Highland Park v Flower Mound

With the heat bearing down on us during this beautiful Friday night in Dallas, Texas, the Highland Park Scots hosted the Flower Mound Jaguars for what proved to be a great matchup. The Scots led the board with a strong, nine play drive resulting in a 3 yard touchdown for the running back. On the ensuing possession, with Flower Mound looking to even up the score, their quarterback Nick Evers was scrambling to look for positive yards when defensive end Spencer Brown came up with an outstanding strip sack setting the Scots up with great field position still early in the first quarter.

Highland Park capitalized on this field position when Jay Cox took a 5 yard out route to the house from 46 yards out making two defenders miss in the process. However, Flower Mound was not ready to go out without a fight. At the midpoint of the second quarter during a drive riddled with passes to Evers’s favorite receiver Walker Mulkey, the Jaguars set up a perfect screen pass. Boston Lignenfelter took this pass 14 yards for a touchdown to make the score 14-7 before halftime and Flower Mound started the second half with possession. Flower Mound was driving down the field until their drive was interrupted by Jack Curtis forcing a strip sack giving Highland Park the ball on their own 35 yard line. The Scots took advantage of this turnover by capping off a seven play drive with a beautiful 21 yard pass from Brendan Storer to his senior receiver John Rutledge making the score 21-7 in Highland Park’s favor.

With 10:23 left in the fourth quarter and Flower Mound still down 14, the Jaguars were able to find some momentum. Scoring within 2 minutes on a pass to Walker Mulkey, the Jaguars turned the score to 21-14 with 8:30 left in the game. After an interception by Grant Satterfield on Highland Park’s first play of the possession, Flower Mound was positioned at midfield looking to even up the score. After a six play drive, Flower Mound was able to even up the score on a two yard pop pass to the tight end Caden Jensen tying up the game. With 6:36 left to go and the Scots looking to retake their lead, the Jaguars forced a punt resulting in a touchback giving them the ball with just under five minutes remaining. On the first play of the drive, Evers broke away from the defense for a rush of 46 yards and to put the Jaguars in scoring position. The Jaguars were able to take the lead with a 27 yard field goal from Reagan Tubbs making the score 24-21 with a minute fifty left in regulation.

With their backs against the wall and the crowd cheering them on, Highland Park started their drive at their own forty yard line. After a short gain and an incomplete pass, Storer found John Rutledge over the middle of the field for a 22 yard gain putting the Scots at the 33 yard line with 1:20 remaining. On the third straight quarterback draw, Storer was looking for the sideline when a controversial late hit was called with 48 seconds left in regulation. The ball now on Flower Mound’s five yard line, Highland Park’s fullback Ben Croasdale punched in the touchdown giving the Scots the lead with 45 seconds left making the score 28-24 in Highland Park’s favor. With barely any time remaining, the Jaguars were not able to put together any sort of drive. Though they fought hard, the Jaguars came up short with the final score being 28-24 and a win for the Highland Park Scots. As the defeat was sinking in for the Jaguars, senior quarterback Nick Evers motioned to his teammates to keep their heads held high as they walked off the field.