Highland Park (Dallas) opened its defense of three straight 5A-D1 state championships and a No. 9 preseason MaxPreps Texas rankings by piling up 66 points and 755 yards on Friday night.
Impressive, right? Dominating to be sure.
Remarkably, the Scots only won by a touchdown.
Video: Instant Texas ClassicWatch the highlights from Texas football opener that featured 125 points and nearly 1,500 yards.
In a truly stunning opener at 12th-ranked
Rockwall, senior quarterback
Chandler Morris accounted for 664 yards and nine touchdowns and Highland Park needed every one of them in a crazy 66-59 victory at Wilkerson-Sanders Memorial Stadium.
According to statistics from both teams after watching film, Morris completed 29-of-42 passes for 479 yards and five scores, and rushed for 185 yards and four touchdowns as the Scots fought back from a 31-14 deficit to win a wild back-and-forth game.
Rockwall sophomore quarterback
Braedyn Locke, making his varsity debut, completed 30-of-47 passes for 569 yards and five scores, and
Zach Henry rushed for 156 yards and three scores as the Yellowjackets amassed 744 yards of their own.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, one of the nation's top-rated receivers, showed why with 13 catches for 311 yards and three touchdowns.
Morris spread the ball around a little more as
Case Savage (six catches, 143 yards, two touchdowns),
Ben Smith (9 grabs, 135 yards, one score) and
Hunter Heath (two TD catches) led the receiving core for Highland Park.
The game features a staggering 1,499 yards of total offense.
Highland Park's Chandler Morris rushed for 185 yards and four touchdowns on top of his 479 yards passing and five more scores.
Photo by Michael Horbovetz
A 24-0 flurry by Highland Park seemed to deliver the knockout punch as the Scots took a 38-31 lead early in the third. But from there, the teams traded one touchdown after another — six in fact — the last a Morris 16-yard run to go up 59-51 with 5:15 to go to take a 59-52 lead.
After a quick turnover — Texas bound defensive end
Prince Dorbah picked off a pass — Morris gave the Scots a two-touchdown cushion 66-52 with a 5-yard TD run with 4:46 remaining.
That would have seemed to be the dagger, but Smith-Njigba responded immediately with a 75-yard touchdown catch from Locke to cut it to 66-59 with 4:02 left.
Remarkably, the defenses took over from there, and the teams went scoreless the rest of the way.
"Rockwall's got a great football team and they're better than I thought they'd be," Scots' coach Randy Allen told the
Dallas Morning News. "(But) it's heart. Our players have won so much that they just believe they're always going to get back in the game."
The Highland Park-Rockwall instant classic wasn't the only barn burner on opening night in Texas on Friday.
Guyer (Denton) ranked 14th in the state, went on the road to beat No. 6 Aledo, 60-57, No. 8
Longview won at Lufkin, 24-21 and third-ranked
Allen had a tough tussle with No. 25 Cedar Hill, 41-28.
See all the scores on the
Texas Top 25 scoreboard.
Rockwall's Zach Henry rushed for three touchdowns.
Photo by Michael Horbovetz
Chandler Morris directed Highland Park on nine touchdowns. He accounted for all of them.
Photo by Michael Horbovetz
Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 13 catches for more than 300 yards and three scores.
Photo by Michael Horbovetz
