Category: KIRK DOOLEY’S BLOG

by Kirk Dooley

The Highland Park defense has aggressively grabbed the spotlight during the playoffs, stuffing high-octane offenses and proving to be the difference between the Scots being a good team and a great team.
   That challenge escalates this Friday night as the Scots battle the Mansfield Lake Ridge Eagles, who averages 490 yards and 42.5 points per game. The winner of this game plays the winner of the Frisco Wakeland – Mansfield Legacy contest in the state quarterfinals next week.
   Last week the Eagles scored 87 points against the Samuel Spartans. They never let their foot of the gas because the Spartans kept scoring themselves, finishing the night with 58 points. And to be clear, the Scots offense could have scored 90 points each of the past two games if their opponents had kept scoring. But those past two teams, Mount Pleasant and Frisco Independence, were completely shut down by a destructive HP defense. Mount Pleasant was credited with a safety and Independence came away with an early field goal. No touchdowns. The HP defenders are still mad about the loss to Wylie East and they are playing like mad men.
   The Scot coaches get an A-plus for their preparation, giving their players the best chance to succeed. Independence had the highest-rated 5A offense in North Texas (508 yards per game) and had a 2,000-yard runner. The Scots defense, built Ford-tough, held the Knights to 148 yards of total offense and held their star back to 35 yards rushing. That was not luck. It was talent, determination, spirit and preparation.
   This week the Scots face a better team. Lake Ridge was in the state finals last year. Its quarterback, Jason Dean, has thrown for 2,725 yards and 25 touchdowns. He has also run for 530 yards and six more TDs. The Eagles have a star running back, Darrius Lee, is 52 yards away from 1,000 yards for the season.
   The Scots’ top two receivers, Cade Saustad and Scully Jenevein, are injured and out for the season. But the Scots rotate eight top-notch receivers each game, so a dropoff isn’t felt. J.T. Dooley got more playing time last week and responded with a dazzling 97-yard, two-touchdown night.
   Common opponents? Both teams beat Poteet, but not by much. HP shut out Mansfield Timberview, 31-0, then the Wolves turned around and gave Lake Ridge its worst loss of the season, 35-7. Go figure. Waxahachie, once a state top-10 team, beat the Scots on Sept. 2, then Lake Ridge beat Waxahachie, 63-49, in their final district game. The winner made the playoffs and the loser stayed home. Waxahachie is arguably the best team in Texas that didn’t make the playoffs.
   Both Highland Park and Lake Ridge come from outstanding districts, as 9-5A and 15-5A had four teams advance to the second round and both have three teams in the third round. HP, Lake Ridge and Mansfield Legacy are three of the four Div. I teams left in the region. Poteet, Wylie East and Lancaster are three of the four teams left in Div. II. That is a lot of firepower for two districts.
   Scots quarterback John Stephen Jones last week completed 11 of 15 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns. He is comfortable, confident and seems right at home at the Ford Center at The Star.
   Lake Ridge averages 42.5 points per game and the Highland Park defense allows 12.9. How will that translate? My money is on Luke Blanton, Marshall Hammack, Turner Coxe, Matt Gahm, Bennett Brock, John House, Max Holsomback, O’Neil Sitzer, Alex Walzel, George Stewart, Zac Folts and James Herring.
   Gentlemen, start your defense.

by Kirk Dooley

The first round of the Texas high school football playoffs can produce eye-popping scores, especially in the games where the number one seed from one district plays the number four seed from the adjacent district. It is not unlike the NCAA basketball tournament when top seeds play #16 seeds and the results are predictable.

Such was the case when 8-2 Highland Park battled 3-7 Mount Pleasant in the first round. The Scots won, 70-2, and held the Tigers to 65 yards of total offense and two first downs. Eight different Scots scored touchdowns, the last being JV Blue running back Cameron Reeves.

One team scoring a lot of points isn’t unusual during bi-district week. If Highland Park advances this week it will play Mansfield Lake Ridge (who scored 49 points last week) or Samuel (60). A possible quarterfinal opponent, Mansfield Legacy, put up 56 points. Semifinals? Denton Ryan (54) or Colleyville Heritage (50). And if the Scots make it to the finals, teams they might play and how many points they scored last weekend include Dripping Springs (63), Richmond Foster (72), Angleton (73) and Manvel (78).

