No football team expects to be down 7-0 in less than 15 seconds into a game. But, after their bye week, that is exactly where the Forney Jackrabbits found themselves in the District 10-4A opener against the Highland Park Scots at Highlander Stadium. After the pre-game rain had cleared from the North Dallas skies, the Jackrabbits started the game by kicking to Highland Park and watching the Scots' Hank Howard scamper, almost untouched, through the Jackrabbits return team for an opening touchdown of 97 yards.
No football team expects to be down 7-0 in less than 15 seconds into a game. But, after their bye week, that is exactly where the Forney Jackrabbits found themselves in the District 10-4A opener against the Highland Park Scots at Highlander Stadium. After the pre-game rain had cleared from the North Dallas skies, the Jackrabbits started the game by kicking to Highland Park and watching the Scots' Hank Howard scamper, almost untouched, through the Jackrabbits return team for an opening touchdown of 97 yards.
After a forgettable opening offensive possession by the Forney offense that netted negative yards, the Scots were on the move to make the score 14-0. Senior Defensive Back Cody Penny had other plans and intercepted Highland Park's Quarterback Jet Tuma in the end zone to thwart the drive. After another possession by the Jackrabbits proved uneventful, the Scots went on a very long drive that resulted in one of the few highlights of the night for Forney. Junior Defensive Back Marcus White came off the edge and managed to block the field goal attempt and keep the score at 7-0 in favor of the Scots.
As unconventional as it sounds, the blocked field goal was the beginning of the end for the visiting team. Forney started the ensuing possession at their own one yard line. Failing to get a first down, the Jackrabbits had to punt out of their end zone and only managed to get the ball out to the 39 yard line. The resulting short field for the Highland Park offense allowed them to run the score to 14-0 on a Rob Williams 11 yard touchdown.
The Jackrabbits moved the ball well on the next possession, but stalled out and had to punt to Highland Park once again. After a 41 yard screen pass to Howard, QB Jet Tuma capped off an 83 yard drive with a 1 yard run. Prior to the screen pass, Forney hurt themselves with two consecutive 15 yard penalties that certainly helped the Scots efforts. Going into the locker rooms at half-time Highland Park led 21-0.
Just as the first half started with a bang for the home team, the beginning of the second half was one more opportunity for Forney to ask for a mulligan. The first play from scrimmage was a middle screen that Highland Park forced a fumble on and set up their offense with very good field position. From that point on, the second half never got any better as the Scots continued their methodical play and piled up 42 points on the night.
The Forney offense managed to finally score a touchdown on an 18 yard Jack King completion to Louie Fanning. As the old saying goes, it was too little too late. The night can be summed up by looking at the stat line and seeing 5 turnovers by the visiting team and very few plays, none until the fourth quarter, run by the Forney offense on the Highland Park side of the field. The Scots offense gained almost 350 yards of well balanced offense on the night, with less than a 15 yard difference between passing and rushing yards. The Highland Parks Scots beat the Forney Jackrabbits, 42-7.
The Forney Jackrabbits now stands at 1-3 on the season and 0-1 in District 10-4A play. Forney will next face the Poteet Pirates on Friday night, October 5th, at City Bank Stadium in Forney. Sportsgram coverage of the game will begin shortly before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff.