Mustangs wear down Highland

Updated: September 3, 2011 6:16PM

MUNSTER — The span between Munster and Highland in their annual Bridge Battle has seemed wider than the Grand Canyon for most of the past decade. But the gap narrowed quite a bit Friday night as the Mustangs defeated the Trojans with a 29-0.

“Give Highland credit, they hung in there,” said Munster coach Leroy Marsh. “Especially in the first half. I think we wore them down quite a bit in the second half.”

Highland appeared ready to take the halftime lead into the locker room after a long drive brought the Trojans to Munster’s 18 yard line late in the second quarter. But the Mustangs recovered a Highland fumble and proceeded to go 82 yards in 1 minute, 27 seconds.

Despite fumbling the shotgun snap, Mark Strbjak hit Luke Nossem on a 9-yard scoring toss with one second remaining to give Munster the 7-0 halftime lead. Strbjak twice converted on third-and-long by scrambling around the left side to keep the drive going.

“That was big,” said Marsh. “Mark gave us a couple of really good plays there. He’s been playing hurt and tonight was the first night he was able to run like he normally does.”

Highland’s fate was sealed midway through the third quarter after Nossem forced a fumble by the Trojans’ Gunner Grider at his own 9-yard line. Two plays later, Strbjak walked in from 5 yards out to give the Mustangs an insurmountable two-touchdown lead.

“Once we had those two turnovers, that really hurt us,” said Highland coach Ken Bye. “We can’t put the ball on the carpet. That second one really took a lot of the enthusiasm out of us.”

Munster (1-2, 1-0) got two more scores in the fourth quarter — an 8-yard run from Oliver Sutter and a 1-yard run from Gio Murillo. Strbjak finished the evening with 62 yards rushing and another 61 yards passing to lead the Mustangs. Justin Thiele carried the ball 28 times for 147 yards for Highland (1-2, 0-1). But the Trojans gained zero yards through the air as they threw for no completions and one interception in their eight attempts.

“We certainly have to start throwing the ball more effectively,” said Bye.

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