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Round Two Kickoff at Noon, Friday 11/24 at AT&T Stadium. Tickets are on sale now at: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0C0053589E6F25C2#efeat4211
Blog by Kirk Dooley
Many Highland Park fans who braved the Tollway construction traffic to see the Scots battle Texas High last Saturday in Frisco are still having nightmares about the ghost of Trevailance Hunt rising up above the Scots secondary to catch a 50-yard Hail Mary to beat HP as time expires.
That scenario might have played out if Scully Jenevein had not recovered a Texas High onside kick with 10 seconds left in the game.
Hunt had burned the Scots for 171 receiving yards in the first half. Safety James Herring was switched to shutdown corner to disrupt Hunt in the second half and he did. It was an epic battle of two great athletes, with a healthy dose of pushing, shoving, hand-checking and a couple of pass interference penalties. But Herring held Hunt to 30 second-half yards. To me that was the difference in the game.
Randy Allen calls the game a classic. He said it was the best Texas High team he’s ever seen since he’s been at HP – even better that the Tigers of the Ryan Mallett days.
This was a game of big plays. The two teams fought each other like prize fighters who won’t go down. It’s a good thing the Scots came out of the chute hot. John Stephen Jones hit Paxton Alexander with a 70-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the game. Cade Saustad caught three TD passes, Conner Allen scored twice and Prince Dorbah had two sacks. Both teams combined for 1,090 yards of total offense and 105 points.
Had Texas High quarterback Riley Russell attempted a Hail Mary pass to Hunt as time expired, it would have been a high-percentage pass for the Tigers.
But Hunt wouldn’t have been in the end zone. He would have been around the line of scrimmage still trying to get past the physical Herring.
So the Scots advance to play McKinney North in the area playoff round at AT&T Stadium. Like HP, the Bulldogs scored 56 points last weekend. The key to stopping them is not complicated, but it’s not easy either. Quarterback Cameron Constantine runs a deadly read-option with running back Lamar Lucas. Last Friday they had a combined 279 yards rushing … in the first half alone.
Constantine completed 10 of 14 passes for 138 yards last week. But passing was an afterthought for a team that ran for 428 yards. This week the HP defensive line (Jack Jergovan, Elliott Newsom and Prince Dorbah) and all four linebackers (Marshall Ballard, Ryan Coxe, Cole Bohner and Noble Nash) will be trained to slow the lethal Bulldogs read-option. The game itself will be determined by that battle.
On one hand the Scots defense faces another huge challenge. On the other hand they just need to hold Constantine and Lucas to under 56 points.