Jumping Belles

The Belles halftime routine was full of pompoms and jumping. Always the top of excitement for little girls in the stands the Belles did not disappoint. After their routine Brad Bradley was recognized for his tireless work with all of the HP sports teams over the years and Dr. Bryce was recognized for all of her work with the district.

HP Too Much for Coppell

It was a little close at times but the Scots settled down during half time and came out and played their game. The Cowboys never had a chance after halftime. With touchdowns by scored by four different Scots , HP showed how diverse its offense has become. Throw a safety early on in there and you have another home win.

A Scrimmage for the Hundreds

You think I am kidding when I say a scrimmage for the hundreds. Some one needs to give those middle school football coaches a huge bonus. There were at the beginning of school about 140 kids playing 7th grade football, I would guess a slightly lower number playing 8th grade. Some how these coaches are to determine in a matter of eleven school days who should play what position and how to divide them up into two teams. The eighth grade coaches have it a little better since most of them played in 7th and know the drill. Imagine being one of these coaches and running a scrimmage for one hour with 140 kids all wearing white jerseys, very few had a number on their jersey. With the exception of names on the helmets many looked identical. I am still amazed at how quickly the coaches have gotten the kids into a routine of arriving almost before sunrise to school and knowing exactly what is expected of them. Within a two hour period the 7th and 8th grade coaches worked easily over 200 kids into a scrimmage by grade level. Amazing!

Details You Might Miss

The sidelines at any football game can become crazy at best before, during and just after halftime. Consider all of the moving parts and you have a possible disaster on your hand each week. What you might not notice is after the teams run off of the field, there are four groups staged to take the field, both school bands and both school drill teams. With various instruments that are not carried onto the field and chairs , there is a lot of action going on. Once the dust settles there are so many little details that some people probably never notice. Looking down this past week I noticed the shoes the band was wearing, seriously where did they find these?

The Scots Win Home Opener

The Frisco Liberty game was not one to be late to. From the opening kickoff and the return went all the way for a touchdown to Frisco Liberty's quick answer there was a lot of excitement in the opening minutes. Things settled down and the scoring for the Scots became pretty regular with multiple runs going the distance into the endzone for a Scot touchdown. When the final horn blew the Scots had their first home win 42-14. Another home game this Friday rain or shine and it should be done well before hurricane Ike and the weather he is bringing with him becomes a factor.

Belles and Dr. Jones

Having seen just about every Belle routine there is, I have to say the halftime routine last Friday was awesome, some things that appeared to be new to me. Great color and movement. Good job girls.

HP vs Frisco Liberty

Tonight the Scots host Frisco Liberty for the first home game of the 2008 season. Prior to kickoff the Highland Belles will be holding their annual spaghetti supper and just before kickoff, Highland Park will recieve the Lone Star Cup presented by Texas Dodge dealers to the Texas teams with the most UIL wins and accomplishments. Once again HP is the recipient of the 4A Lone Star Cup. Kickoff is at 7:30 don't be late.

Highland Belles Spaghetti Supper

Looking for a great parking spot for this week's HP football game on Friday against Frisco Liberty? Well get there early and have dinner with the Highland Belles during their annual spaghetti supper. They provide take out or eat in and will be raffling off a ton of amazing prizes in addition to some auction items. These girls are unbelievable, they bring in some of the coolest things to help raise money. Just about every modern cool technology gadget will be available either through the raffle or the auction. Don't miss out, head straight to the cafetorium ( I love calling it that since it can be a cafeteria or auditorium with stage and lighting!).

Cross Country Relay

And they're OFF!

Ok, I will admit I have never been to a cross country meet in my entire life until Saturday. It seems everyone runs cross country and now I can see why. Despite the grueling summer training, the marathon length runs (at least in my book marathon) in the sweltering Texas heat on the rubber melting hot asphalt of our neighboring streets the meet was a confirmation of sorts that these kids love cross country. To be totally honest I have since discovered this was one of the larger meets they will run and it was a relay which all made it one of the best to go to. With so many girls running cross country the Scots had a lot of relay teams, the starting line had enough Lady Scots for almost a nice class full of students. If you have never been to one of these you would need to understand for the relay they have a one and half mile course set up, the starting point is also the handoff spot, where teammates hand off a glove, yes a glove not a baton. The glove adds an interesting dimension, most just hold it in their hand, believe me it looks like an over used golf glove, some brave souls actually put it on their hand and wear it so they don't drop it. That means they have to get it on their hand and then a mile and half later off of their hand, their very sweaty hand. This isn't just any mile and a half, no it is a winding couse that includes a leap over a stack of hay bales. This is amazing to watch as everyone has a different approach, some take it like a hurdle, some like stairs and some leap and roll out of the fall, I saw a few tumbles and lots of smiles as they approached it, the smiles came from nerves trying to decide whether to hurdle or walk over it with a crowd watching. It was hot and humid and just to get there you had to park on a field and cross a major street and then try to decide where the course was and were you crossing as someone was running by. All in all I had a great time and all of the kids I saw were actually smiling, cheering on each other and having a great time.

The hay bale crossing.

Smiles after a morning run.