Brennan Storer helps Highland Park hold off late surge from Dallas Jesuit

After a dominant first half, the Highland Park Scots were in complete control of their District 7-6A Texas high school football showdown with the Dallas Jesuit Rangers on Friday night.

Then the Rangers staged a massive second-half comeback.

In the end, the 12th man of Highlander Stadium was just too much for Jesuit as the Scots held on for a 35-28 win to put themselves in prime position for a district championship.

“I think we can see our potential,” Highland Park head coach Randy Allen said. “I think Jesuit was a good test tonight. They played extremely hard. We’ve got some areas we’ve got to improve on but I’m really excited about where our team is right now.”

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCORES

Highland Park got off to a fast start thanks to quarterback Brennan Storer, a Western Michigan commit. Storer racked up 351 yards of offense and accounted for three touchdowns. He completed 9-of-21 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 14 times for 141 yards and another TD.

On the second play from scrimmage, Storer connected with Grayson Schrank who got all the way down to the Ranger 11-yard line. Two plays later, running back Jay Cox found the end zone from three yards out.

Two drives later, Storer did it again with a 37-yard touchdown strike to Luke Herring making the score 14-0 after one quarter of play.

Schrank was Storer's favorite target, catching five passes for 87 yards. Cox finished with 13 carries for 40 yards and two TDs, and he also caught a 26-yard touchdown pass.

On the Scots’ first drive of the second half, the red-hot offense drove down to the Jesuit two yard line, setting up Cox to find the end zone again to take a 21-0 lead.

It appeared the Rangers had found their groove on their next possession as they drove deep into Highland Park territory. However, on third and long, Jack Morse (6 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT) threw his hands up and came down with an interception to give the ball back to the Scots. They immediately went into the two-minute offense and marched downfield to score on a two-yard keeper by Storer to bring the score to 28-0 as the teams went into halftime.

Jesuit came out of the locker room with a chip on its shoulder and was determined to get back in the game. However they failed to convert on fourth and one from the Highland Park six yard line.

Storer immediately drove his offense to the Ranger 26 yard line. From there, he expertly faked the keeper and dropped back to find a wide open Cox for the touchdown to make it 35-0 at the end of the third quarter.

On the very first play of the fourth quarter, momentum shifted heavily towards Jesuit. Quarterback Charlie Schmidt (31-46, 238 yards, 2 TDs passing, 18 carries, 54 yards, 2 TDs rushing, 1 catch, 22 yards) called his own number and scored from the Scots’ eight yard line to get the Rangers on the board.

Needing a spark, Jesuit decided to onside kick and recovered it to get the ball back.

Schmidt led the Rangers on a nine-play drive that he capped off himself on a five-yard scoring run to make the score 35-14.

After getting a defensive stop, Jesuit had new life and drove right back down the field and scored on a quick pass from Schmidt to Matty Wagner (5 catches, 48 yards, 1 TD) from 17 yards out.

The Rangers again forced Highland Park to punt and started a drive from their own 21 yard line. Schmidt threw the ball on 12 consecutive plays and capped it off by sneaking a pass into triple coverage to Jake Musso to make the score 35-28 with just 15 second remaining.

Unfortunately for Jesuit, they could not get their hands back on the ball and the Scots were able to kneel out the clock to secure the win.

“We have not arrived yet, that’s for sure,” Allen commented. “We’ve got to get better in a lot of areas. That’s the good thing about studying film and it’s a good thing about winning. You can get on your players a little more because they’ll listen to you. We know we’ve got to raise the bar because there are some really great teams in the future.”

Musso had a huge game for the Rangers, carrying the ball 10 times for 41 yards and catching 11 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown. 

Highland Park (5-0, 3-0) continues its perfect season and will travel to Wildcat-Ram Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 6 to take on the Richardson Berkner Rams (3-3, 3-1).

Jesuit (4-2, 3-1) will have a week off after suffering its first district loss, before also facing Richardson Berkner at Postell Stadium in Dallas on Friday, Oct. 14.