ARLINGTON — Highland Park (15-0) took down Denton Ryan (14-1) on Saturday afternoon at AT&T Stadium, 43-21, to advance to their third straight state championship next weekend. The Scots scored on their first possession and didn’t look back as junior quarterback Chandler Morris and company put up the most points against Ryan all season.

Despite rushing four defensive linemen, the Raider defense was unable to collapse the pocket on Morris which put Ryan’s defensive backs under immense pressure. Morris took advantage of the extra time in the pocket picking apart the Raider defense for 265 passing yards and three touchdowns. The signal-caller was also able to move the chains with his legs, notching 75 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.

“I coached at Highland Park for three years and every year they always have a great offensive line and a great quarterback,” Denton Ryan head coach Dave Henigan said. “[Chandler Morris] made some great plays and some big-time throws, give them credit.”

Known for its potent offense, it was well-known that the Scots would be able to move the chains. Perhaps the more impressive thing though was their defense’s ability to shut down Ryan’s usually potent offense that had averaged 45 points a game entering Saturday.

“I thought our defense played great. We had a great plan, our guys tackled well and we competed well for 50/50 balls,” Highland Park head coach Randy Allen said. “Our guys were in position to make plays for most of the night.”

The Scots came out firing on all cylinders after last week’s slow start against John Tyler put them in an early hole. Highland Park had to crawl back from a 21-point deficit to take down the Lions. Allen said that the game played in factor in the exhausting week his team had while also studying for final exams.

“I was worried about it early in the week, we were flat in practice. They had some finals this week that they had to stay up late for,” Allen said. “I brought a couple of them into my office and they said ‘we’re just tired coach.’ But they got some rest and came out here and played great.”

The Scots will now advance to the 5A DI state championship game next weekend where they will play the winner of Shadow Creek and Wagner who play at 6 p.m. on Saturday night.

“This is what our kids have dreamed about. We’ll be facing a great opponent whoever comes out of there San Antonio Wagner or Shadow Creek,” Allen said. “We played a great team here last year in Manvel and Shadow Creek’s right next door so they have the same type of athletes.”

Mistakes prevented any chance of a comeback for Ryan who found themselves trailing early. The most notable mistake came after the Raiders forced a huge three-and-out with 5:58 left in the third quarter but then muffed a rolling punt, trailing 29-14. The Scots recovered the fumble and scored a touchdown just two plays later.

“You can’t make mistakes against a team like Highland Park, that’s the bottom line. We had a couple chances to get back in the game in the second half but we had a couple big turnovers and we can’t do that,” Henigan said.

Though the loss marks the end of the 2018 campaign for the Raiders, Henigan is encouraged by this year’s run and the key pieces that will be returning. Ryan will lose just 17 of their 62 varsity players to graduation. One of the key returnees is Oklahoma commit Drew Sanders who finished the game with all three of Ryan’s touchdowns and was a playmaker on defense.

“He’s a great player and great kid that works hard and leads by example,” Henigan said. “He’s a warrior and he plays a lot on both sides of the ball. Drew played really well today and he’s a special talent.”

As the season comes to a close, Henigan says that the thing that he’ll remember the most about this year’s squad is their selfless nature and their willingness to give up the limelight for the betterment of the team.

“It’s just such a special group. There are so many kids that play both sides of the ball and they all want to touch the ball the time and are very capable but they sacrificed their stats. I’m so proud of this group.