By Kirk Dooley
I believe that Jon Kitna is building a powerhouse high school football team in Waxahachie, similar to what Sam Harrell created at Ennis a few years ago.
One of the biggest similarities is that Harrell’s sons were superstar quarterbacks in their dad’s system and Kitna’s superstar QB son was also until he went down with an injury last year. One of the biggest differences is that Waxahachie has a couple of exemplary players and Ennis had a half-dozen.
Sam Harrell told me at one point that he recruited some of his all-state receivers from the Ennis gym and talked them into playing football. Kitna is grooming the same kind of talent in WR Jalen Reagor (an Oklahoma pledge) and jack-of-all-trade talent Kenedy Snell (a TCU pledge), who will line up as a slot receiver, running back or special teams magician.
In last week’s 46-34 win over against Lakeview Centennial, the Indians used two explosive third quarter plays to alert the world what they can do. The Highland Park coaches took note and the Scots fans should also.
In the span of three minutes Reagor collected a 93-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jalen Salik and then Antywan Redic returned an interception 88 yards for another Waxahachie score. Also that night Snell scored three rushing touchdowns and the Indians came away with a 12-point win.
Meanwhile the Scots unveiled their new quarterback, junior John Stephen Jones, who was impressive in his first varsity action, completing 18 of 22 passes for 327 yards and four touchdowns as HP beat a good Rockwall team, 43-21.
My favorite play of the game was in the third quarter when center JD Beverly alertly recovered a loose ball in the end zone and found himself one of the team’s leading scorers. That’s high cotton for an O-lineman.
When teams play Highland Park, there is an edge the Scots bring to the table that is hard to quantify. The players turn themselves into formidable athletes using an off-season program called Performance Course. All of them improve while some of them improve substantially. This year’s Performance Course Awards:
100 Percent Award – Zac Folts, Thomas Shelmire, Ryan Webb, Blake Bowman, Ian Raphael, Davenn Robinson, Nolan Roberts and Babe Walker
Belief Award – Babe Walker, John Stephen Jones and Luke Blanton
Leadership Award – Bennett Brock and John House
Attitude Award – Ryan Kheton and George Stewart
Consistency Award – Jack Fain and Davenn Robinson
Effort Award – Ryan Waters and Matt Gahm
Desire Award – Walker French and Cole Jackson
Star of the Year Award – John House
All of these players deserve a pat on the back for their efforts in making themselves better athletes and helping make their team better.
I’ve been around the block enough to know that this list of award winners is also a list of guys we’ll all be working for in 10 years.