If you can believe a team with six state championships and 10 title game appearances can fly under the radar with very little hype, the Highland Park Scots quite possibly did that. The Scots dropped down to 5A this season and were looking to get back to the state championship game for the first since 2018, when they won their third straight title.
Highland Park started out the season with a 34-21 win over Rockwall-Heath, before taking down Lovejoy 24-17, a team that made the 5A-DII regional final. They would then defeat an eventual 6A playoff team in Dallas Jesuit 43-20, before taking their only regular season loss to Cherry Creek, a team from Colorado that finished 13-1.
Highland Park entered district play 3-1 and were ready to roll. They dominated their first five district games, scoring 31 points or more and giving up 14 points or less in all five of those games. That would set up a matchup with Midlothian for the district title in the last week of the season. In what was their closest game in weeks, the Scots handled Midlothian with a 38-21 win, crowning them as 7-5A-DI district champions and heading into the playoffs undefeated this season against Texas schools.
Highland Park just kept on rolling come playoff time, as they started out their run with three dominant wins over Leander Rouse, Frisco Wakeland, and Frisco Reedy. That would set up a regional final matchup with fellow district champion and state-ranked Frisco Lone Star. Highland Park gave up their most points since that week four loss to Cherry Creek, but the Scots offense prevailed, as they walked away with a 41-28 win, putting them one game away from a return to state.
Standing in their way was a prominent 5A team and three-time state champion, Denton Ryan, who was coming off a massive win against the state’s number one ranked team, Aledo. Highland Park would win a thriller on a last-second field goal, 24-21, to advance to the title game for the first time since 2018. They would take on a Smithson Valley team, still looking for their first title after getting beat in last year’s state championship game.
The Smithson Valley offensive and defensive lines proved too much for Highland Park, as the Scots fell 32-20. Highland Park’s seventh state title still eludes them, but returning to the title game for the first time in six years is a step in the right direction for this era of Randy Allen’s teams.
