All it took was one quality win to finally turn the season in a direction the Highland Rams could stomach.

After starting 0-2 with losses to 4A power Mountain Crest and bruising 5A school Hunter, the Rams were officially considered slow starters.

Then again, so was the tortoise.

In Week 3, Highland defeated 5A Lone Peak — which was coming off a victory over the same Mountain Crest team that hammered the Rams in their opener — with a 14-12 victory to get its first digit in the win column.

"We came together as a team," said receiver Nate Fakahafua, who has committed to the University of Utah. "The first two games we were playing as individuals."

Highland coach Brody Benson can pinpoint the moment that galvanized his team and offered hope that it wouldn't fall into an unwelcome 0-3 start.

Lone Peak quarterback Chase Hansen had the game of his life against Mountain Crest at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Aug. 28. But in the first quarter against Highland, he threw an interception to Highland's Anthony Smithson. The pick set up Highland's game-opening touchdown, which put the Rams up 7-0.

"As soon as it happened," Benson said, "the first thing you saw was 10 other guys looking for somebody else to block."

The Rams hope they have survived their second straight season-opening malaise. Last year, they lost in the opener to Mountain Crest and then fell to Skyline 41-21, before ultimately winning six straight region games to enter the playoffs with a No. 1 seed.

"It's pretty frustrating," lineman Ono Tafisi said. "At the start of the summer we expect to have a good start, but it's always like this."

Credit that to the traditionally treacherous schedule Highland plays. Each year it opens with Mountain Crest, Hunter is a recently added rivalry, and usually there is Skyline. This year, however, Skyline ventured to Hawaii in Week 3, which opened a place for Lone Peak on the schedule. Still, the Rams are consistently a top 4A team and in contention to win the Region 6 title.

This week, the Rams host 3A power Bear River.

"I just think giving kids a playoff experience early helps prepare them for region," Benson said.

Of course, this year that was an even taller order. The team starts a first-year quarterback, Colby Earl, as well as three new linebackers, two new safeties and two new cornerbacks.

"It took them a while to get used to the game speed, but when they picked it up, we showed it," said Earl, who missed the first two games with a hamstring injury.

The outcome saved Highland the mental hole of an 0-3 start. A bad start is especially disconcerting in a year that Region 6, in which Highland is usually the crown jewel, may be the toughest in 4A. Woods Cross, Olympus, East and Bountiful all look like state contenders, but only three teams from the region will reach the playoffs.

To have no momentum going into region play is not something Benson wanted.

Often, coaches won't admit to fearing such a slow start or say it's irrelevant in the quest to win region games and get into the playoffs. Benson isn't so coy.

"It's sitting there in our heads," he said. "Just going into the [Lone Peak] game the thought of going 0-3. That's a huge deficit to climb out of. Especially mentally."

After the Rams' big win, the climb suddenly is less daunting.

boram@sltrib.com

On Twitter: @oramb —

Highland's slow starts

2010 • 1-2 (host Bear River this week)

2009 • 1-3 (finished 8-4)

2008 • 2-2 (finished 8-4)

2007 • 2-2 (finished 8-3)