11-17-23 McKinney
With the second round of the playoffs upon us this Friday night, the Scots are preparing for the most talented collection of football players that Highland Park has faced since Manvel in 2017.
That was in the state championship game and the Scots won, 53-49, on the last play of the game. For those of us who were at AT&T Stadium that day, we will never be the same.
This year’s McKinney Lions team is loaded with college talent. Of the top 100 recruits from the Dallas area, the Lions have five: Safety Xavier Filsaime is ranked fifth, running back Bryan Jackson is 17th, linebacker Makhi Frazier is 36th, linebacker Jonathan Agumachi is 60th and cornerback Ashton McShane is 71st. In addition to these five, the Lions also have at least half a dozen others with major college scholarship offers.
The Lions are 9-2, coming out of a challenging district. Their only two losses came against Allen (31-7) and Prosper (24-12) and they made a big statement when they trounced Denton Guyer, 37-20, three weeks ago.
McKinney has developed an interesting offensive concept that is hard to prepare for. They have a passing quarterback and a running quarterback. Sophomore Jeremiah Daoud is a left-handed QB with a big arm and multiple three- and four-star receivers. He has thrown for more than 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns. The running QB is Godspower Nwawuihe who has picked up 838 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 7.42 yards per carry. He has also completed 32 of 58 passes for 496 yards and five more scores. Running back Bryan Jackson, who has more than 30 college offers and is committed to USC, has run for 538 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s 300 yards less than Godspower.
All four receivers are lethal. The best might be Khali Best. He has caught 29 passes for 577 yards and seven touchdowns. Right behind him is Khristian Mackintrush, who has caught 24 passes for 499 yards and seven TDs. Like Best, Sincere Blakely is a sprinter with three college offers. The fourth receiver is Ja’Bre Bickham, who is 6’3” and has long arms for jump balls in the end zone. The offensive line goes 260, 285, 285, 275 and 295.
Flower Mound Marcus opened its season with a loss to Highland Park and ended its season last Friday to McKinney, 52-31. In that game the Lions rolled up 429 yards of total offense, including 305 yards on the ground and 124 in the air. The leading rusher was Godspower with 137 yards. (I am not making his name up.)
On the final play of the first half McKinney’s Jamarcus Demar blocked a field goal and McShane picked up the loose ball and ran 63 yards for a back-breaking touchdown to make the score 31-10 at halftime.
Last Friday the Scots dispatched the Arlington Colts, 45-17. Keller Holmes ran for 106 yards and two touchdowns, QB Parker Thompson ran for two TDs and passed for another. Brian Rapp was the Scots’ leading receiver with three receptions for 83 yards and one TD. Defensive end Daniel Turner came up with a huge fumble recovery at the Arlington 19-yard line to take the breath out of the Colts.
The one thing the Scots need to keep in mind is that over the past few years Highland Park has played several games in the playoffs against teams loaded with college talent (Denton Ryan three times and Manvel once) and there is one common denominator.
The Scots found a way to win all of them.