Unimpressed by hype or history
The proud
Highland Park Scots, who boast for all to hear that they’re the winningest high
school football program in Texas, demonstrated in dramatic fashion last night
that pride cometh before the fall.
The Scots
got unceremoniously booted out of the 2023 Class 6A, Division II playoffs last
night by a Southlake Carroll offense firing on all cylinders and by a stingy
defense unimpressed by Highland Park hype or history.
The Dragons
dismantled an overwhelmed, outgunned and outcoached Highland Park squad that
had no answer for the unstoppable rushing tandem of sophomore Davis Penn, who
rushed 210 yards for 3 TDs, and junior Riley Wormsley, who ran 125 yards for 1.
The
Dallas Morning News
said it was the worst playoff defeat Highland Park has suffered in the last 20
years. The DMN game story pointed out that the regional-round matchup
pitted HP, with a state record of 886 all-time wins, against Carroll, whose 78
percent all-time winning percentage is the second-highest in state history.
By
demolishing Highland Park, Carroll moves on to the state quarterfinals for the eighth
consecutive year. It will face the winner of today’s clash between Byron Nelson
and Coppell.
Bobcat rematch?
My money’s
on Byron Nelson in that little dustup, which would set up a fourth-round
rematch between the Dragons and the Bobcats, the villains who delivered the
only blemish on Carroll’s season record and who denied our heroes the District
4-6A title.
Carroll
players still are smarting from the knowledge they were caught napping by the
Bobcats, who outplayed them in every phase of the game when the teams met last
Oct. 27. The Dragons are itching for another shot.
If they get
it, Byron Nelson had best come ready to rumble.
“We don’t
look ahead, obviously, for a game, and we’ll take whatever we get, but
obviously we would love the opportunity to go back and right our wrongs against
Nelson,” Carroll quarterback Graham Knowles told Fort Worth Star-Telegram
sportswriter Darren Lauber. “Ever since that moment (when we lost), we’ve had a
bit of a chip on our shoulder, and we’ve regrouped and reloaded.”
But let’s
don’t get ahead of ourselves. Best to savor a bit the whupping the young
Dragons administered to the Highland Park swells.
A lot of
pre-game commentary was devoted to extoling the coaching brilliance and
football expertise of Scots head coach, Randy Allen, who looked like a mafioso
as he stalked the sidelines in coat and tie with a black fedora pulled low over
his eyes.
Allen has
the second highest winning percentage in Texas high school football history.
Bully for him.
The
commentator for the NFHS Network live-streaming of the game, condescension
dripping from his lips, noted smugly that Allen had been coaching for a decade
when Southlake Carroll head coach Riley Dodge was born.
It should be
pointed out that the NFHS commentators were unabashed Highland Park homers, and
the implication of the pre-game comparison couldn’t be clearer – or more
insulting: The student inevitably must bow to the master.
The Dragons
quickly called BS on that and weren’t bashful about doing so.
Set up shop
The Scots
are widely expected to drop down into Class 5A after next year’s realignment. HP
has fared well in the state’s largest classification, but after last night’s
drubbing, the return to 5A probably can’t come soon enough.
The beatdown
started early. After the Carroll D held the Scots to a 3-and-out on the opening
kickoff, Knowles (9 of 16 for 132 and 1 TD) and company set up shop on the HP
42. Three plays later, Knowles zipped a 32-yard pass to tight end Jack Van
Dorselaer, who loped easily into the end zone.
When Dragon
defenders blunted the second Scots drive, Sam Fuller blocked the ensuing punt
and Carroll recovered the ball at the HP 3. Penn immediately bullied his way to
the end zone, and the Dragons widened a lead they would never surrender.
The next HP
drive ended with an unsuccessful 34-yard field goal attempt, and the Dragons,
thanks to a 24-yard catch and a 26-yard run by Wormsley, moved rapidly to the
HP 26. Knowles then zeroed a pinpoint pass to sophomore Brock Boyd on the right
side of the end zone.
Once again,
Carroll’s defense smothered Highland Park quarterback Parker Thompson’s efforts
to counter the rampaging Dragons. But the next Dragon drive ended in ignominy when
Knowles’ pass was intercepted in the end zone and returned to the 18.
It was
Knowles’ only misstep of the night, and his defense prevented the Scots from
benefitting from it. But the next Carroll drive also stalled, and it, too, was
forced to punt.
That launched
a dazzling sequence of events that ended the first half with a flourish – and
sealed the Scots’ doom.
Signs of life
After
fielding Carroll’s punt at its 42, Highland Park’s offense finally showed signs
of life, and Thompson moved the Scots to the Dragon 15. But disaster struck
when the Scots coughed up the ball, and Dragon defensive star Dustan Mark fell
on it at the 10.
On the next
play, Penn zipped through the HP line and outran the Scots secondary 90 yards
to the goal line with a minute and a half on the clock.
