In only his second season at the helm of the Highland football program, Brock Farrel is only one win away from planting his squad in the AIA 6A Football State Championship game.

On a windy night in Peoria, No. 5 seed Highland tamed the No. 4 seed Liberty Lions 15-12 in a playoff quarterfinal.

Senior quarterback Kaleb Herbert tossed a 44-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Noah Burdick with five minutes left in the fourth quarter.

After scoring the go-ahead touchdown, Highland (9-1) choose to go for two rather than kick the extra-point after witnessing Liberty (9-1) kicker Kolter Nelson miss two kicks earlier in the game going the same direction into the wind.

“We have been practicing that two-point play all year,” said Farrel. “We have had it in our bag and we needed it. We got it. We finally had an opportunity to use it.”

Kolter had a chance to redeem himself and force overtime but his kick was wide right.

 “We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” said senior running-back Kohner Cullimore

“It’s playoff football,” said Farrel. “That was the game I was expecting.”

Liberty stopped the run that Highland pushed for early on. But high winds, turnovers and the Lions defense led to many stalled drives for the Hawks.

Herbert gave kudos to his defense for keeping them in the game.

“It’s really tough as an offense when you are stalling,” said Herbert. “You start to lose hope, but the defense kept us in this one. I love my defense. Quarterback's best friend.”

Highland’s magical season continues as the Hawks continue to prove many doubter’s wrong week in and week out.

“The kids truly believe they can beat anybody,” said Farrel.

Next up is a date in the semifinals with No. 1 seed Chandler (9-1).