DALLAS — Although the weather forecast showed no signs of precipitation, Highland Park let loose a torrent of offense to post a 56-13 victory over Lake Belton in a Class 5A Division I bi-playoff Friday night at Highlander Stadium

The Scots (10-1) advanced to face Frisco Reedy in next week’s area round while Lake Belton, which led 13-7 early in the second quarter, finished under .500 for the first time program history at 5-6.

“I thought we won the first eight minutes, had a chance to have a lead and we did some really great things,” Broncos head coach Brian Cope said. “Proud of our kids and how they fought.”

After scoring on two of its first three drives, Lake punted seven times in as many possessions over the remainder of the game. Meanwhile, the Scots never punted and scored on all but two drives, both of which ended with a turnover on downs.

“I think they force you into man-to-man and you have to win,” Cope said. “Sometimes that’s with the O-line. Sometimes that’s in the secondary, and they got some momentum from that and were really good on that.”

Highland Park was fueled by junior quarterback Buck Randall, who was 15-of-17 passing for 323 yards and three touchdown to go with a rushing TD. The Scots ran the ball 31 times for 228 yards, with five scores coming on the ground.

Lake quarterback Jessiah James was 7-of-20 for 145 yards and a pair of TDs in his first career playoff game.

“Playoff experience is something that’s invaluable and he fought and battled, and I was proud to see that,” Cope said.

The Broncos’ leading receiver was junior Zion Harness, who had four catches for 84 yards. Davion Peters had a pair of receptions for 26 yards.

Lake elected to receive the opening kickoff and, after three plays, faced fourth-and-5. Peters completed a shovel pass to Gavin Stewart on a fake punt that set up the Broncos with first-and-10 at the Scots 43-yard line. Three plays later, James connected with ,Harness for a 54-yard touchdown that put Lake up 6-0 with just more than 9 minutes to go in the first quarter.

Aiden Lassich’s ensuing kickoff bounced off a Highland Park player and into his Lassich’s hands to give the Broncos the ball in Scots territory, but Lake couldn’t capitalize.

The Scots put together an eight-play drive that went 86 yards and was capped by James Flowers’ 6-yard scoring run that put Highland Park ahead 7-6 with 6:44 left in the opening period.

Lake scored on the first play of the second quarter on a 21-yard strike from James to Peters that put the Broncos back out front at 13-6 just 8 seconds into the period.

The Scots needed only one play to answer, though, on a 70-yard pass from Randall to Cannon Bozman that made it 14-13 with 11:40 to go before halftime.

The Broncos punted on their next four drives, and their fifth ended with the halftime horn.

Highland Park scored on all but one of its next four possessions to finish the 28-point second quarter, and Randall had a hand in all three TDs. The first was his 1-yard run, followed by a 61-yard pass to Charlie Olmstead and a 24-yard connection with Isaac Hutchinson that rounded out the first-half scoring and left the Broncos trailing 35-13.

The Scots used a trio of third-quarter touchdowns to pad their cushion. Isaiah Lee ran in from 34 yards out early in the third quarter, Matthew White had 4-yard scoring run that capped a six-play, 60-yard drive, and Lee’s 18-yard TD run rounded out the scoring.

HIGHLAND PARK 56, LAKE BELTON 13

Lake Belton 6 7 0 0 — 13

Highland Park 7 28 21 0 — 56

LB — Zion Harness 54 pass from Jessiah James (kick failed)

HP — James Flowers 6 run (Sutton Stock kick)

LB — Davion Peters 21 pass from James (Long Chuong kick)

HP — Cannon Bozman 70 pass from Buck Randall (Stock kick)

HP — Randall 1 run (Stock kick)

HP — Charlie Olmstead 61 pass from Randall (Stock kick)


HP — Isaac Hutchinson 24 pass from Randall (Stock kick)

HP — Isaiah Lee 34 run (Stock kick)

HP — Matthew White 4 run (Stock kick)

HP — Lee 18 run (Stock kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

LB HP

First downs 11 22

Rushes-yards 31-65 31-228

Passing yards 154 357

Comp.-Att.-Int. 9-23-0 17-19-0

Punts-average 8-34.2 0-00.0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 5-42 7-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Lake Belton: AJ Alexander 9-47, Zyien Dupree 8-23, Peters 3-21, Harness 3-2, James 8-(-28); Highland Park: Randall 7-58, Lee 3-52, White 6-46, Cotton Patterson 6-39, Crews Messer 4-14, Luke Danner 3-11, Flowers 2-8.

PASSING — Lake Belton: James 7-20-0-145, Peters 1-1-0-8, Reese Rosenbaum 1-2-0-1; Highland Park: Randall 15-17-0-323, Messe 2-4-0-34.

RECEIVING — Lake Belton: Harness 4-84, Peters 2-26, Luke Phillips 1-23, Christian Onchweri 1-13, Gavin Stewart 1-8; Highland Park: Bozman 5-120, White 4-83, Olmstead 1-61, Jack Morris 1-25, Hutchinson 1-24, Cash Tanner 2-19, Lee 1-9, Harrison Cullum 1-8, Colton Hammel 1-8.

dtaylor@tdtnews.com