The Forney Jackrabbits closed their 2005 Football Season with a loss to the #1 ranked team in Class 4A, the Highland Park Scots. The Jackrabbits put up a good fight and distinguished themselves as the only team to hold the powerful Scots scoreless in the 1st quarter this year. The Scots Quarterback Matthew Stafford is the #1 ranked Quarterback Recruit in the nation and the Chevrolet High School Player of the Year. Against the 4 previous district opponents Stafford had completed 70% of his passes for an average of 343 yards per game and suffered only 2 interceptions. The Jackrabbits held Stafford to just 258 yards for a 51% completion average and intercepted him once. He finished the game completing 16 of 31 passes and just 1 touchdown. This was the first game this year that Stafford only passed for 1 touchdown. The Jackrabbit run defense was again outstanding only allowing the Scots 123 yards rushing on 27 attempts.
The night started with the Parent Night Program. Senior players, Band Members, Cheerleaders, Drill Team Members, Athletic Trainers and their parents were introduced to an unusually small hometown crowd in view of the great weather, playoff implications and playing the #1 team in the State. The attendees were treated to a great effort by the Jackrabbits and although the score was lopsided at the end the game was very exciting before a number of obvious bad calls or I should say no calls by the officials repeatedly snatched the life and momentum from the Jackrabbits who just would not give up. The Scots defensive secondary repeatedly got away with holding and interference making contact downfield with Jackrabbit receivers. Tony Trotter was lucky that the sleeves on his jersey were still intact. The Side Judge was either blind or intentionally did not throw his flag. On one occasion the back Judge reached for his flag but didn’t have the guts to throw it on the States #1 team that would have kept the Jackrabbit drive alive in the Scots end of the field. Then there was the no call when the Scots quarterback intentionally grounded the ball rather than take a huge loss. The worst call of all was when the ball got away from their punter and after he ran down the ball he threw it down field to prevent the loss. Miraculously one of the many Scots that had charged downfield to defend the anticipated punt caught the ball and even though there was at least 3 linemen downfield the referee awarded the Scots a first down that kept their drive alive and they scored a few plays later.
The Scots got on the scoreboard early in the 2nd quarter with Matthew Stafford leaping high over the pile at the goal line for a 1 yard diving touchdown. Later in the quarter Highland Park’s Jake Feldt scored from 6 yards to give the Scots a 14 to 0 lead. The Jackrabbits answered with a 35 yard Thomas Moreland Field Goal. Later in the quarter Josh Hues intercepted Stafford and the Jackrabbits drove down field and scored on a Andre DeRosier 7 yard run. Thomas Moreland’s try for point hit the left upright and the Jackrabbits had narrowed the margin to 14 to 9. Near the end of the half the Scots scored again with Stafford passing to Charley Dickenson for a 23 yard touchdown. The Scots went for the 2 point conversion which was good giving the Scots a 22 to 9 lead with 1:12 left in the half.
The Jackrabbits moved the ball to the Scots 28 yard line and with just :04 seconds left in the half the Jackrabbits lined up for a 45 yard Field Goal attempt. The Scots called a time out attempting to ice the kicker. After the time out Thomas Moreland nailed his longest Field Goal from 45 yards making the score 22 to 12 at the half.
After the half the men in the stripped shirts exerted their influence by continuing to ignore the Scots infractions, intentional grounding, ineligible receivers downfield, knocking down the Jackrabbit receivers and all but ripping Tony Trotter’s jersey off.
Enough about lousy officials the Jackrabbits were not suppose to win and the officials insured that the Jackrabbits would not be a threat to the Scots. The Scots are a great team without a doubt but the shoddy officiating tarnished their win.
The Scots put the game out of reach by scoring 1 touchdown in the 3rd quarter and 2 touchdowns and a safety in the 4th quarter. Curiously Matthew Stafford played the entire game even after the game was out of reach.
Andre DeRosier was again outstanding running the ball 26 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown. Landon Hartwick showed a lot of toughness late in the game standing strong against the Scots unbridled rush. The Jackrabbit defense led by Chace Cathey was again outstanding.
| |
| Highland Park |
0 |
22 |
7 |
16 |
-- |
45 |
| Forney |
0 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
-- |
12 |
|
| HP – Matthew Stafford 1 run (Clayton Thomas kick) |
| HP--Jake Feldt 6 run (Thomas kick) |
| FOR--Thomas Moreland 35 FG |
| FOR--Andred Derosier 7 run (kick failed) |
| HP--Charley Dickenson 23 pass from Stafford (Alex Carroll pass from Stafford) |
| FOR--Moreland 45 FG |
| HP--Carroll 7 run (Thomas kick) |
| HP-- Safety - punt snap sailed out of endzone |
| HP--Carroll 7 run (Thomas kick) |
| HP--Ryan O'Dwyer 1 run ( Thomas kick) |
| Statistic |
HP |
FOR |
| First downs |
15 |
12 |
| Rushing yards |
27-123 |
37-135 |
| Passing yards |
275 |
80 |
| Comp-att-int |
17-32-1 |
8-22-0 |
| Punts-avg |
3-52.7 |
6-34.7 |
| Penalties-yards |
9-85 |
6-32 |
| Fumbles-lost |
1-1 |
1-1 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| Rushing – HP: Alex Carroll 13-67, Jake Feldt 5-25, Matthew Stafford 4-14, Ryan O'Dwyer 3-12, Charley Dickenson 1-5, Ryan Fanning 1-0. FOR: Andre Derosier 26-106, Matt McEuen 6-39, Landon Hartwick 5-(-10). |
| Passing – HP: Matthew Stafford 16-31-1-258, Will Bonano 1-1-0-17. FOR: Landon Hartwick 8-22-0-80. |
| Receiving – HP: Charley Dickenson 5-81, John Dickenson 6-68, Ross Bolin 1-40, Holt Martin 2-35, Jake Feldt 1-21, Stephen DeBeer 1-17, Morgan Hudnall 1-13. FOR: Tony Trotter 4-57, Josh Pope 1-11, Tyler Monroe 1-10, Richard Romero 2-2. |
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Enrollment: Forney - 939 Highland Park -1921
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