Kilt 'em

After arriving home to Highlander Stadium the 2008 Scots were treated to cake and special commemorative 700 wins t-shirts. The whole team assembled amazingly fast and Mr. Brad Bradley took the official 700th win photo. By my calculations Mr. Brad Bradley has probably been at 400 to 500 of those wins. The above is the aftermath of high school boys after a long day in the heat and a historic win. The team and Coach Allen were awarded special trophies, a gold football for being the first team in Texas High School football history to win 700 games and a special commemorative piece from the Tom Landry Classic for the 700th win. The team then surprised Coach Randy Allen with his own Fight to the Finish belt buckle to wear with his wranglers, wait does he wear wranglers? Time to hit Western Warehouse Coach Allen.

700th Win!!

The Scots beat Red Oak 45-26 in the 2008 Landry Classic, in doing so they brought home the 700th win, the first team to do so in Texas high school football history. As Coach Allen left SMU's stadium he he carried with him the spirit of all of those who came before him and his players. 700 wins, that is a lot of Friday nights under the lights, a lot of hot Texas afternoon practices and a lot of high school boys sweat and blood left on football fields across Texas. From the wonderful rickety old wooden Highlander stadium to the concrete stadium of today many a player have put on the HP Scot uniform. To each and everyone of you a congratulations is in order!

Pep Rally #1

The Varsity Cheerleaders lead the first pep rally of the year as the Scots listened to Coach Allen discuss how everyone works together and the team's success is due to their hard work and all of the encouragement the team gets from everyone and all of the organizations that support them. It was a full house and the anticipation of winning the 700th game for HP was building.

Newest HP Football Players

The 9th grade HP Football squads kicked off last night against Red Oak. Both teams were victorious and shut out Red Oak with large margins. Amazing to me was the names on the roster. It seems everyone I know has a son playing freshman football. Thursday nights are busy nights at the stadium with either the freshmen teams playing or JV Gold and Varsity Huddle 3&4 playing. Butch as always keeps watch over the stadium.

Numero Uno

The Lady Scots Volleyball team is ranked numero uno in the State of Texas. For those non spanish speaking folks, number one! They matched up with McKinney Boyd Tuesday night and put them away in three sets. McKinney Boyd made an attempt to take the second set but no such luck. I have posted this photo as it is one of my favorites to date of volleyball. There are many reason but the first one is the player Tori, she never gives up, she is always out there keeping everyone in the match, she remembers to have fun and often is smiling and encouraging her teammates. Tori also dives a lot, dives make for great photos. If I could sit on the court I would love shooting volleyball, much better action from down low for shots just like this one. The edges around the court are all considered playing field and therefore I must kneel in case the play comes my way, as if I could possibly move quickly with my knees frozen in the kneeling position. Anyway not to get sidetracked but look at the expressions of her two teammates behind her. One is almost willing her to make the play while the other watches and retreats from hitting the ball. I like that the coach is on the sideline talking to a very attentive player and appears to stop in mid sentence to see what Tori will do. All the while Tori has everything under control as usual.

Back to numero uno, if you haven't stopped by the gym to watch these girls play you really need to, they have a great chemistry and are very supportive of each other, not to mention some of their kills are powerful and I am glad I am not on the other end of those bullets, I mean balls they send toward their opponents.

Scouts

If you were wondering what was up with a lot of the HP players wearing different numbers during the Plano West scrimmage ,you weren't alone. The bottom line is it was just a last minute equipment thing and nothing more mysterious. Of course you might have thought it was to throw off any scouts from opposing teams that might have been in attendance, and they were definitely there. The Red Oak coaches didn't even try to be discreet, they were the only ones in the visitor stands just above the Scots' bench. You just never know who is watching.

HP Football Looks Good in Scrimmage

HP took its football teams out to Plano to face off against Plano West's teams. The coaching staff appeared to take the opportunity to work with a number of different players while they begin to settle on exactly where everyone will play. Next week HP will meet up with Red Oak, Freshman will play at Highlander Thursday night and the JV Gold will travel to Red Oak along with the Huddle 3 and 4 Blue team. Varsity will play on Saturday night in the Landry Classic at SMU's Gerald Ford stadium. The game is to start at 7:30 but could have a late start depending on the earlier game between Southlake and Plano West. Parking will be tough so think about carpooling.

With a win against Red Oak the Varsity would mark the first time a Texas High School team has won 700 games.

