Highland Park Sports Club

September 24, 2015

HP Scots vs North Mesquite September 25, 2015

Kirk Dooley’s Blog

Preseason predictions had the 10-6A district championship going to Mesquite Horn, Highland Park or North Mesquite. Later this Friday night those predictions should be a little more clear. The winner of Friday’shomecoming game between the Scots and the Stallions will emerge as the top challenger to Horn’s title repeat.

While that’s true, let’s not dwell on Horn just yet. The focus should be on North Mesquite and how this could be their year, especially if Friday is their night.

To begin with, the Stallions return eight starters on offense and eight starters on defense. I can’t name a North Texas team with more experience. And like Horn, North Mesquite is loaded with D-1 talent. The biggest headache for the Scots will be junior quarterback Ja’Quez Gooch, who ran for more than 1,000 yards, passed for 861 and scored 20 touchdowns last year as a sophomore. He could be the next Trevone Boykin.

(If you’re not familiar with Boykin, he’s TCU’s Heisman Trophy candidate who hails from West Mesquite.)

Dreshawn Minnieweather is the Stallion’s pounding running back and their line is anchored by the best offensive lineman in Texas, Jean Delance, all 6’5”, 290 lbs. of him. Don’t punt to A’daireon Madlock, who will take it to the house before your coverage is set up. Defense? Last week they held South Garland to 84 yards of total offense. Plus they forced two safeties in the first 20 minutes of the game.

North Mesquite is averaging more than 48 points per game, allowing seven and is undefeated. I would say that HP’s home winning streak would be tested, if there were one.

The Scots are looking forward to this challenge. Quarterback Henry Allen has been impressive each game. Stephen Dieb continues to defy gravity. The wide receiver corps is so deep that 10 players are considered starters. On defense, injuries to the defensive line have challenged the Scots. But here’s the good news: Zach Snelling, Bobby Hrncir and Turner Coxe are all expected to play Friday.

Matthew Barge will sit this game out and Kyle Massimilian will step in for him at defensive back.

As the North Mesquite coaches watch film of the Scots’ win over Prosper, they must be sweating how to deal with wide receiver Chris Buell. How do you stop a guy who catches 11 passes for 155 yards? If you shift your defense, what receiver would then be open? Jeffrey Kupp, Kemp Sauer, Cy McCullough, J.T. Dooley, Parker Alexander, Tom McDaniel, Carson Bryant or Jon Welfelt, depending on who’s in the game at the time.

And add Jack Toohey to that list. He was listed as a starter when he suffered a preseason injury, and now he’s finally been cleared to play.

With Toohey back, the Scots have a receiver corps deeper than the Mariana Trench.

September 11, 2015September 11, 2015

HP Scots vs Prosper at AT&T Stadium Arlington Saturday, September 12, 2015, 11am Kickoff

Kirk Dooley’s Blog

The ghosts of Davis Webb and Torii Hunter, Jr. will be floating above the field at AT&T Stadium on Saturday during the Highland Park–Prosper game. Davis and Hunter won’t be there, but their legacies will be.

Prosper was just another dusty little town north of Dallas when the Tollway expansion and the residential real estate booms made Prosper the next “next Plano”. Families moved in, schools were built and the Eagles played well in 2A and 3A football. The population continues to boom and should hit 20,000 any minute now.

The Eagles went from pretty good to real good three years ago under the leadership of Webb, a highly recruited quarterback and Hunter, a highly-recruited wide receiver. Two years ago Webb, as a true freshman at Texas Tech, broke the Big 12 freshman record for yards passing in a single game. Hunter now starts at Notre Dame and helped the Fighting Irish dehorn the Horns last Saturday.

Webb and Hunter put Prosper on the map. As the town grew, the school landed in 4A, where the Frisco and McKinney schools beat up on the Eagles. But with fancy new facilities, upper middle class families and kids similar to Highland Park’s, this program is on the verge of greatness. Enter Chris Ross, the guy who can do it.

Ross coached Cedar Park from a small dot on the road near Austin to a Texas football powerhouse. He retired from coaching to take an athletic director’s desk job in Leander to live happily ever after. But being removed from the kids and fellow coaches wasn’t the panacea he had envisioned. He missed coaching.

The head coaching job at Prosper opened up and the folks who hired Ross hit a coaching home run. They lured him back onto the field and that makes Prosper the team to watch over the next five years.

This weekend there are two players to watch. Running back Robert Mahone has 90-yard runs for lunch. Two weeks ago he averaged 13 yards per carry on 12 runs. Anytime he touches the ball, he can find the end zone. Quarterback Ryan Davis ran for 183 yards last week. The Scots defense can pick its poison.

Now that the Scots’ 84-game home wining streak has been snapped, look for a more relaxed and more focused Highland Park team. That pressure is now off. The team is still green in some areas but expectations will be higher in Game Three.

The most fascinating thing to watch will be the former linebackers who now populate the Scots’ defensive line. Key linemen keep getting injured, backups are getting hurt and now the coaches are borrowing linebackers and other athletic players to plug in. These new defensive linemen will have their work cut out for them on Saturday, trying to corral both Mahone and Davis, but I predict that they’ll rise to the occasion.

Next month I’ll explain how the loss to Paluski turned out to be a good thing.

September 4, 2015September 11, 2015

HP Scots vs Pulaski Academy September 4, 2015

Kirk Dooley’s Blog

More than half a dozen media credentials have been requested by ESPN for the Scots’ Friday night match with Pulaski Academy of Little Rock, Arkansas.
There’s two reasons for that. First, ESPN is producing a special on the quirky Arkansas high school powerhouse, the team that never punts and always uses onside kicks on its kickoffs. The second reason is that Highland Park was the only team to beat Pulaski last year and the Scots hope to duplicate that effort this week.
After HP came away with a 48-42 win last September at Highlander Stadium, the Bruins went on to win 13 straight games, averaging 50 points per game. On one hand, the quality of private school football in Little Rock is not the same as 6A football in Texas. On the other hand, the Scots had to recover an onside kick late in the game to preserve the victory. It was a close game.
What will be different this year?
For starters, the Scots now know what to expect. They couldn’t scout Pulaski last year and then in the game they were shown formations they had never seen before. How about all four wide receivers lining up next to each other on one side? How do you defend that? How do you prepare for that? If you have film, you can be ready when it comes up in a game situation.
But Bruins coach Kevin Kelley probably knows he won’t surprise the Scots this week with formations he used last season. However, I’m willing to bet that during the offseason he has gone back into his evil laboratory and concocted some creative new formations. Be ready for anything.
The Bruins will be starting a sophomore quarterback and it will be his first varsity start. As a freshman backup he completed 31 of 49 passes for 381 yards and six touchdowns. Not worried about a sophomore quarterback? Remember what sophomore Graham Harrell did to the Scots at Texas Stadium a few years ago.
Pulaski will be returning six starters from their 13-1 state championship team. There was some confusion whether the Bruins were even in a conference but apparently they are in a private school conference in Little Rock. Coach Kelley has been quoted on saying how bad he wants to end the Scots’ home winning streak.
Last season the Bruins jumped out to a 28-14 lead before the Scots realized a game had begun. HP’s own Antman, Stephen Dieb, scored to tighten the score to 28-21. Then lightning struck as linebacker Mitchell Kaufman returned an interception 33 yards to tie the score. The Scots defense held on a Bruins fourth down, giving the offense excellent field position and so they scored again before the half. Highland Park scored 21 points in a minute and a half to go in halftime with a 35-28 lead.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to punt.