9.1.23 LewisVILLe
HOME OPENER AGAINST LEWISVILLE
At the start of the season the Lewisville Farmers were ranked 15th in the state. After their first game last Friday – a 50-7 win over Garland Naaman Forest – the Farmers will be ranked 13th when they invade Highlander Stadium this Friday night.
Next week the Scots will challenge Lake Highlands and later in the month, Jesuit, in key district games. But the toughest game on the HP schedule is Lewisville. These Farmers lost to the Scots in the second game last season, 31-17, then reeled off 11 consecutive wins before losing to Prosper, 24-13, in the state quarterfinals.
Lewisville ended the season with a 12-2 record and have several outstanding D1 players back. They believe that this year is their year, and that belief begins this week at Highlander Stadium.
Everyone is picking the Farmers to beat the Scots, which makes sense. What people don’t know is that Highland Park has many players who lack experience but they are a talented bunch. This is an early test for the new Scots so this game will have a playoff vibe because this is the type of talent that HP will see in the postseason.
Punishing Lewisville running back Viron Ellison picked up more than 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. Quarterback Ethan Terrell is back after passing for 1,302 yards and running for 1,080. He found the end zone 25 times last season.
That’s before we get to the Farmers’ best player.
Jaydan Hardy scored five touchdowns last year on offense and then in his spare time led the team in tackles as a future NFL defensive back. Texas Football magazine has selected Hardy as a pre-season first-team all-state defensive back. He’s the best DB not named Bowen in Texas. Ironically, Hardy will join Peyton and Eli Bowen next season in the Oklahoma Sooners defensive backfield. Somebody warn the SEC.
The Warren Peck era at Highland Park began last Friday with the Scot whipping a good Flower Mound Marcus team, 56-24. Peck was 13 of 19 in the air for 265 yards and two TDs and ran for 81 yards and two more scores. Seven Scots caught passes and eight ran with the ball. Some of the Scots big plays included Bryce Laczkowski’s 44-yard TD reception, Steel Tobin’s 39-yard TD reception, back-up QB Parker Thompson’s nice 31-yard TD run and DB Jack McCallum’s 61-yard blocked field goal return for a TD. Daniel Turner blocked the kick and got the assist.
With the exception of injured captain Case Pickelman, the Scots are healthy. Filling in for Pickelman at left tackle will be Hill Greenlee and Stuart Allday. Cormac Carroll has moved to nose guard and slides in between two of the best Scots defensive ends in recent HP lore – Daniel Turner (the kick blocker) and Henry Richter. Behind these three guys are four strong linebackers, led by the district’s best LB, Jack Morse.
It is possible that the Farmers and the Scots could see each other in the playoffs. Lewisville is picked to win district 6-6A and Highland Park is picked to win district 7-6A. The Scots (enrollment of 2,245) will be in the Division II playoffs and the Farmers (4,285) will probably land in the DI playoffs. But they are in the same district with Plano (4,694), Plano West (5,333) and Plano East (5,514) so if a couple of Plano teams make the playoffs, the Farmers and Scots could possibly face each other again.
But what are we doing talking about the playoffs? Let’s focus on the second game of the season.