Highland Park wins 3rd straight, dumping Dayton on the road, 38-26

Anyone who knows what Highland Park football has gone through in the last eight years knows a win is a big deal, as it was last fall when – in their final regular season game of the year – they snapped the longest active losing streak in the state at 51 games with a win at Point Pleasant Beach.

Seeing them start this year with a win to take back-to-back games was another big accomplishment.

But after Friday night’s 38-26 road win over Dayton, the Owls all of a sudden are not just 2-0, but have won three straight for the first time since their 2009 campaign, in which they went 8-4 and lost to Asbury Park in the Central Jersey Group 1 final.

They beat Cardinal McCarrick to close the regular season, then got playoff wins over Florence and Metuchen to reach the title game. Their last three-game win streak in the regular season came back in 2008, when they started the year 4-0.

Did we mention Highland Park was down four players against Dayton, after a scrap in their season-opening win at Dunellen?

No matter. Highland Park seems to thrive on adversity. And now, they’ve won three straight games, with a chance to make it four next Friday night when the Owls host Brearley, which fell to 0-2 Friday night with a 24-0 home loss to Spotswood.

Click below to hear Highland Park head coach Shawn Harrison talk about the win with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: