The 2026 season officially gets underway Saturday for Highland Park’s football team.
The Scots will be featured in one of the area’s marquee matchups when they take on Class 6A foe Lewisville in the Jerry Jones Classic at 1 p.m. at The Star in Frisco.
The Scots and Farmers last played in 2022, a non-district clash in Lewisville that went the way of the Scots, 31-17.
The Farmers are coming off a season in which they went 8-3 but suffered a loss in the bi-district round of the 6A Division I playoffs against eventual state semifinalist Allen.
It was the eighth consecutive season the Farmers, who have turned into a perennial playoff team under head coach Michael Odle, qualified for the postseason.
The playoffs figure to be in the cards again for the Farmers as Lewisville returns 12 starters from last year’s squad.
The Scots will benefit, however, from facing a new starting quarterback for Lewisville after standout and Division I prospect Tre Williams transferred to Aledo during the offseason.
Lewisville is turning to a transfer of its own to fill the void as Laykon Brassfield arrives via Edmond, Okla.
HP head coach Randy Allen noted that in Lewisville’s scrimmage, Brassfield appeared to possess a big arm with accuracy.
“(Lewisville wasn’t) running a whole lot offensively, so we’ll just kind of have to wait and see how they use him in a real game, but he looks like he’s a good player,” Allen said.
Brassfield will have plenty of weapons at his disposal as the Farmers appear loaded at the skill positions, headlined by versatile athlete Derrick Martin, who is coming off a season in which he gained 384 yards and four touchdowns rushing and 396 yards and four touchdowns receiving, and returned two kicks for scores.
Junior wide receiver Landon Brazzell is back off a season in which he hauled in 42 receptions for 488 yards and six touchdowns, while senior tight end Landon Bogany (24 catches, 237 yards, five touchdowns) has received numerous FBS offers, including from SMU and Houston.
The Farmers have plenty of holes to fill on the offensive line, but Lewisville has consistently been a strong team in the trenches.
“They’re long and lanky and fast,” Allen said of the Farmers. “They have a lot of Division I athletes and we’re going to be careful about the big plays and on special teams.”
Defensively, the Farmers are coming off a season in which they held six of their 11 opponents to 21 points or fewer with Allen posting 22 points in the playoffs.
“When you look at how they were able to slow Allen down in the playoffs, that was pretty impressive,” Allen said. “They have seven starters back on defense, too, so they’re going to be a big challenge for us.”
HP is anxiously awaiting that challenge, and will have to do so for an extra day with the opener on a Saturday as opposed to a customary Thursday or Friday night.
“We’re pretty excited to get going, but when you look at what the weather is doing, playing indoors on a Saturday turns out to be a pretty good deal,” Allen said.
HP is coming off a productive scrimmage Friday at 6A program Plano East.
The Scots won the live quarter, 14-0, and outscored the Panthers in the scrimmage portion, 4-1.
“It was a good scrimmage for us,” Allen said. “We had some real bright performances and came away healthy for the most part.”
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