by Kirk Dooley
The Scots took care of business last Friday, knocking off district rival Poteet, 40-29, to retain first place in district 15-5A with three games remaining.
Highland Park did it the hard way, spotting the Pirates 15 points early in the second quarter. The Scots were down by six at the end of two quarters and made some good adjustments at halftime to command the third quarter with 24 straight points to ice the game.
By rolling up more than 600 yards of total offense and holding the Pirates to under 240, the Scots made its most significant statement of the season against a very good team. Now the Scots, undefeated in district play, face Forney, Royse City and Wylie East to close out the regular season.
This week Highland Park travels to Forney to hunt some Jackrabbits. Forney is 3-4, with wins over Berkner, Lindale and Royse City along with losses to Terrell, Poteet, Lovejoy and West Mesquite. They are 1-3 in district play but have fought most teams to close games.
Click Here for directions to game. 7:30pm kickoff tonight, October 21, 2016.
The Jackrabbits’ quarterback is junior Devon Rideaux who has completed 53 of 129 passes for 755 yards and six touchdowns. He is also the team’s second leading rusher, totaling 430 yards on 84 carries. If the Scots focus on Rideaux, they need to be careful because then Aaron Rideaux can hurt you. He is the team’s third leading rusher and third leading receiver. It’s confusing when they’re both in the backfield at the same time.
Forney also has some excellent talent at center (all-district Ethan Hanley), linebacker (all-district Brendan Vaughn and defensive line (all-state Jaylon Hutchins). While taking a break from starring on defense Vaughn is also the team’s leading receiver (23 yards per catch) and Hutchins is the team’s leading rusher (526 yards on 79 carries). These guys are good but they will also be good and tired.
The number for the Scots to be concerned with is six. That’s the number of yards per carry that Hutchins, Rideaux and Rideaux each average every time they run with the ball. That sounds like a lot of first downs…
Last month an intoxicated man from Terrell stumbled into a Forney fast food restaurant and demanded some free enchiladas. When he wasn’t given any, he got into an argument and so his buddy took him outside. There the two of them got into a fight and enchilada man bit the ear off his buddy. I mention this as a reminder to all Scots fans who go to Forney this Friday. If you stop for dinner and order enchiladas, make sure you let your waiter or waitress know that you fully intend to pay for them.