by Kirk Dooley
HP’s second step into the 6A waters should be as challenging as the first. After dispatching the Flower Mound Marcus Marauders, 38-24, last week in the season opener at Highlander Stadium, the Scots travel to Lewisville this Friday to tangle with the Lewisville Fighting Farmers.
For the second week in a row the Scots will be picked to lose by The Dallas Morning News. The Farmers, who beat up Garland Naaman Forest last week, 28-6, are the eighth-ranked 6A team in the area. The Scots are still ranked 10th after beating the 11th-ranked team last Friday.
This will be the last week we can talk about Highland Park being a 5A school that just got bumped up to 6A. Next week the Scots will be just another veteran 6A team.
Is life in 5A really different than 6A? Coaches will tell you that 6A has more depth and larger linemen. By the time the playoffs hit some of the bigger and stronger 6A teams will resemble college teams. That’s because many of their guys will be playing on Saturdays next season.
And for what it’s worth: Highland Park has an enrollment of 2,245 while Lewisville’s enrollment is 4,285. I could even the playing field by merging Jesuit into Highland Park. Our new Scottish Catholic high school would have an enrollment of 4,533 and be about the size of Lewisville High.
The Fighting Farmers built up a 28-0 lead against Naaman Forest and had a shutout in their back pocket until NF scored with less than a minute left in the game. Lewisville looked good on both sides of the line. They had four fourth-down stops and recorded five sacks. Forced turnovers consistently created good field position, which led to several scores.
The key to the Lewisville offense is quarterback Ethan Terrell who last Friday was 7 of 11 for 52 yards passing while picking up 114 yards on the ground. On four runs.
What stands out about the Fighting Farmers is that their offensive line is mammoth. It’s the 300-pound club.
The Highland Park – Flower Mound Marcus contest was as exciting as was predicted. The Scots won by 14 points but it was 24-24 in the fourth quarter when Jay Cox took a Brennan Storer pass and zipped 75 yards for an electrifying touchdown that put the Scots up by seven (again) with 8:52 left in the game. The Marauders had matched each HP score all night but this time the Scots defense broke serve and stopped the Marcus offense. Nobody in Highlander Stadium could relax until Storer scored from the two with less than two minutes to play.
That gave the Scots their first 14-point lead which held up and the game ended, 38-24.
Cox was the HP’s leading rusher with 67 yards and leading receiver with 116 yards. Storer completed 20 of 29 passes for 288 yards and three TDs in a classic quarterback duel with the Marauders’ 6’6” nationally-ranked junior quarterback Cole Welliver , who threw for 310 yards.
Storer and HP defensive lineman Spencer Brown were both honorable mention Dallas Morning News Players of the Week. Brown had six tackles, a TFL, seven QB pressures and a forced fumble.