In this week’s Area round the games shouldn’t be as lopsided. There is a chance that contest between Highland Park and Frisco Independence could be the highest scoring game in the state. Unless one or both defenses rise to the occasion, this game could be one of those 59-55 shootouts. The Knights will be the best offensive team the Scots have faced. They are the only 5A team in North Texas averaging more than 500 yards per game. Their top running back, Dom Williams, has already hit the 2,000-yard mark and has scored 29 touchdowns. Their quarterback, Kyle Saddler, has thrown for 2,482 yards and 29 touchdowns. Their top receiver, Colton Nielson, has 902 yards and 14 TDs.
Last week’s destruction of Mount Pleasant was a first-round aberration. The playoffs really begin for the Scots this Friday night. The competition will be 10 times stronger and the Scots need to have their heads on straight to stay in a potential close game.
Independence is tough but not unbeatable. They were stopped by a very good Frisco Lone Star team for the district championship two weeks ago, 37-13. Last week the Knights beat McKinney North, 47-28, for their first playoff win in school history. Independence opened in 2014.
To advance, the Scots’ offense needs to score like it always does, then add two more TDs. On defense, slow down Williams without giving Saddler one-on-one coverage across the board. Usually, it’s pick your poison. Stopping Williams by clogging the box has given the Rangers’ passing game a free ride to six points.
Earlier this season Independence scored 61 points against Frisco Heritage. But Heritage was the last one to score and won, 64-61. Let’s put that game under a microscope because Heritage finished the season 2-8.

by  Kirk Dooley

   The 2016 playoffs are upon us and on Saturday HP fans will zip up the Tollway to watch the Scots take on the Mount Pleasant Tigers at 1:00 p.m. at the Ford Center at the Star, better known as the new Dallas Cowboys’ 12,000-seat indoor practice facility in Frisco. All the Frisco ISD high school teams use the state-of-the-art stadium for games throughout the season and it has become a popular playoff facility … as of this weekend.
   The district 15-5A co-champions and number-one-playoff-seed Scots will face the Tigers, who finished fourth in district 16-5A. While the Tigers’ 3-7 record is not as good as the Scots’ 8-2 season total, Mount Pleasant’s winning streak is a two, while HP’s is zero. Therein lies one of the key aspects of the Texas high school football playoffs. Throw the records out the window. Forget the standings. Rankings mean nothing. As the great philosopher Randy Allen says, “A playoff team is a playoff team.”
   Any team with any record can beat any other team in the playoffs. Right now the Tigers are playing their best football of the season and they believe that they will win their third straight game this weekend.
   The Scots took a week off from a very good season and let the Wylie East Raiders beat them up in the final game of the regular season. It was the first time a Wylie ISD team has ever beaten Highland Park. To me the game boiled down to the Raiders’ final drive of the game, which took nine minutes off the clock and culminated with an Eno Benjamin 11-yard touchdown run with 80 grains of sand left in the hourglass. Final score: Wylie East 20 – HP 9.
   The Scots vow to bounce back this week and play at the level that put them in the state’s Top 10. On paper HP should run circles around a 3-7 team but the Scots are facing an offensive line that goes 260, 270, 295, 305 and 310. That’s a lot of East Texas beef leading an offense that is coming into its own with a sophomore quarterback and a sophomore running back. They’re both now playing like veterans as the playoffs begin.
   This season the Tigers boasted one of the best running backs in North Texas, a kid who gained over 1,900 yards as a junior. But he became unavailable in August and the Tigers are just now recovering from his loss.
   The Scots will wake up from last Friday’s slumber party in Wylie. They should have their heads on straight and take their frustrations out on the Tigers, who are thrilled just to make the playoffs.
   If the Scots take care of business, next week they will play the winner of this Friday evening’s Frisco Independence-McKinney North game at the Ford Center at the Star. Both of these teams will come armed with a 2,000-yard runner of their own. Hopefully the Wylie East game, in which the Scots held Eno Benjamin to 186 yards (that’s below his average), will serve as a practice game to prepare the Scots defense for Independence’s Dom Williams or McKinney North’s Lamar Lucas. Both of these guys have gained more yards rushing than Benjamin.
   But to get to that game, the Scots must do better than field goals against Mount Pleasant.