HP vs Richardson Berkner: Kirk Dooley’s Blog

It’s scary playing football on Halloween night.

Highland Park takes its 4-1 district record on the road to face the 0-5 Berkner Rams this Friday and there’s nothing scarier than playing a team that has not won a district game. Knocking off Highland Park would salvage the season for the Rams and it could happen if the Scots are looking past Berkner and are thinking about where they’ll go trick-or-treating after the game.berkner-rams-helmet2

The Rams opened the season by knocking off South Garland, 55-27, and Naaman Forest, 45-27. Averaging 50 points per game was a good start but it’s been downhill for the Rams ever since. Poteet popped Berkner 45-14 in the final pre-district game. This season 10-6A has been unkind to the Rams. Lake Highlands beat them, 37-22, before Horn beat the Rams by 50 points, 62-12. North Mesquite beat Berkner by six, Mesquite scalped them, 28-7, then last weekend Richardson won the battle for last place in a 27-24 squeaker.

That leaves Berkner with a 2-6 record for the season and 0-5 in district. The best this team can hope for is to beat both Highland Park this week and J.J. Pearce next week, and even if they do they’ll still finish in last place. Tonight’s battle against Berkner will take place at Lake Highlands. Go figure.

The Rams are led by quarterback Davis Steelman, who has completed 104 of 198 passes for 1,288 yards and nine touchdowns. He has also given up seven interceptions and gained 285 yards on the ground. His favorite target is Isaiah Betters who has caught 36 passes for 527 yards and six TDs. The top Berkner runner is CaDarius Edwards who has gained 845 yards, averaging six yards per carry. He also has two capital letters in his first name, so he’s someone to pay attention to. Also keep in mind that kicker Tanner Lange is deadly when he’s inside the 40. Few high school teams can boast that.

In last week’s Richardson game, Berkner churned up 443 yards in total offense but lost by a field goal. They actually played well enough to win but Kahlil Lacy’s 98-yard kickoff return for a Richardson Eagle touchdown in the first quarter was the actual difference in the game. One special teams play. The Scots will get to face Lacy and his bunch next Friday.

This week the Scots have the challenge of not being lulled to sleep by the Rams’ winless district record. Berkner cannot make the playoffs even if they pull off the upset, so that takes away a big incentive. A handful of HP sophomores are being pulled up to Varsity and they may get a chance to play on Halloween. I don’t know if that’s scary for the sophomores or for the Rams.

We’ll find out tonight.