ROCKWALL -- When the winning team scores at least 43 points in each of the previous three matchups, you expect plenty of offensive fireworks.

But in reality, can you ever expect 125 combined points and a whopping 1,471 total yards?

Highland Park, carried by quarterback and reigning SportsDayHS Offensive Player of the Year Chandler Morris, climbed out of an early 17-point hole to escape Rockwall with a 66-59 win at Wilkerson-Sanders Memorial Stadium and extend its unbeaten streak to 32 games. Morris finished the night with 474 yards through the air on 27-of-43 passing and added 180 more on the ground, having a hand in all nine of the Scots’ touchdowns.

And despite leaving the field during the eventual game-winning drive, Morris quickly returned, weaving through the defense for a 16-yard touchdown that would, after more than 40 tense minutes, give his team the lead for good.
“I love that kid to death,” Highland Park defensive end Prince Dorbah said. “He works his ass off to be where he is.”

With things reset at halftime, it looked like the Scots were ready to remind the Yellow Jackets why they are the three-time defending 5A-I champions — after scoring 17 straight points to end the second quarter and stopping Rockwall on downs to start the third, the visitors grabbed their first lead of the night as Morris scampered 40 yards to the end zone.
Star answered star, however, as star Rockwall Jaxon Smith-Njigba got free for a 65-yard bomb from sophomore Braedyn Locke, who made his varsity debut and tallied 516 yards through the air a year after tossing 34 touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets’ freshman team.

“We were really fired up about [his performance],” Rockwall head coach Rodney Webb said. “When you play a sophomore quarterback, you’re going to get a little bit of the good, the bad and the ugly, and you just know that going into it. But for his first varsity game, I thought he played outstanding.”

The teams then traded 20-plus yard touchdown passes, with Highland Park needing a two-point conversion to atone for an earlier missed PAT and the Yellow Jackets scoring on the first play of the fourth quarter to level things at 52.

Following Morris’ go-ahead score with just more than five minutes to play, Rockwall tried to make one last effort to claw back and try to pull off the stunner. But Texas pledge Dorbah finally made his impact felt — the 6-4 defensive end got off his block just in time to pick off Locke inside the hosts’ 20.

Yet, another Morris touchdown rush wouldn’t settle things for good. Smith-Njigba broke free for a 75-yard toss, eluding the Scots’ secondary for his third touchdown of the night as the Yellow Jackets clawed back to within a score, down 66-59.

Using both his arm and legs, though, Morris strung together a pair of first downs to all but run out the clock.

“What I said [at halftime] was, ‘We’re back but we’re not leaving,” Morris said. “We went down 31-14 and somehow rallied back — we played a terrible half of football.”

Highland Park was more than on its heels for the first 20-plus minutes. Rockwall scored on each of its first five series, surging to a seemingly comfortable 31-14 advantage midway through the second quarter. Yellow Jacket running back Henry punched in a pair of 5-yard touchdown carries before the break — adding to the big week for the senior, who committed to UT-Arlington for baseball Monday night.
Henry logged 151 yards on 22 rushes, scoring a third touchdown after halftime and three touchdowns. Ohio State pledge Smith-Njigba tallied a total of 269 yards on 12 receptions, also scoring three touchdowns of his own.

The pair of stellar performances from Rockwall’s star seniors were still not enough to snap the Scots’ streak, which Highland Park will look to extend next week at Mesquite Horn.

“Rockwall’s got a great football team and they’re better than I thought they’d be,” Scots’ head coach Randy Allen said. “[But] it’s heart. Our players have won so much that they just believe they’re always going to get back in the game.”
