On the night of Jan. 7, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) boys basketball team faced Highland High School (Highland) on Foothill Tech’s home court. The game had ups and downs, both teams made great plays and Highland started the game off well with some quick points. However, the Dragons fought back and won the game with a score of 50-40.
The first quarter started with Highland quickly scoring and bringing the score to 0-4. Foothill Tech, however, got a steal and Ashton Brown ‘26 was able to score. Highland responded and scored yet another basket, bringing the score to 2-6. With a three-pointer by Erick Hernandez ‘26 and another jump shot by Brown, the Dragons flipped the score and took a 7-6 lead. Highland was able to score once more, and the Dragons took control of the rest of the quarter, scoring five more points. The quarter ended with a close score of 12-8, Dragons.
Highland came off the end of the quarter looking to score, and they did, making it a close game of 12-10. The second quarter went back and forth in terms of both teams scoring, with neither team taking a huge lead. However, with five points by Brown, the Dragons were able to expand their lead to 19-12. Highland went on a little run to close this gap to 19-16. To end the quarter, Brown had four more points, and the Dragons went to halftime with a score of 23-16.
Foothill Tech started the third quarter strong with Nick Turner ‘26, Hernandez and Brody Baker ‘26 all contributing to a ten-point lead. Turner had a quick bucket, Hernandez had a fast break layup and Baker was sent to the free throw line, where he made both of his free throws, which brought the score to 29-19 after Highland made a three. Hernandez had another fast break layup, followed by Highland scoring two more layups and the score followed 31-24. Baker was sent to the free-throw line again, where he missed both. Highland also got fouled and went to shoot 2 free throws, where they also missed. Highland got the rebound and put it back up, ending the quarter 31-26.
The last quarter was by far the Dragons’ strongest, where they were able to expand to a comfortable lead. Brown had four more points, and Turner had a fast break layup, leading the score to 37-26. Baker executed a jump shot, followed by a timeout by Highland at 42-28. After this timeout, Highland started to pick up the pace and scored seven points, while the Dragons scored four. Despite this run for Highland, the Dragons still had a strong lead with the score, 46-37. Turner had two more layups and Highland had a three-pointer to end the game with a score of 50-40.
The Dragons face Bishop Diego on Jan. 14th at the Ventura College gym.
