Highland Park’s football team faced what figures to be one of its toughest tests of the regular season Saturday when the Scots squared off against Lewisville in the Jerry Jones Classic at The Star in Frisco.
And while the Scots departed Ford Field still seeking their first victory after suffering a 56-42 defeat, the squad can take solace knowing they went toe-to-toe with a perennial playoff team at the Class 6A level in the Farmers (ranked No. 9 in 6A by The Dallas Morning News).
“Our kids played really hard and I was really pleased with what I saw against a good football team in Lewisville,” said Randy Allen, HP head coach. “It was a good start for us, and as we like to say, ‘We don’t lose, we learn.’ So that’s what we’ll do, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the effort I saw out there.”
Miscues hurt the Scots in the first half, but HP still managed to claim a 28-21 advantage following a back-and-forth opening two quarters.
Lewisville forced a Buck Randall fumble on HP’s second play from scrimmage and promptly took advantage with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Deuce Mathis, but the Scots answered with a 13-yard touchdown reception by Beckett Lawrence.
However, a taunting penalty following the score helped give Lewisville a short field and quarterback Layken Brassfield delivered his second touchdown pass of the first quarter to Deontae Weathers from 10 yards out.
Brassfield would also score a touchdown on the ground to give Lewisville a 21-14 advantage, but Randall and the Scots had the answers to close the half.
With 8:03 remaining in the second quarter, the senior quarterback scrambled for a first down and fourth-and-9 and later on the Scots converted another fourth down. Randall connected with Lawrence — who took a big hit in the end zone but managed to hang on — for a 20-yard score.
After forcing a punt, Randall converted two third-and-long situations through the air before Flowers gave the Scots their first lead of the game at 28-21 going to halftime.
Lewisville would crank things up in the second half, however, driving to draw even to begin the third quarter before regaining the lead later in the third on a 12-yard touchdown reception from Derrick Martin.
Martin would again find the end zone in the fourth to seal the win for Lewisville, a 49-yard touchdown reception that was a part of a 21-0 spurt that saw the Farmers pull ahead from tied, 35-35, to 56-35.
Martin was named the game’s MVP after finishing with 96 rushing yards and a touchdown alongside 96 receiving yards and two scores.
“We had some kids making a lot of big plays in the first half, but we kind of went into a little bit of a dry spell in the second half,” Allen said. “They were moving the ball well, and they really took advantage of winning the field position battle. They started with the ball inside our 50-yard line four times, and we didn’t start in their territory once.”
For HP, Randall finished 26-of-35 for 327 yards and two touchdowns, while Flowers had four receptions for a team-high 104 yards. In all, HP had seven different players with at least three catches.
“Buck was under a lot of duress, but he was able to scramble and make some plays and keep drives going,” Allen said. “And our receivers made some great catches and critical catches on contested balls. I was happy to see that, but I’d like to see us get our running game a little more on track moving forward.”
That next chance for HP comes at 7 p.m. Friday at Rockwall-Heath.
The Hawks are another area 6A team ranked by the Morning News (No. 12) and are coming off a 45-20 defeat to No. 6 Denton Guyer.
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