A plaque honoring the 2024-25 Scots soccer team for having the greatest season in Highland Park men’s soccer history was unveiled on Dec. 22 in Highlander Stadium before the team’s annual alumni game.
The plaque, which was festooned with gold and blue balloons, lists all the members of the 2024-25 varsity team. The Scots finished their record-breaking season 21-1-2 (W-L-T) and ended their season with a 16-game winning streak.
“Our varsity team last year made it through the playoffs,” recounted Debra Kennedy with HP Soccer Communications, “the first time a team in Highland Park history made it to the state final since 1987. Then they went to the state final, and they won the game.”
Kennedy continued that the team later surrendered its title when HP officials discovered that it had used an illegible player and self-reported the violation to the UIL.
The members of the 2024-25 team, she explained, wanted to be remembered for the effort and teamwork that earned their 2-0 championship win. The district’s board of trustees and athletic director Jeremy Gilbert agreed that the plaque was an appropriate way to honor them.
This is the only plaque at the stadium’s entrance to recognize a soccer team — most others commemorate football triumphs.
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“This is the first time soccer gets something,” Kennedy said. “To not only have a plaque but to have your name on the wall for the rest of history is a pretty big deal.”
As teammates gathered to admire the plaque and take selfies with it, I pulled 2024-25 team captain #4 Jack Madsen aside.
“It still feels good that there’s something permanent up on the wall,” he said, “something I can show my kids when I’m older, something that can still be remembered in the future.”
A parent has challenged the forfeiture of HP’s title in district court, arguing that that the UIL misinterpreted state law, exceeded its authority, and violated its own and State Board of Education rules when it applied HPISD’s no pass no play standard, which is stricter than the state’s.
“There is a chance it can be overturned, still,” Madsen said of the title loss. “It’s still in the process right now. We’ll see.”
