Highland Park Sports Club

by Kirk Dooley

As we wind down the final two weeks of the district race, the Scots face West Mesquite this Friday and host Wylie East next Friday. Last Thursday those two teams battled for the rights to avoid the bottom of the barrel. The result? Wylie East 34, West Mesquite 8. So on Friday the first place Scots will play the last place Wranglers. Could it be a trap game? Maybe.

Although West Mesquite has lost every district game, their offense has looked good. They scored 28 points against Longview, 38 against McKinney North and 18 against Tyler before falling off the scoring wagon with only eight points last week. The difference was that quarterback Craig Dale did not play against the Raiders. 

When the Wranglers battled the Longview Lobos, the score was tied, 21-21, at halftime and the Lobos led, 28-21, after three quarters. That was your proverbial close game. Then in the fourth quarter the sleeping giant awoke and outscored West Mesquite, 28-7. The final score: 56-28, but keep in mind how close this game was through three quarters. QB Dale completed 11 of 23 passes for 156 yards and three touchdowns.

In the Tyler game Dale connected on 15 of 26 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns.

That’s six TD passes versus Longview and Tyler. Not bad. What’s bad for the Wranglers is that Dale did not play against Wylie East last week and the Wranglers could manage only one touchdown, an eight-yard run by Gabriel Corona in the second quarter. Corona then scored on the two-point conversion and the Wranglers led, 8-0. Wylie East’s Maddox Fraley then returned the kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown and that was the beginning of the end for West Mesquite.

With Dale out, the Wrangler quarterback was Samuel Martinez, who completed five of 19 passes for 59 yards and two interceptions.

The Scots had their hands full last Friday against Tyler, a team that puts up big plays like we change shirts.

The Lions’ Derrick McFall broke away for a 52-yard touchdown sprint in the first quarter and then in the second quarter QB Eli Holt hit Montrell Wade with a 62-yard TD. Those were both impressive plays but the Scots defense kept the Lions offense in check the rest of the game. Wade, who also plays defense, intercepted two HP passes, which were two of five turnovers the Scots gave up in the game. Although the Scots won, 42-14, those five turnovers need to be examined and eliminated in future games, especially future playoff games.

My favorite play of the season took place last Friday and it doesn’t exist. But I swear I saw it.

After a late HP touchdown, the PAT was blocked and a speedy Tyler Lion picked it up and sprinted the length of the field to score two points. The Scots’ PAT holder, John Rutledge, got up and started chasing the runner who was about 15 or 20 yards ahead of him. At one point Rutledge shifted gears from football speed into sprinter speed. He looked like The Freeze as he chased down the ball carrier, who was streaking toward the end zone. Rutledge caught the runner on about the eight-yard line and pulled him down before he could collect his two points. I was stunned, but so was every person in the visitors stands. A Highland Park guy just caught their speedster from behind! What the heck?!

Tyler was called for a penalty on the play and HP was able to re-kick the PAT, the Scots’ 42nd point.

by Kirk Dooley

   And it’s Homecoming night at HP.

   To be clear, the Lions are capable of winning the game on Friday night. Coach Randy Allen compares Tyler to Longview, who came within five points of the Scots at Highlander two weeks ago. Tyler is as fast, as big and as athletic as Longview. 

   There’s three Tyler players in particular that the Scots must contain to keep their home winning streak alive.

   Quarterback Eli Holt appears to be the second coming of Michael Vick. And if you’re too young to know who Michael Vick is, then Eli Holt is the second coming of Kyler Murray. Shifty, athletic, fast, great arm and his athleticism buys him more time or more yards when he scoots out of the pocket. And when I say scoot, I mean a possible 50-yard touchdown run. 

   Makavion Potts is a dynamic wide receiver who has six points written all over him when he catches a pass no matter where he is in the stadium, even at the concession stand.

   Derrick McFall is hard to describe. He’s not old enough to have a driver’s license but can drive any defense crazy. He might line up at running back. He might line up at wide receiver. Either way he will also line up as a defensive back. He will return kicks and is good at taking them to the house.

