Frisco Lone Star dethrones 3-time defending champ Highland Park in overtime thriller

Frisco Lone Star running back Jaden Nixon scored on an 18-yard run in the first overtime as the Rangers rallied to defeat Highland Park 33-27 in a Class 5A Division I regional-round game on Friday at AT&T Stadium.

Lone Star (13-0), the top-ranked team in 5A DI in Dave Campbell’s final state poll, will move on to play the Lancaster (10-2)-Frisco Independence (10-2) winner in next week’s state quarterfinals.

“It was just a zone read play for me up the middle or for the quarterback to keep,” said Nixon on his game winner. “Glory to God for allowing that to happen. Thank you line and I just had to make that last guy miss.”

No. 4 Highland Park (11-2), who suffered both losses on the season to Lone Star, took a 24-17 lead after taking over six minutes off the clock to start the second half.

The Scots took 14 plays to go 75 yards capped by quarterback Chandler Morris’ 10-yard scoring pass to Paxton Anderson.

The Rangers rallied early in the fourth quarter. A 22-yard Josh Click field goal cut the lead to 24-20 and then Lone Star forced a Highland Park punt on the Scots’ ensuing drive and took over at its own 12-yard line with 6:50 left.

Sophomore quarterback Garret Rangel, who completed 35 of 49 passes on the night for 408 yards, hit 8 of 10 passes on the drive leading the Rangers to a go-ahead score.

Oklahoma commit Marvin Mims somehow managed to haul in an 18-yard scoring pass from Rangel between two defenders and Lone Star took a 27-24 lead with 3:43 left.

But that was too much time to leave Morris and the Scots. Morris, who went 19 of 31 for 228 yards, led Highland Park in range for a 39-yard Wesley Winters field goal with 54 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 27.

The Scots had the ball first in the overtime period, but picked up only five yards. A 37-yard field goal attempt by Winters went wide left to set up Nixon’s heroics.

“After they missed the field goal, I pointed at my offensive coordinator,” said Mims, who had nine catches for 77 yards and two scores. “I told him it’s on you, let’s get it. Run play, pass play whatever you have to do to get into field goal range. But getting a touchdown and celebrating like that, it’s crazy.”

The game was unexpectedly penalty filled for two top-four teams. Highland Park had 10 penalties for 143 yards and Lone Star was flagged 12 times for 141.

The teams battled to a 17-all tie at the half, trading scores like blows in a prize fight.

Rangel hit Mims with an 11-yard scoring pass to cap Lone Star’s opening drive, but Highland Park answered on its first series as well. Morris found Drew Scott wide open for a 30-yard gain down to the Rangers’ 18. Morris ran it in from there on an option keeper over left end to tie the game at 7 with 9:05 left in the first quarter.

The teams traded field goals with Click, a sophomore, hitting from 35 yards out for Lone Star. Winters tied the game at 10 with a 25-yarder with 1:54 left in the opening frame.

But the lone turnover of the game cost Lone Star.

Highland Park’s Tanner Schrank picked off a Lone Star pass at the Scot’s 38. Two plays later Morris found Scott again, this time with a 68-yard bomb, giving Highland Park its first lead at 17-10 with 11:27 left before intermission.

Scott led Highland Park with four catches for 119 yards.

Rangel answered just before halftime with a 17-yard TD pass to a wide open Tolu Sokoya. The TD tied the game at 17 with 31 seconds left in the second quarter.

Even though Rangel hit Mims twice and Sokoya once with scoring passes, his favorite target on the night was Trace Bruckler who hauled in 14 passes for 182 yards.

“They tripled covered Marvin so someone had to step up and that was me,” said Bruckler, a junior. “Highland Park is great on both sides of the ball and it was a dog fight.”

Lone Star handed HP a rare home loss in Week 3 by a score of 30-19. The loss snapped the longest winning streak in the state at that time at 33 and marked just the second defeat at home for the Scots in the Randy Allen era (21 years).

The loss also ended the Scots playoff winning streak that had reached 20 games. Highland Park is the three-time defending 5A D1 state champions.

“I couldn’t be more excited right now,” said Lone Star head coach Jeff Rayburn. “We kept battling and what a heavyweight fight tonight. Back and forth and two championship level teams getting after it and our kids kept playing regardless of the situation, and we came out victorious.”

This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 8:36 PM.