HP Football to Scrimmage Plano West

Looking for some early Friday night lights? Head out to Plano's Clark Stadium this friday, August 21st. HP will match thier various football teams against Plano West's. Freshman teams will kick off the match up starting at 4pm, with JV Gold at 5pm, Varsity huddle 3 and 4 will play at 6pm and Varsity huddle 1 and 2 at 7:30pm. Clark Stadium is easy to get to with the exception of the Friday afternoon traffic, head north on I-75 , exit Spring Creek Parkway, take a left (west) onto Spring Creek Parkway, just past Chase Oaks you should see the stadium and a street called Stadium, take a right (north) and you should see Clark Stadium. In the meantime let's hope this cool front sticks around a little longer.

HP Volleyball hosts Justin NW

The HP varsity volleyball hosted Justin NW this week. JJ Pearce and Justin NW played a five game match prior to HP taking the court. Once on the court it only took the Lady Scots three games to defeat Justin NW. The third game being the closest. Kills were hit by a number of HP players. Everyone got some time on the court so it was clear just how deep the varsity squad is.

Football is Warming Up

The 2008 HP Varsity Football squad held their fall inner squad scrimmage Saturday. The football gods must have been watching over the fighting Scots as the weather was unseasonably cool for August. With rotating QB's the defense worked on defending a variety of different styles. Seniors Dillon Zweifel and Blake Burgin joined Juniors Luke Woodley and Matt Skidmore running, throwing and working in some handoffs. The quarterbacks were identified with their yellow pennies (some might call them practice jersies, I just like to call them pennies since that's what they were called when I was a youngster at UP) the qb's were a bit tough to tell apart until you saw them move, they all have a different style. Junior's Chris Hipps and Brooks McIlhenny were either catching or running with the ball. Due to some injuries and some multiple numbers I am still not sure who was who but they definitely looked like they were knocking off some of the dust off of the equipment that they have not been able to practice in(I think they had one day in pads but maybe not) since last season. It is always fun to see new faces on the field and to see old faces with new numbers, good for my aging mind to have to learn new numbers. Next Friday the Scots will take their new team to Plano for another scrimmage, not sure if quarterbacks will be available for tackling out north but look for an exciting season with a fair share of both running and passing. If you are having Seth Gardner withdrawals don't worry, I believe between a returning reciever and a few juniors there will be a few receivers opponents will find threatening. If everyone can stay healthy the Scots should have some exciting plays up their sleeves or on their wrist bands.

Volleyball in Full Swing

Lots of smiles as the teams take the court

It was an exciting day Tuesday as it was my dad's birthday but also the first day for the newly set (oops, pun) varsity Volleyball squad to wear their jerseys. Six seniors, four juniors and three sophomores will attempt to take the Lady Scots all the way to state. This group may just do that too. First up was a match against Lake Highlands and after winning the first game easily, the wildcats came back to claim the second game and ultimately the third game and the match. There appear to be a few moments of first time out jitters but once everyone calmed down, the Lady Scots hit their stride. Their second match was against a very competitive Red Oak team. During their match against Red Oak the Lady Scots discovered they can as a team compete with anyone and I expect as they settle in more with each game this Scots volleyball team will become the team to beat.


A dig here and...

a dive there.

Record Temperatures Mean Cross Country

You may have noticed groups of kids running around the neighborhood this summer. The cross country runners train throughout the summer to condition themselves to the sweltering Texas heat and long distance running. With the recent record temperatures the "cool front" was a welcome relief to the cross country runners who were completing tryouts for this year's team. The girls' cross country team has been running all week, some timed and some fun runs. Not an easy task under the ideal circumstancses, throw in last week's temperatures hovering around 100 and you have some hot runners. The season will begin August 30th with a meet at Norbuck Park in Dallas. These runs aren't just distance related they seem to be over hill and valley and through messy terrain, truly cross country. Best of luck to all of those endurance strong runners.

VBall Is Here

It is time for volleyball. All of the squads started the season out with scrimmages at home and will continue with more scrimmages and tournaments. The varsity squad returns the majority of its starters from last year's regional semi-finalist team. If you are looking for an air conditioned sport to support check out their schedule and head to the gym. First home game is set for August 19th matching the Lady Scots against Justin Northwest.

1st Annual Clay Shoot Out

With temperatures in the 90's teams of all ages spent an afternoon at the Dallas Gun Club raising funds for the 2008 HP football program. There was plenty of noise as guns were fired as the teams went through twelve different stations with clay pigeons flying across openings in the trees. After a full afternoon of competition, food was served by DC's catering and everyone was treated to some music by Chap Bernet and awards were handed out. Dr. Cathy Bryce was honored for all of her support over the years of the football program and was presented with a personalized belt buckle and flowers. All of this can only mean it is time for some high school football. With just weeks left for the official first kickoff of the Scots season expectations are high for the 2008 team.

New

It is time for a new season, a new school year and new players on the team. Stop by here for all of your HP sports news and photos from different sporting events. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any ideas or suggestions.