On the
fourth play of the next HP drive, Thompson connected with Canon Spackman for a 30-yard
TD pass. That put the Scots on the scoreboard and offered the promise, with only
44 seconds left, that HP might carry some much-needed momentum into halftime.
But Wormley,
who fielded the ensuing kickoff at the Dragon 39, had other ideas. On the very
next play, he grabbed the ball and surged untouched 61 yards to the goal line,
giving the Dragons an unassailable 35-7 lead with 27 ticks on the clock.
Three of Carroll’s five TDs in the first half
came on one-play drives: Penn’s 3-yarder after a blocked punt, his 90-yard
sprint after a fumble recovery, and Wormsley’s 61-yard gallop to end the half.
One-two punch
Thus the
Dragons displayed the true explosiveness of their offense, particularly the
one-two punch that Penn and Wormsley deliver. Both ended the night with triple-digit
rushing yards.
“I ran with
a lot of confidence behind our game plan and good things happened,” Penn told
the Star-T’s Lauber. “We we’re firing on all cylinders. We have great
team chemistry and everything just matched up perfectly.”
A potent,
double-barrelled run game? Are you sure we’re talking about pass-happy Southlake
Carroll here?
Head coach
Riley Dodge knows a good thing when he sees it.
“It’s a blessing for us,” he told Dallas Morning News sportswriter Greg
Riddle after the game. “We feel like
we’ve got two starting running backs. It’s been able to keep them fresh. It’s
something we haven’t had. They feed off each other, and they are both very
unselfish and great teammates.”
Penn added a third TD early in the 3rd
quarter, and kicker supreme Kyle Lemmermann booted a 43-yard field goal to
finish Dragon scoring. Backup HP quarterback Cade Trotter, facing mostly
Carroll backups, completed a 20-yard pass to Benton Owens in the 4th
quarter to give the Scots some final pride points.
The success
of the running game is particularly satisfying to Dragonheads. We wondered how
the Dragons would fare in the post-Owen Allen era. Allen, who graduated last
year, ran for more than 6,300 yards and scored 98 TDs in his four years on
varsity.
We need not have worried. Penn started the
season in overdrive and hasn’t slowed down since. However, the addition of
Wormsley, who joined the lineup in midseason after settling some UIL
eligibility problems, has propelled the offense into a new dimension.
Virtually unstoppable
Here’s how
Riddle put it in his DMN game story:
“The Carroll offense has been virtually
unstoppable since Wormley made his season debut Oct. 5. He has run for 706
yards and 16 touchdowns in eight games. And with him in the lineup, Carroll has
averaged 55 points and has scored more than 60 four times.”
“We work off each other’s energy,” Penn told Riddle. “We
really boost each other.”
I expected last night’s contest to be more of a shootout. And
even when Carroll jumped to an early lead, I kept my guard up, mentally willing
the Dragons to keep the pressure on. After all, the Scots, trailing McKinney
last week 21-6 in the 3rd period, had staged a nifty comeback.
I figured Thompson, who played backup quarterback last year
for the Dragons before transferring back to his hometown of Highland Park, was capable
to doing it again.
An adequate passer, Thompson is an elusive, sure-footed
runner who has guided the Scots for the past four games after stepping in for
the injured Warren Peck.
Shame on me for not giving the Dragon defense enough credit. Led
by Dusan Mark, it sacked Thompson three times and limited him to 24 rushing
yards on 14 carries, counting sack losses.
Dragon linebacker Eric Garza was a frequent presence in the
HP backfield, harassing the quarterback and making a general nuisance of himself.
Thompson (14-32, 189) had scant time to find receivers and when he did, they
were draped with Dragon defenders.
Chance to regroup
The Carroll D never gave the Scots a chance to regroup, to
develop a rhythm, to build any sort of momentum. Thompson and company were scrambling
from beginning to end.
Even when the Scots managed to get a drive underway, the
opportunistic Dragons proceeded to ruin the party. A big chunk of HP’s 125 total
rushing yards came on a 67-yard run by Wilson Axley in the 3rd
quarter.
Zack Engelhardt pursued Axley downfield, and just before the
Scots runner crossed the goal line, Engelhardt punched the ball out of his
arms. Austin Davidge ended the threat by falling on the ball in the end zone
for a touchback.
So, it’s pick your poison time for the Dragons. The fourth
round is where the playoff road gets more treacherous, and nothing comes easy.
Will it be the undefeated Byron Nelson Bobcats, a nemesis of
recent vintage, or the unbeaten Coppell Cowboys, an old and bitter foe? No
matter. It’ll be a dandy matchup either way.
Go, Dragons!
The Dragons spent a lot of time in the Highland Park end zone last night.
I love seeing Highland Park get humbled, but not as much as I love your writing.
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