POCATELLO - The Highland football team didn't want to get stuck in a close game against Madison on Friday at Holt Arena, and thanks to a dominating performance from their defense, the Rams didn't have to.

Senior Nick Winters made two impressive interceptions, senior Jared Erickson came up with a pick of his own and EJ Norton tackled everyone in sight to give Highland a gigantic cushion before coach Gino Mariani sent in the reserves to finish off a 41-20 victory.

The Rams are now 6-2 overall and 3-0 in 5A District 4, 5, 6 play. They have clinched their conference's No. 1 seed for the state playoffs and have nothing but pride to play for in their regular-season finale next week against Skyline.

It's exactly where they wanted to be.

"The main thing on our minds today was getting that No. 1 seed," senior Buck Buchanan said. "We wanted it pretty bad."

Highland obtained it by smothering Madison early on. Following a decent first drive of the game in which the Bobcats moved the ball into Rams' territory only to fumble into the hands of Payton Nash, Madison could do nothing.

Quarterback Hayden Carter threw three interceptions, and the Bobcats' offense didn't score a single point until the fourth quarter with Highland's starting defense watching from the sidelines. By then, Highland was up 41-0.

Winters said building a big lead was what the Rams hoped for before the game.

"We came out and really wanted to take it to 'em early," he said. "We wanted to hit them in the mouth, and I think we did that. We built a big lead and got everybody playing time."

With just about everyone on the defensive side of the ball playing well, Winters said it was easy for him to grab two picks.

"On one of them, I was in such good position that I saw the ball coming down at me and I thought, 'Man, I'm going to get an interception,'" he said.

Highland coach Gino Mariani said forcing turnovers was what made the game so easy.

"Those turnovers were huge," he said. "One of our goals is to get four turnovers in every game, and we got four in the first half. We scored points on every one of them, too. That really demoralizes a team and helped us put the game away by halftime."

On offense, senior quarterback Taysom Hill once again led the way with an impressive effort. He showed no ill-effects from the Black and Blue Bowl and threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran in a touchdown for the first score of the game.

"I thought he threw the ball really well tonight," Mariani said. "He was giving me a look like he wanted to air it out a little bit, and he got to today."

Hill's main target was Buchanan, who ended the game with three catches for 84 yards. Unfortunately for Buchanan, though, two of those grabs were breakaway catches that left him one yard short of the end zone.

Early on he took a 58-yard pass to the one-yard line. In the second half, he made a 24-yard catch but was stopped at the one-yard line.

"I really thought I was going to get in the first time, but they caught me somehow," he said. "It was a little frustrating to come so close, but we played a good game."

Mariani said Buchanan's speed opened up the passing game considerably.

"He exploded off the ball tonight," Mariani said. "He did a good job of stretching the field and giving us that extra threat."

Note: Highland special teams coach Darin White was not on the sidelines for the Rams. He was serving a one-game suspension handed down by District 25 administration in response to one of his players using a cut-block to defend Hill during the Black and Blue Bowl. He will be back in action for the season-finale against Skyline. Mariani said he had no comment on the issue.