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Scots Play Frisco Wakeland in Round 2 at Allen Eagle Stadium Friday (7pm Kickoff)

by Kirk Dooley

The Person of Interest this Friday will be Jared White.

Mr. White is a 5’10”, 190 lb. senior running back for the Frisco Wakeland Wolverines. Every team has a running back or two or three, but few put up numbers like he does consistently.

As a junior he gained 1,563 yards (1,158 on the ground and 405 in the air) and scored 20 touchdowns. This year he already has racked up 1,733 yards on the ground and 215 in the air, with 26 TDs under his belt.

Last week we made a big deal about New Caney running back Kedrick Reescano averaging 7.3 yards per carry going into the HP game. The Scots defense held him to 5.5 yards per carry. He got his 148 yards rushing but the Highland Park defense kept him out of the end zone most of the night. He scored twice, from the one-yard line and from the two, after the game was out of reach.

This week we will make a big deal about Mr. White averaging nine yards per carry going into the HP game. He’s like a first-down ATM machine. Last week he picked up 248 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns while his supporting cast scored three more.

Throughout the season the Scots have shut down some great running backs and disarmed some outstanding offenses. This Friday they’ll need to do it again. With either Frisco Lone Star or College Station looming next week and Denton Ryan the week after, these Scots need to focus on the game this Friday and slowing the Wakeland running attack enough to allow Highland Park to live another week.

Last week’s 45-13 win over New Caney was the Scots’ ninth straight first-round win. As the winningest program in the history of Texas high school football, every game the Scots win is a new record. They can keep it up if they continue to stay focused on one game at a time.

The Scots’ three-headed running game continues to be successful as Christian Reeves, Ben Croasdale and Jay Cox bring different skill sets that are hard to prepare for. Reeves has a slashing style and a nose for open field. Croasdale is a power runner with sprinter speed. Cox is a huge receiving threat and very dangerous in space. Plus he can punt, return kicks and work in the concession stand.

Quarterback Brennan Storer’s goal is to be the best quarterback named Brennan on the field this Friday. Wakeland QB Brennan Myer has the same goal. Only one of them will survive to play next weekend.

   What will Wakeland do slow down the Scots? They probably will wear out the film of the HP–West Mesquite game. The Wranglers finished in last place in district but they gained 595 total yards against the Scots. Over the past three weeks the Scots have given up an average of 229 yards per game rushing. This week’s opponent could exploit that if they had a good running back.
   Uh, wait a minute …

So the game boils down to this: If the Highland Park defense can focus on Wakeland’s Person of Interest and neutralize this first-down ATM machine, do the Wolverines have enough other tools in the box to keep moving the ball and scoring?

If so, they’ll need to match the HP offense which could light up the scoreboard with 35 to 45 points.

By the way, don’t forget that the game starts at 7:00 p.m. It’s a trick to keep you in Friday rush hour traffic.

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Scots Host 1st Round Rematch vs New Caney

by Kirk Dooley

The 2021 playoffs begin this Friday and for the second year in a row, the Scots will host the New Caney Eagles at Highlander Stadium.

A reminder for HP season ticket holders: When you go to find your seat at the game and someone else is sitting there, you’ll need to find another seat. This game is general admission and season ticket holders need to get to the game very early if you’d like to sit in “your” seats.

New Caney comes into the bi-district game with a 7-3 record. The Eagles were flying high at 7-1 until they ended their district run with two losses. They were beaten by Magnolia West, 31-24, and Magnolia, 52-21. Earlier in the season they had lost to College Station, a team that went on to win the district championship …. is undefeated at 10-0 …. is ranked second in state …. is averaging 53.9 points per game (and allowing 6.4) …. and could be a Scots playoff opponent a couple of weeks down the road.

