10-6-23 Berkner

   Just when you think you’ve got the district championship race between Lake Highlands, Jesuit and Highland Park figured out, another team comes out of nowhere to stand as the only undefeated team in district 7-6A.

   The Berkner Rams are the only 4-0 team in the district as they sprint into Highlander Stadium for yet another key game for the Scots. Many people within the LBJ loop didn’t know if Berkner was in Richardson or Irving. Then the Rams put themselves on the map and in the championship conversation when they whipped Lake Highlands, 55-35, two weeks ago. Then, as they came into focus they stood alone atop district 7-6A.

   How does a team like that come out of nowhere? What makes the Rams so good?

   I hate to sum it up in one word, but the word is speed.

   Coach Randy Allen calls it track team speed. 

   The Rams have great athletic talent and the cherry on top is speed. They don’t have as much depth as the Scots but only 11 guys can play at a time and their 11 will be faster than HP’s 11. The Scots need John Rutledge to return to Highlander Stadium Friday night and suit up. He’s the only star sprinter the Scots have had since George Aldredge in 1965.

   Let me be more specific about the Rams. They have a sophomore receiver named Dameon Crowe who lit up the Lake Highlands secondary like a Roman candle. He caught only eight passes but five of them were touchdowns. He picked up 160 yards for the game, averaging 20 yards per catch. Now, he doesn’t explode like that in every game, but the Scots are very well aware of his ability to score any time he catches the ball in space.

   The same goes for his kick returns. Kick it away from him.

   But Crowe isn’t the only high-performance weapon in the Rams’ arsenal. 

   Let’s go back to Berkner’s rivalry game against Lake Highlands. The Rams put 55 points on the Wildcats (who put 51 on the Scots). Rams quarterback Cornell McGee IV, a junior, completed 14 of 22 passes (64 percent) for 267 yards and six touchdowns. Running back Jamary Williams ran 16 times for 175 yards and one TD. He averaged 11 yards per carry.

   Last Friday Williams scored on a 61-yard touchdown run and Crowe returned a punt 79 yards for a TD.

   The Scots defense looked great against Jesuit last week in HP’s hard-fought 15-13 win. Both teams were averaging more than 40 points per game. The feared offensive aerial attacks by both teams were shot down by defensive missiles. By that, we mean held to about 200 yards. The Scots picked up 212 yards rushing while allowing Jesuit only 25 yards on the ground. The Scots picked up 29 first downs and held the Rangers to 13. What kept the game close was the turnover ratio. Jesuit lost one fumble while HP lost a fumble and gave up two interceptions.

   It’s a good thing Jesuit moved the game to SMU’s Ford Stadium. A crowd of 15,000 was able to see a great, competitive game and more than 10,000 more HP fans watched the livestream telecast. And it’s a good thing that SMU moved the start time of it’s game against Charlotte to accommodate the Friday night high school game. 

   At halftime of the Berkner-HP game, Jim Castellaw will be honored for his five decades of  serving Highland Park as a coach, teacher, volunteer, radio announcer and now livestream broadcast color commentator. Castellaw has great coaching instincts and knows the HP players so well that he may be the guy who is able to figure out how to make the Scots faster this week.