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.