The Eagles are good. They are balanced. They average 203 yards per game on the ground and 198 in the air. Their quarterback is Cornelius Banks. (Wasn’t that the father’s name in “Mary Poppins”?) Banks has completed 67 percent of his passes this season. He has connected on 134 of 201 passes for 1,926 yards and 20 touchdowns. But their most dangerous Eagle is running back Kedrick Reescano, who averages 7.3 yards per carry and 139 yards per game.  As a junior he was good for over 1,000 yards and 14 touchdowns. This season he has already picked up 1,393 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Keep an eye on receiver Cameron Thomas who is Banks’ favorite target. Thomas has caught 46 passes for 808 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The Scots are coming off two wins that were not glamorous but they wound up being convincing. And although West Mesquite and Wylie East finished at the bottom of district standings, they both were talented and had a lot of spunk. Like most teams, they gave their best effort when trying to knock off the Scots. I feel like West Mesquite and Wylie East, compared to all the teams who finished at the bottom of their district standings, are the best two teams in Texas.

Coach Allen’s theory of playing very good 6A teams in pre-district is a good one when the playoffs roll around. The Scots finished 3-1 with a loss to Southlake Carroll and victories over Coppell, Flower Mound and Rockwall. All four of those 6A teams are in the playoffs and undefeated Carroll could go all the way. Those teams gave the Scots the critical blueprint on where they needed to improve. And once they find themselves in a firefight with a great playoff team, they won’t be surprised because they’ve seen it before.

And they’ll see some of it this Friday night. Did I mention that New Caney running back Kedrick Reescano averages 7.3 yards every time he touches the ball?

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It’s Senior Night and Wylie East at Highlander Stadium

by Kirk Dooley

The Scots are putting their eight-game winning streak on the line this Friday as the 3-6 Wylie East Raiders roll into Highlander Stadium for Senior Night. Before the game, all the seniors on the team will be introduced. Bring your stadium seat because there’ll be more than five dozen Scots honored. There’s a special place in heaven for the seniors who are Highland Park student athletic trainers –  Clark Turner, Andie Criswell, Sadie Mayo and Ashiyana Dahiya – who have each unselfishly served the team for several years.

Concluding the season with Wylie East brings back the memory of the Raiders win over the Scots in 2016 that shook the Park Cities like an earthquake. A promising HP team suddenly didn’t look like a playoff contender anymore.

“It was a big disappointment,” said Coach Allen. “But the next morning we gathered the team together and started preparing for our new season – the playoffs. We put our record behind us and used the Wylie East loss to refocus. We dedicated ourselves to never play below our abilities again, to have a chip on our shoulders and to create a goal of winning six playoffs games including the state finals.”

Well, it worked. The Scots were foaming at the mouth and obliterated their first-round playoff opponent, Mount Pleasant, 70-2. The Scots then rolled through the playoffs and won the state championship.

I’ve never seen high school players react to a convincing loss and reinvent themselves like the 2016 team did. My money says no Wylie East loss, no state championship. That loss woke them up like a cold shower.

But that was then and now is now. In 2016 the Raiders had a machine named Eno Benjamin who ran for 186 yards. This year the man to stop is quarterback Terrell Washington, Jr. who takes the snap as the QB then runs most of the time. He’s already got more than 1,000 yards on the ground.

In last week’s 60-28 win over West Mesquite the Wranglers – who will finish in last place in the district – gained 595 total yards against the Scots. Their top receiver, T.J. Turner, caught eight passes for 311 yards. West Mesquite also picked up over 200 yards on the ground. So while the Scots are ranked third in the state, there is still room for improvement. Especially against serious playoff competition.

There were two developments in last week’s game that had probably never happened before in the history of Highland Park football. First, the Scots scored four consecutive points … on a blocked PAT returned the length of the field by Blake Bevans, then minutes later the HP defense got a safety. Four points the hard way.

The second unusual stat is that during a one-minute aerial battle, both teams combined for four touchdowns in four plays from scrimmage. There were 28 points scored in less than a minute. That has got to be a first in Scots history.

This Friday Highland Park will need to take care of business against Wylie East. Once the game is over, the HP coaches will be tripping over each other to see who won the Denton Ryan – Frisco Lone Star game. Or more specifically, who lost.

The Scots could see one of them in the third round and the other one in the fourth round. Pick your poison.