A blitzkrieg of a 20 minutes at the start of the second half from the home team got it home over the Chiefs 29-25 and with it a place well inside the top six.
The home team hung on to the ball, was dominant at set piece and overcame some blatant offside play by the Chiefs to record the win.
It was close at halftime, the Chiefs up 13-10, but the home team made the running for most of the second 40 minutes. Although the Chiefs got close near the end, it was glory to the men in blue.
It was well-deserved for the home team, which bustled all day, won the breakdown and stood tall in defence.
The Highlanders clinched the game early in the second half.
Lima Sopoaga banged over a penalty and then hooker Brayden Mitchell grabbed a vital turnover as the Chiefs were pressing. The ball was immediately moved wide and Malakai Fekitoa freed up winger Richard Buckman. He cleverly drew the last man and fullback Ben Smith ran the final 20m to score.
Sopoaga kicked the conversion to bring up the individual point-scoring record for the Highlanders in a year, passing Tony Brown's record of 150, set in 2000.
Sopoaga took it to 157 points with two quick penalties and the Chiefs looked to be dead and buried with a quarter of the match left.
Best for the Highlanders were halfback Aaron Smith and flanker Shane Christie, while lock Tom Franklin made an encouraging debut at this level, running himself into the ground.
Mitchell made a nuisance of himself and was strong at the breakdown and the Highlanders set piece was light years ahead of the forgettable efforts from a month ago.
Fekitoa showed why he is an All Black and the front row never gave in.
It was a great way to see off the ground for the scheduled season, although there may yet be playoff action.
The first half started poorly and neither side found any rhythm in the set piece.
Aaron Cruden knocked over a penalty after five minutes but the Highlanders replied with a nice try after 13 minutes.
They won a scrum penalty from a mighty push and from the resulting lineout the ball was moved to Fekitoa.
He broke the line and passed to Ben Smith, who put winger Patrick Osborne over.
Within three minutes the Chiefs replied with a try of their own. Cruden grubber-kicked and the ball bounced up nicely for winger Dwayne Sweeney to score.
The Highlanders were not getting much territory but good rush defence kept them handy.
Chiefs fullback Gareth Anscombe tried a long-range penalty from 48m and it just sneaked over to give the visitors a 13-7 lead after half an hour.
Sopoaga got his side closer when he kicked a penalty from straight in front after the Chiefs scrum collapsed and it was anyone's game going into the halftime break.
Highlanders v Chiefs: The scores
Highlanders ... 29
Patrick Osborne, Ben Smith tries; Lima Sopoaga 4 pen, 2 con; Hayden Parker pen
Chiefs ... 25
Dwayne Sweeney, Tim Nanai-Williams, Josh Hohneck tries; Aaron Cruden 2 con, pen; Gareth Anscombe pen
Halftime: 13-10 Chiefs
Crowd: 11,070
