View or download this week’s program: HP vs Mansfield Timberview
HP vs Mansfield Timberview – 7:30pm kickoff at Highlander Stadium 9/9/16
by Kirk Dooley
Last week the Scots caught a glimpse of a couple of skill players who were as good as Randy Allen has ever seen. HP fans in Waxahachie who saw Jalen Reagor catch six passes for 191 yards in the second half would agree. (By the way, has anyone seen a wide receiver in high school, college or the NFL gain 191 yards in one half? Neither have I.)
This week the Scots get to see a couple of defensive ends who will also command attention. David Anenih and De’Andre Holloway anchor the Mansfield Timberview defense. Anenih (#7) goes 6’3”, 215 lbs. Holloway (#47) is 6’1”, 230 lbs. They will be one of the best sets of defensive ends the Scots see this season.
The Wolves are in district 10-5A, along with Waxahachie, Lancaster and three other Mansfield schools. That means that the Scots could face Timberview or Waxahachie in the third round of the playoffs.
Holding the Scots to 37 points normally doesn’t assure a victory, but it did last week. Timberview probably won’t score 40 points but its defense should be better than Waxahachie’s. The best way to neutralize the Wolves twin pass rushers is to throw short and quick, which is one of the top weapons in the HP wheelhouse.
In Week One, Timberview beat a very good Everman team, 21-7, and that “7” is what jumps out. The Wolves defense forced six turnovers and that is the script that the Highland Park offense needs to study before Friday’s kickoff. Last week the Wolves lost to Frisco Lone Star, 20-14, in game that could have gone either way. The Wolves held a five-point halftime lead and the Rangers won the game by recovering a fumble in the end zone and kicking a 21-yard field goal. Lone Star, by the way is ranked second in 5A in North Texas, a position the Scots held a week ago.
The HP players have been replaying the third quarter scenario in Waxahachie where they scored a touchdown to take a 17-point lead but a penalty nullified the play. The Indians got the ball back and Reagor immediately caught a 73-yard TD strike. Boom. It’s a three-point game. That sequence of events was not the end of the game but it helped determine the outcome of the game.
Although the Scots go into Friday’s game without a few starters (Jack Kozmetsky, J.T. Dooley, Turner Coxe), their replacements (Jacob Urbanczyk/Paxton Alexander, Ryan Waters and Tres Page) have been impressive getting the job done when called upon.
Very few teams have a couple of quarterbacks on the bench who could start at many schools. A good example of that is the gadget play Coach Allen called last Friday where QB John Stephen Jones lateraled the ball to Michael Clarke (who was in for one play) and he stopped and threw a 74-yard touchdown strike to Kozmetsky.
It’s like the legendary phrase “One Riot, One Ranger” except in this case it’s “One Play, One Touchdown”.
HP at Waxahachie – 7:30pm Kickoff Friday, 9/2/16
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.