School doesn’t end when the last bell rings. Not always. Sometimes, as it did for Highland Park’s football team in the 2025 season opener, it continues into Friday night.
The Scots absorbed some lessons in a 52-49 loss to Rockwall-Heath at Highlander Stadium.
“They got taught about what we got to do to improve,” said coach Randy Allen, who started his 27th year leading the traditional powerhouse program. “We’ll learn from it. We’ll get better. We didn’t play bad. They just made some plays in the second half to get them up. You got to give credit to them.”
Plenty of credit to go to the Hawks, who went up 14-0 with the help of an opening-kickoff return for a touchdown but trailed 35-17 at the half before a five-touchdown second half swamped HP, worn to a nub by the pace of play and the power running of the Hawks.
A late fumble recovery gave the Scots a sliver of a chance. Buck Randall, who threw for 407 yards, scored from a yard out with 1:58 left to cut the lead to 52-49.
Two onsides kicks then failed – an extra chance came because of a penalty – and the Scots took a rare home loss.
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“They had a very good offensive line,” Allen said. “Any time you run as many plays as they ran, your defense is going to get tired. We just couldn’t keep up with them on offense and score with them. But we were 3 points behind at the end of the game and trying to get the ball back. Our kids are fighters, and they’ll play hard to the very end.”
It was quite the turnaround after the Scots trailed 14-0 not even four minutes into the season. A 99-yard kickoff return on the opening boot and a blocked field goal to set up a short field for a touchdown had the Hawks up two TDs with 8:29 to go in the first quarter.
To get back in the game, the Scots scored on four consecutive possessions. Case Messer caught a 27-yard scoring pass, Bozman had a 9-yard TD catch, Randall scored from a yard out, and Bozman had a 32-yard grab for six and a 28-17 lead.
“hey have good chemistry together,” Allen said of the pass-catch duo. “Any good quarterback and wide receiver have good chemistry. I think buck believes Cannon is going to get open, and when he does it’s going to be dynamic.”
Valuable breathing room came in the last minute before halftime.
When a high snap foiled a Heath field goal try (resulting in an incomplete pass from the holder), the ball turned over at the Highland Park 22 with 42 seconds left.
On the first play, the Scots went with a double pass. Randall threw to Thomas Coffman, lined up at wide receiver, and Coffman faked to throw deep. After a moment, he threw back across the field to the quarterback, who caught it with blockers ahead and went for 31 yards.
Past midfield now with half a minute to go, the Scots went for paydirt. On second down, they got it when Randall hit Bozman on a wheel route down the left sideline. Jets on, the senior wideout zipped to the end zone for a 35-17 lead with 18 seconds left.
Three touchdowns in the third quarter got Heath back in it, trailing only 42-38 with 50 seconds left in the period.
The burst extended well into the fourth quarter with a pair of touchdowns that put the Hawks ahead 52-42 with 6:27 to go.