   Last week quarterback Holt completed 12 of 16 passes for 318 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 38 yards and another score. He threw touchdown passes to Potts of 52 yards and 71 yards. Then McFall ran 59 yards for a touchdown them returned a kickoff 84 yards for score. If that’s not enough, Holt hit Montrell Wade for an 89-yard touchdown, his only catch of the night.

   Last Friday Potts caught four passes for 181 yards. That’s 45 yards per catch but it’s nothing compared to Wade, who averaged 89.

   A few key players go both ways for the Lions, including Ameer Johnson, who starts on the defensive line and offensive line.

   The Scots are coming off their most complete game of the season, a 59-24 win over McKinney North. The leading tackler was Pierce Shelby, who had 14 tackles while starting in place of George Wright. It was Shelby’s first varsity start and he was named honorable mention Defensive Player of the Week by The Dallas Morning News.

   Quite a few backups got into the game last Friday. Ten different receivers caught passes. QB Brennan Storer completed 77 percent of his passes, then backup QB Hayden Ferguson came in a completed 75 percent.

   The Scots know what to do to take care of business this Friday. It should be a festive Homecoming at Highland Park as the Homecoming Court is introduced at halftime. Former football captains representing their teammates will also be introduced. 

   For the first time ever, a Highland Park student athletic trainer, Andie Criswell, has been nominated for Homecoming Queen. The football players, who consider her a teammate, are buzzing about it.

   My question is this: After she is introduced at halftime, will Andie bolt for the locker room to tape ankles and tend to her other student trainer duties … while possibly wearing a crown?

by Kirk Dooley

The Scots travel up North Central Expressway to McKinney on Friday to battle the McKinney North Bulldogs.

The Scots have won five straight games and are 2-0 in district play. They are coming off one of the top games in the state last Friday when they edged the Longview Lobos, 21-16. Going into that game, HP was ranked third in state and Longview was ranked fourth. It was billed as a potential offensive explosion but turned out to be a defensive slugfest with the Scots defense slugging a bit harder.

McKinney North has won its past two district games, beating West Mesquite, 45-38, and Wylie East, 28-21. In the West Mesquite game, Bulldogs running back Jadan Smith ran for 209 yards and three touchdowns, including the game winner with 5:38 left in the game. The Wranglers stormed back but their drive stalled on the 13-yard line and they turned the ball back over to the Bulldogs.

And, by the way, when Smith was not rushing for over 200 yards, he was returning a kickoff 94 yards for a first quarter touchdown.

Scots’ pre-game strategy: Don’t let Jadan Smith beat them by himself.

McKinney North quarterback Colin Hitchcock completed one of seven passes for 17 yards against the Wanglers so that could indicate that Smith could get a little more attention Friday night.

When the Bulldogs squared off against the Wylie East Raiders last week, it was a barn-burner. With 2:06 remaining in the game and the score tied at 21-all, a Raider field goal to win the game was blocked. On the next play our man Jadan Smith sprinted 72-yards for a touchdown to win the game, 28-21. McKinney North quarterback Hitchcock completed six of nine passes for 124 yards and a TD. Smith rushed 16 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

Other notable stats from the north side of McKinney: Tyler popped McKinney North three weeks ago, 35-18, in the first district game for both teams. And the week before that Rockwall-Heath rocked the Bulldogs, 70-35. Heath is the team that recently held the Rockwall Yellowjackets to 71 points and then beat the Jackets by eight points. When was the last time you  remember two teams combining for 150 points in one game?

Back to Jadan Smith. The Scots need to address this talented running back and I might humbly suggest that linebacker George Wright be hired to shadow Smith on every play. Wright made a name for himself by being named the Dallas Morning News Defensive Player of the Week last week after his standout performance against the Lobos. Wright had 13 tackles, a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery he returned 23 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the third quarter, giving the Scots a 14-3 lead. It was the play of the game.

I give credit to Wright for making such a big, heads-up play that changed the trajectory of the game.

But Wright is quick to give credit to his teammate, Jack Curtis, who caused the fumble.

And you know what? Wright is right.