HP at Wylie East Tonight for Final Regular Season Game

by Kirk Dooley

   This week is Eno Week for the Highland Park Scots.
   HP travels to Wylie to end the district season with a key match against the Raiders and their star running back, Eno Benjamin, one of the nation’s top recruits.  wylie-east-helmet
   Not since Kendial Lawrence of Rockwall Heath back in 2008 has Highland Park faced a running back that can determine the outcome of a game by himself. Lawrence, whom the Scots couldn’t stop, led his team to the district championship over HP in the last game of the season. He was fast, strong, agile and each time he touched the ball he could go all the way. Lawrence gained 4,420 yards in two years at Heath, scoring 64 touchdowns and averaged 9.3 yards per carry.
   Let me repeat that. He averaged 9.3 yards every time he touched the ball over a two-year period. Whew!
   I have not seen a better performance from a Texas high school running back than Lawrence in 2008 when he ran over, around and through the Scots. That year Heath had a dozen players go on to play D-1 college ball. Lawrence went on to a lackluster college career at Missouri and then has bounced around the Canadian Football League since then.
   Eno Benjamin comes into the HP game with 1,605 yards and 20 touchdowns this season. He is averaging six yards per carry. He is number nine on the Dallas News list of recruits for the Class of ‘17 and is the number 26 overall recruit in the state by the 247Sports composite.
   Benjamin orally committed to the University of Iowa back in April and then last Wednesday he dumped the Hawkeyes and re-opened his recruitment. Nine times out of 10 when somebody de-commits like that, he is already in somebody else’s back pocket. We’ll see.
   The Raiders were predicted to challenge the Scots for the district 15-5A championship but two things got in the way – Mesquite Poteet and West Mesquite. The Raiders lost to Pirates, 26-14, and then were beaten by the Wranglers, 7-0. In both of those losses the Wylie East defense played well but gave up ill-timed big plays. They held Poteet to 139 yards of total offense and six first downs, but the Pirates scored 26 points. Go figure. They held West Mesquite to 119 yards and six first downs but gave up the only TD of the game.
   The takeaway from the West Mesquite game is that the Wranglers did what any intelligent team would try to do – stop Eno – but when they did, another running back did some damage. Benjamin carried the ball 20 carries for only 65 yards (only 3.25 yards per carry), but when the Wranglers keyed on Eno, Corbin Johnson carried the ball 32 times for 117 yards. Either way, West Mesquite kept the Wylie East offense out of the end zone. That is the goal.
   The Raiders have put Eno in at quarterback (why waste time by handing off?) and he has performed well at running, but not passing. Against Poteet, he threw the ball 14 times, completed seven – four to his receivers and three to the Pirates.
   The Scots want to win the district championship outright and so they will battle hard on Friday. Beating the Scots would make the Raiders’ season, so they will battle hard also. But the outcome of this game won’t change the playoff picture.  HP and West Mesquite will go into the Division I bracket next week while Mesquite Poteet and Wylie East will head into the Division II bracket. This last district game against a quality opponent will help both the Scots and the Raiders gear up for the playoffs.