Football vs Lake Highands

Prior to Jesuit vs. Lake Highlands, Lake Highlands played Highland Park, a continual powerhouse in Texas high school football. After several weather delays, Lake Highlands defeated HP 51-41. Lake Highlands then went on to play Jesuit Dallas, the other biggest matchup of the season, with major playoff implications on the line in what was just the fourth game of the season. Unfortunately, things did not go well for the Rangers.

“Acknowledging our shortcomings and preparing for next week is what we are doing. We have a next-game mentality.” – Drew Noonan ’24

Lake Highlands won the toss and elected to receive first, and on their first drive scored on a two-play drive thanks to a long passing touchdown. They scored another late in the quarter to lead 14-0 after the first. The final score ended 28-14, a Lake Highlands victory.

“UNFORTUNATELY, we got down early due to a couple mistakes and ULTIMATELY that hurt us in the long run. I know we are a better team then how we performed last Friday and we will prove it during our game against Irving this week.” – Cole Hatzmann ’25

Besides the first drive, there was very little of the Wildcats drawing huge drives downfield to earn their points, most of them were off of turnovers or good positions given to them by Jesuit. Jesuit likewise struggled to get long drives downfield. The story of the game was several little mistakes, from errors in snapping to redzone interceptions. While many good plays were made by Lake Highlands, a very talented team, many errors were able to be prevented by Jesuit.

“I think I need to do better especially with the snaps. It’s really on me.” – Ben Petroff ’24

With this loss, the Rangers lost much control of their destiny. In order to win the district,- they must likely beat Highland Park and win out the rest of the year, so in some sense they determine their path. Lake Highlands however, after playing their two most challenging opponents, go on to what are cupcake teams in comparison to Highland Park and Jesuit, and will likely win out the rest of the year. In order to have a shot to win the district title, Lake Highlands has to lose at least two district games, something they likely will not do. The rest of district play will likely be for second place in the district, which is still important because it can get home field advantage and may prove to help the Rangers depending on who the second-round matchups are.

“Tough one to lose, but we want to make the best of the chances we have left.” – Allen Lesher ’24

Some may say that this is looking too far ahead, and to focus on the now, but Coach Hickman and his coaching staff have proved numerous times that they can take any team far into playoffs and that the season is never really over until the final seconds tick down. The 2019 team that went all the way to the regional round of the playoffs playing at NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans, were 6-4 after all. The Rangers just need to stay calm, trust the process, control what they can control, and hope for the best. The best of this Rangers team is yet to come.

“tough one but we know we can put it all together and make a run.” – Dolen Hendrick ’24

After the tough loss to bring them to 1-1 in the district and 2-2 overall, the Rangers look to face a much easier opponent in Irving. Jesuit is 7-1 against Irving all time, their only loss being a 0-6 loss in 1960. The Rangers have won all of their recent matchups however, that is to say, all games within this century. Last year, they went on the road and beat them easily 56-7. This game should provide the Rangers a good space to perfect the little mistakes and an opportunity to try new things to prepare what will likely be the game of the year for the whole district, Highland Park against Jesuit at Gerald Ford Stadium, home of the SMU Mustangs, on Friday, September 29.

“We have to come out better next week.” -Coach Hickman

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