In a rematch of last season’s only regular season loss, the varsity football team will play the Highland Park Scots on Friday, Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. The game will be played at Highlander Stadium, where the Scots have won 11 straight games, last losing to perennial contender Southlake Carroll in 2021.
“I heard they’re very disciplined,” junior defensive end Sean Oliver said. “It’s going to be a head-to-head bump unlike last game. We’re going to have to pay attention to the smaller details.”
Both teams are coming off of lopsided victories; the Farmers defense shined in a 50-7 win over Naaman Forest, while the Scots started their season with a 56-24 road win over the Marcus Marauders.
“It was good to get out there and play ball,” head football coach Michael Odle said. “It was not perfect by us. The score indicated a lopsided game, but while we made some huge defensive plays and explosive offensive plays, we left some things on the field.”
The Farmers scored all 50 points during the first half. The defense forced five turnovers, three of which were returned for touchdowns. Senior linebacker Mark Cooper also blocked a punt which went through the back of the end zone for a safety.
“The people that stick out to me are the sophomores that haven’t played varsity snaps and the juniors that played JV last year,” Odle said. “That really was their first game and those guys didn’t flinch. They’re going to be poised for this big matchup coming up.”
Sophomore Dylan Davis intercepted a pass and returned it 38 yards for a pick-six late in the second quarter. Oliver, who joined varsity during the playoffs last year, recorded two sacks, a forced fumble and an interception during the first quarter. The interception set up a 4-yard touchdown by senior running back Viron Ellison.
“[Oliver is] dedicated to being great,” Odle said. “He’s put the time in in the weight room and in practice. We were expecting big things, and we got those big things.”
Despite the performance, the Farmers were unsatisfied mistakes made against Naaman Forest.
“There’s definitely some things to clean up penalty wise and execution wise,” Odle said. “We had a hiccup on a short third down where we lined up offsides. We had some big penalties on special teams that brought back two kicks. We went three-and-out on our first offensive possession.”
The defense’s productive first half limited the Farmers offense to just 21 plays during the first half. Senior quarterback Ethan Terrell completed eight passes for 81 yards and a touchdown. The Scots focused on stopping the team’s run game, so Terrell had a season-high 34 pass attempts in the 31-17 loss.
“They like to stack the box against our offense,” senior safety Jaydan Hardy said. “It’s our chance to spread the ball around and let all of [our receivers] just be ballplayers.”
The Scots were undefeated through their first 11 games last season before falling in the Area round of the playoffs to state semifinalist Denton Guyer. Scots head football coach Randy Allen is the winningest active coach in Texas high school football, picking up his 436th career win against Marcus.
“They throw and catch it as well as anybody I’ve seen,” Odle said. “Their defense is fast, physical and disciplined. There’s a reason they win consistently year in and year out.”
Highland Park had to replace a majority of its starters from last season but the younger players performed well against the Marauders. Scots senior quarterback Warren Peck finished his first start with 265 passing yards and four total touchdowns.
“I expect them to throw the ball more,” Oliver said. “Last year, I heard that there was a lot of passing by their team. They threw a lot of screens, so I’m going to be preparing for the screens. I might even take one home this time.”
Senior defensive end Henry Richter and junior defensive end Daniel Turner will frontline the Scots front seven, which will again be focusing on stopping Ellison and the rest of the Farmers’ running backs. Turner made an impact on special teams against Marcus, blocking a field goal, which senior cornerback John McCallum returned for a Scots touchdown.
Last year, the Farmers lost by multiple scores on their home turf. The team struggled to stop quarterback Brennan Storer, as he found receivers open over 40 yards down the field on three separate occasions.
“We just didn’t coach well enough and play well enough to win,” Odle said. “The effort was great, and we responded really well to some bad things that happened. Ultimately, we made too many mistakes to beat a good team.”
Beating Highland Park, which is the highest ranked opponent on the Farmers schedule according to MaxPreps.com’s state rankings, is going to be a challenge. Doing so at Highlander Stadium, where no one on the team has played, only adds to that challenge. The team is maintaining their focus and forgetting about last season’s loss, confident about how they’ll play Friday night.
“No matter who’s on the field we compete at the standard that we know,” Hardy said. “It’s hard to bounce back from adversity. This year we don’t have that adversity, at least not yet. We’re going to get back at them.”
