Highland senior defensive end Jace Harris sliced into the backfield to make a tackle for a loss during the first series against visiting Whiting on Friday.
During the same possession, the 6-foot, 280-pound Harris — who also plays on the Trojans’ offensive line — flashed for a quarterback pressure, forcing an errant pass.
“I feel like I was doing really well getting off the ball on defense, closing my gap, making those tackles,” he said. “I like how my O-line gave it their all, how my D-line gave it their all. It all starts with the line. It all starts in the trenches. It starts with us and ended with us.
“I’m just trying to do as much as I can for my team.”
Harris has continued to do a lot for the Trojans, who notched their first victory under interim coach Jimmy McCormack with a 50-7 win.
Harris recorded 54 tackles, including 12 for loss, during his first season at Highland (1-1) in 2025 after transferring from Crete-Monee in Illinois, and he made the Class 4A junior all-state team.
Against the Oilers (1-1), Harris finished with three tackles for loss.
“Jace is a great player,” Jimmy McCormack said. “He’s an incredible ballplayer for us. He had a rough start last week against Griffith, as our whole team did, looking at the results. So seeing him come out and be his usual self, come out and bounce back, it’s really nice to see.”
Harris was a backup at Crete-Monee as a freshman and then emerged as an all-conference defensive lineman the following season. He added a role on the offensive side of the ball last year. He hadn’t played there since middle school.
“It was hard, but it wasn’t too hard to get back into it,” Harris said. “I had to go into it slow.
“Coming here, it basically felt like a new life. It was a new start, a new beginning — a good beginning. Transferring in last year, coach Mac and coach (Ben) Geffert did a great job helping me adjust. And especially my teammates, they did a great job too.”
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Junior quarterback Aaron McCormack, who is the coach’s son and ran for a touchdown and threw a touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Justin Slaven, is among the teammates who quickly came to appreciate Harris’ talents.
“Jace is a great athlete,” Aaron McCormack said. “He’s contributed so much to this program since he joined last year. He’s a big contributor on both sides of the ball. He brings a lot of energy no matter what — practice, weight room. He’s a big part of this program.”
Freshman wide receiver Jonathon Lee is making an immediate impact on the program. He returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. He initially mishandled the ball along the left sideline but cut back all the way to the right sideline and took it the distance.
Lee also caught two passes for 33 yards. He turned a short reception on the right sideline into a 31-yarder as he broke tackles and cut it all the way back to the left.
Junior quarterback/running back Julian Madrueno broke loose for a 76-yard touchdown run to account for Whiting’s score early in the fourth quarter, preventing Highland from registering its first shutout since the 2022 postseason and its first in the regular season since 2021.
Highland has won all six games against Whiting since the series was relaunched in 2021. This one was especially meaningful for 2010 Morton graduate Jimmy McCormack, an experienced assistant, including the previous two seasons as the Trojans’ offensive coordinator.
“Honestly, the kids met my expectations,” he said. “I wanted them to come out and compete for four quarters and do their best to wear our opponent down, and hopefully we were able to do that. The scoreboard indicates we did a nice job.
“But I’m just really proud of our guys in the effort they gave to make this a possibility for my first win tonight. It was just the consistency from start to finish with our physicality up front.”
No one more so than Harris.
“It just feels great,” he said. “I believed in my team, and they believed in me. When we come together, we do great.”