Varsity Loses Play-Offs to Highland Park

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Martin Gomez, Staff Writer

With a score of 52-7, the Varsity Football team lost to the Highland Park Scots in the regional game on Sat. Dec. 1, at Ford Center in Frisco

“Plays weren’t being executed,” junior Darius Williams said. “The score kept getting bigger and (the team) wasn’t answering. After each score that Highland Park had, we weren’t retaliating or putting enough pressure on them.

Coach Robert Johnson said the main thing he wanted out of the team was the boys to finish strong

“When you get down like that, you just get the mindset that you can’t overcome it,” he said. “(We) just tried to play hard and finish the game the right way.”

Junior Darius Williams said the team had faith they would win the match despite losing to the team during district play.

“You always got to have that mindset that you’re going to win the game,” Williams said. “You don’t want to go into a game thinking you’re going to lose. In terms of this game, Highland Park just got the better of us and capitalized on our mistakes.”

Junior Donnie Gaston said making it to playoffs was important

“We’re better than what people thought we were,” he said. “We have a lot of talent, we just make too many mental mistakes.”

Johnson said he’s excited for the next season.

“With a good returning senior and junior class, it’s a bright future,” he said. “It’s a good group of kids that are moving us forward and making the future exciting for us.”

Williams said the team will go into the off season looking to improve.

“It’s the individual (player’s) part,” he said. “As a team, we can all go over the play and (learn them), but if we don’t turn ourselves up as an individual , then I don’t think we can truly come together as a team.”