11-24-23 Southlake Carroll
It’s always interesting when Highland Park faces Southlake Carroll in football. Over the past 15 years the teams have squared off twice with each team winning once. The Dragons beat the Scots in a playoff game a few years ago and the Scots knocked off the Dragons back in 2001. That game made national news when the teams played at Highlander Stadium the week of the Sept. 11 attack. Most high schools cancelled their Friday night football games but the Scots-Dragons game was played because the people of Southlake and HP wanted their communities to come together under the Friday night lights to support each other and help keep each other strong.
The Dragons have won eight state championships. The Scots have won six. The Dragons are playing in the regional semifinals for the seventh straight year and have won its last seven third-round playoff games. The Scots reached this round five straight years, from 2016 to 2020, as a 5A school.
Carroll and Highland Park seem like a mirror image of each other. The athletes resemble each other, their programs are well-coached and have traditions of winning. The communities are similar on a socio-economic level. The winning goes beyond football into all sports. They are both perennial leaders in the statewide Lone Star Cup competition. The biggest difference in the two is that Carroll has 571 more students than HP. It seems likely that the Scots will go back to the 5A level this coming spring.
The game this week features two teams that do everything well. The Dragons average 55 points per game and allow 12. Their quarterback, Graham Knowles, has completed 161 of 220 passes (73 percent) for 2,517 yards and 19 yards. In last week’s 49-14 playoff win over Wolfforth Frenship, Knowles was almost perfect, completing 20 of 21 passes for 223 yards.
The Dragons running game is solid also. Last Friday running back Riley Wormley carried the ball six times and picked up 153 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 25.5 yards per carry. And Davis Penn picked up 51 yards on seven carries for 7.28 yards per carry.
Last Friday at SMU’s Ford Stadium the Scots upset McKinney, 22-21. The HP defense faced a superstar running back named Bryan Jackson who has 30 major college offers and has committed to USC. Tackling him is like tackling a Ford Bronco. The Scots defense held him to 84 yards on 20 carries. A standing ovation is in order for HP defensive linemen Henry Richter, Cormac Carroll and Daniel Turner and linebackers Jack Morse, John Allen, Wesley Winfield and Anders Corn. Morse picked a great time to play the game of his life. The Scots defense held the potent McKinney offense to 21 points. The secret to slowing Mr. Jackson? Gang tackling.
As Coach Allen has said, “We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Warren Peck.” With the starting quarterback out, backup Parker Thompson has stepped in the last three and a half games and has taken control of the Scots offense. He is a very good runner and that gives the HP offense another dimension. Running backs Keller Holmes and Wilson Axley have recently gained more yards catching passes than running. That’s another dimension that the Dragons must prepare for. (They’re already paying attention to HP kicker Nicholas Rigas.)
As a team, the Scots are playing at the highest level possible, mentally and physically. Similar to the HP playoff runs in 2016, 2017 and 2018, this Scots playoff team was picked to lose last week and are picked to lose this week.
And that’s what brings out the best in these Scots.