Let the playoffs begin!
Highland Park hosts the McKinney North Bulldogs Friday night in a bi-district rumble at Highlander Stadium. Both teams are 7-3. Last week the Scots beat Carrollton Newman Smith, 63-0, while the Bulldogs lost to Frisco Lone Star, 58-7. Don’t let those scores mislead you. The Scots and the Bulldogs are closer than those scores indicate. But don’t tell The Dallas Morning News that. Its sportswriters predict HP wins this week, 52-27.
To me, the score will be closer because the Scots can’t score when they don’t have the ball.
The Bulldogs run a triple option offense which usually generates around three-to-four yards per play. Nothing exciting but deadly in eating up the clock. If they get a lead they can suffocate their opponent’s offense.
The McKinney North offense revolves around a 240-lb. running back named John Richardson, whose specialty is “up the middle”. He averages 7.7 yards per carry, mostly between the tackles. The Bulldogs next three running backs have better “yards per carry” averages than Richardson, who this season has picked up 1,436 yards the hard way.
It’s not just the thick, physical ball carriers that make this triple option work. It begins with a thick, physical offensive line that averages 270 lbs. per person.
The Bulldogs don’t throw the ball very much. They complete about three passes per game. But after establishing a ground game, they catch the defensive backs moving up to stop the run and then throw the deep ball.
McKinney North started the season 7-1 and looked like a potential district champion, but then they concluded their regular season with convincing losses to district runner-up Melissa, 49-27, and undefeated Frisco Lone Star, 58-7.
If keeping the ball away from their opponents is McKinney North’s secret sauce, how did they score only one touchdown and allow 58 points to Lone Star? The answer is that Richardson did get his 152 yards on 22 carries but they didn’t keep the Lone Star offense on the sidelines. And every time the Rangers got the ball, they got points. A lot of them. Although Lone Star ran McKinney North out of the stadium, The Bulldogs are still a good team that got smoked by a potential state champion. (Hopefully the Scots will have something to say about that in a couple of weeks.)
One aspect of Friday’s Scots-Bulldogs game that might be important will be the kicking game. The Scots have a baseball player/kicker named Shep Pryor who is having a superlative season, connecting on 70 percent of his field goals and 58 of 58 PATs. And just as important, his kickoffs usually sail out of the end zone, with no returns.
Going into Friday’s game, Scots quarterback Buck Randall leads the DFW area with 3.098 passing yards. At this point that’s better than Lone Star’s Trey Wright, Lewisville’s Laykon Brassfield and Argyle’s Hayes Hackney. Actually Randall is the only UIL quarterback in North Texas to go into the playoffs with 3,000 yards in the air.
For those of us who read about HP’s legendary QB Bobby Layne and saw NFL MVP Matthew Stafford play over the years at Highland Park, it is a thrill to watch Randall add another link in the HP chain. He’s quick to give credit to his offensive line and his merry band of receivers.
I truly believe that the best is yet to come for the 2026 Scots.