Category: Sports Club News

by Kirk Dooley

Every game in the playoffs is a big game. Every player knows that it could be his last dance.
The Scots are treating the Frisco Lone Star rematch like another weekly challenge. They have been preparing to play their best against a team that is generally considered to be the top 5A team in the state.
Let’s back up. In Week Three the Scots hosted the Rangers at Highlander Stadium. HP was ranked number one in the state and Lone Star was ranked fourth.
The Scots kicked off to the Rangers and Marvin Mims returned the kick 54 yards to the HP 45-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage sophomore quarterback Garret Rangel hit Mims for a 45 yard touchdown. Boom! That was the first of 24 unanswered points the Rangers scored on the Scots in the first half. The HP defense had a nice goal-line stand, holding the Rangers scoreless after a first and goal from the four. And the HP offense moved the ball but turnovers kept them off the scoreboard.
In the second half the Scots settled down, scoring 19 points and holding Lone Star to two field goals. But the 24-0 deficit was too much to overcome and the Rangers won 30-19, taking the state’s number one 5A ranking away from the Scots and keeping it for themselves ever since.
Watching HP’s biggest playoff games over the past three years, I’ve been amazed at how the Scots can dig deep and find a gear nobody knew they had. Much of it is coaching. HP goes into a big game they’re picked to lose and they find a way to win. That’s the emotion you’ll see the day after Thanksgiving, only 10 times more.
I think this game is the biggest game for Highland Park in the past several years. Unlike the Denton Ryan, Temple, Manvel and Shadow Creek games, the Scots are playing a team that beat them earlier this season. There’s a score to settle and the HP players be rabid like we haven’t seen this season.
I do think it is important to note that the Rangers have never seen Hunter Heath or Drew Scott or Will Gibson play. The Scots are playing on all cylinders right now and relish the chance to fight as underdogs. Something magic happens when the Scots are picked to lose.
Coach Allen and his staff know how big, fast, strong and athletic Lone Star is on offense and defense. Highland Park will have to play its best game of the season to advance. It may take 50 points to win this game but whatever it takes, I believe the Scots will find a way.

by Kirk Dooley

The Scots roll into the second round of the playoffs against the Magnolia Bulldogs this Thursday night at AT&T Stadium. Many Highland Park fans will not be familiar with Magnolia, a school the Scots have never faced.
First of all, Chip Gaines is not the coach.
The town of Magnolia, located about four hours south of Dallas, is in Montgomery County. The Woodlands and Conroe are also in Montgomery County, as is the best-named Texas town, Cut and Shoot.
Magnolia High School has 1,990 students and the population of Magnolia is 1,400, so how does that work? I guess they just do math differently down there.
The Bulldogs are 8-3 for the season and came in third in district 8-5A Div. I behind Lufkin and College Station. The Magnolia head coach, Craig Martin, was the offensive coordinator at Temple when the Scots faced the Wildcats in the 2016 state championship match, better known as the Turner Coxe Safety Game.
Magnolia has one of the biggest and best offensive lines we’ll see this season. The five guys on the O-line are: 6-5, 260 – 6-2, 280 – 6-5, 290 – 5-11, 260 – 6-6, 265. Three are committed to D-1 schools.
I have a family connection to Magnolia. My brother Craig has a nephew, Derek Bowman, a left tackle who is committed to Dana Holgorsen at the University of Houston. I’d like to say that Derek got his athleticism from my side of the family, since Craig was a standout on the Highland Park Buck-Buck team in 1969. But Derek’s dad punted for Texas Tech and his brother Reed is a punter at Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs use that O-line to pound the ball up the middle, right between the tackles. Running back Mitch Hall is a 5’9” battering ram who rushed for 208 yards against Poteet in the Bulldogs’ 34-14 win last Friday. Earlier in the season Hall ran for 230 yards against College Station.
The Scots are happy to have Henry Hagenbuch back from an injury. The offense is averaging 54 points per game and will be at full strength with Hagenbuch back at his right tackle position. The HP defense has been playing well and is holding opponents to 17 points per game. Magnolia is averaging twice that so we’ll see who wins that battle.
With some sophomores being brought up for the playoffs, we have two sets of brothers taking the field together for the first time. Senior DB Christian Wright welcomes his LB brother, George, to varsity and junior OL Will Gibson is now joined by brother Grant, also an offensive lineman. The Magnolia game will fade from our memories as time marches on but this will be a day these two sets of brothers will remember for the rest of their lives.
Magnolia will try to win this game between the tackles. And the Scots can’t score if they don’t have the ball.