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MIDLOTHIAN — In what coach Randy Allen called Highland Park’s best performance of the season, the Scots built a comfortable halftime lead and held off a Midlothian rally for a 38-21 victory in a showdown for the District 7-5A Division I title and top seed in the playoffs Thursday night at Midlothian ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium.
“Moving the game up a day for weather wasn’t something we anticipated,’’ said senior running back James Lancaster, who rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown and caught a scoring pass. “But our guys came through.’’
Both teams entered with identical season and district records and secured playoff berths.
Highland Park (9-1, 6-0 in 7-5A Div. I), No. 4 in The Associated Press’ Class 5AI state ranking and No. 3 in the Dallas Morning News’ combined 5A area poll, bettered its state record with a 59th district championship either shared or won outright.
The Scots will host a bi-district playoff Friday at Highlander Stadium against an opponent from District 8-5A Div. I. It will be Highland Park’s 66th playoff appearance, another state record, and extended its active postseason streak to 30 seasons in a row.
Midlothian (8-2, 5-1), No. 15 in the area, is in the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years and will host a bi-district game on Friday.
The Scots were able to crank out touchdown drives of 64, 63 and 54 yards thanks to conversions on six of eight third downs in the first half.
“Our guys executed on third down and in the red zone,’’ said Allen. “Buck Randall made some great throws and our receivers had some amazing catches.’’
Lancaster’s two-yard scoring run finished the game’s opening drive. Randall (15 of 21 for 193 yards), a sophomore, connected with Cannon Bozman on touchdown tosses of 25 and six yards in the second quarter.
Highland Park’s longest drive of the half of 75 yards, 14 plays and seven minutes of clock ended in a Reece Tiffany 38-yard field goal.
Midlothian was limited to 72 yards in the first half with Highland Park linebacker Jack Morse stopping two possessions with tackles for loss including one on fourth down that led to the final touchdown in a 24-0 intermission lead.
The Panthers offense generated touchdown drives of 72 and 89 yards in the second half, ending in scoring runs of 19 yards on fourth down by quarterback Beau Wendel and one yard by David Aborisade. Midlothian generated 201 yards of offense in the final two quarters and Wendel finished with 81 rushing yards on 13 carries.
“We talked about competitive character at halftime and our execution was much better in the second half,” Midlothian coach Doug Wendel said.
Highland Park answered with scoring drives of its own ending on a 4-yard keeper on fourth down by Randall and an eight-yard touchdown pass to Lancaster circling out of the backfield.
Midlothian backup quarterback Justice Roberts combined with fellow-sophomore Kentorion King for a 19-yard touchdown pass in the game’s final minute and a conversion pass to Kohen Buchanan.
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