with a 44-0 road win over Meridian in non-district play.
"We are improving and are where we want to be after two games," McLean coach Joe Cockerham said. "Our schedule gets tougher from here so we have to keep getting better."
The Highlanders already have improved on their victory total of last season when they won just once.
Quarterback Ethan Ball and runningback Kaelan Ferris led a productive offense that scored three first-quarter touchdowns and sent McLean on its way to the blowout over Lewis.
Ferris had first-quarter scoring runs of 29 and 86 yards. Also in the first half, Ball threw TD passes of 29 yards to Logan Blake and 11 to Vaughn McCollough, with Nathan Bender booting multiple extra points. The Highlanders led 44-3 at halftime.
Ferris finished with 158 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Kennedy Munoz added 124 yards on the ground and a score.
Ball completed many of his early passes, also connecting with Benjamin Irish and Malcom Andrews, and had big runs of 18 and 15 yards. He passed for 156 yards and three TDs and rushed for 34. Ball was 11 of 12 passing.
Andrews had six catches for 65 yards and Blake, McCollough and Irish two catches each.
"Vaughn has great hands and will catch some passes, but he is such a valuable player for us because we have him doing so much in the running game," Cockerham said.
McLean amassed 462 total yards, of which 306 were rushing, and the Highlanders had 23 first downs.
The McLean defense, a different system this season, swarmed the Lewis offense all game long, compiling multiple tackles for losses or no gains, with Easton Johnson and Carter Brown among those making many tackles. Lewis gained just 102 total yards and minus eight rushing.
NOTE: McLean began the shortened 2020-21 pandemic campaign 3-0.