Minus 24 hours, Highland Park still totaled its accustomed offensive output in a 56-14 victory over Cleburne on Thursday night at Highlander Stadium.
“We were very efficient in the first half,” coach Randy Allen said, and he was right about that. In only 24 plays, the Scots had 300 yards and 35 points over the first 15:39 of the game.
Despite a rarity – a field goal by Sutton Stock on a 37-yard attempt that sailed very high but a little left – which left the Scots unable to add to a 35-14 lead as the first half ended, they emerged for the third quarter still revving.
Their first drive out of the locker room ended in Isaiah Lee’s 8-yard touchdown run, and after a fumble recovery by defensive tackle Denis Prous forced by linebacker Langedon McMurray on the next Cleburne snap, James Flowers powered in from 20 yards out for a 49-14 lead with 8:26 left in the third quarter.
That was that, and the Scots had an early weekend, since the game had been moved to avoid the threat of bad weather on Friday.
The shortened week didn’t slow anything for Highland Park (7-1, 4-0 District 7-5A Division I), which won its seventh straight game and is averaging 47.8 points per contest.
Cleburne (2-7, 0-5) got touchdowns from Zaidyn Husband on a 19-yard run and C.J. Hensley on a 25-yard catch.
Cannon Bozman’s 41-yard catch and run, Jack Swaldi’s 23-yard catch and Matthew White’s 4-yard run produced a 21-0 lead with 4:01 left in the first quarter as the Scots took control early.
Colton Hammel’s catch in open space resulted in a 70-yard touchdown with four seconds left in the first quarter, answering the first Cleburne touchdown 16 seconds earlier, for a 28-7 lead.
In the second quarter, Harrison Cullum took a screen 68 yards up the sideline for a 35-14 lead.
Buck Randall finished 17-of-21 for 370 yards and four touchdown passes, reaching 31 TD throws for the season.
