McKinney North will spend most of this week looking across the field at Highland Park. The Bulldogs' volleyball team plays the Scots in a regional final on Monday, and North's football team visits Highland Park on Friday in the opening round of the Class 5A Division I playoffs.
The football game kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday at Highlander Stadium, according to pairings published by Star Local Media and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. North enters at 7-3. Highland Park is also 7-3, but the Scots won their district at 6-0 and have won six straight.
The two teams took different routes to the same record. North won its first five games, starting with a 31-24 win over McKinney High on Aug. 28 and a 37-10 win over Princeton.
The Bulldogs scored 52 against Heritage and 56 at Centennial before losing three of their last five: 31-28 to Reedy on Oct. 9, 49-27 to Melissa on Oct. 29 and 58-7 at Lone Star on Nov. 5. North finished fourth in its district at 4-3.
Highland Park lost three times in its first four games, all outside district play: 56-42 at Lewisville, 49-46 at Rockwall-Heath and 70-37 at Argyle. Since then the Scots have not lost. Their district run included a 45-42 win at North Richland Hills Richland, which finished 9-1, and a 49-31 win over Birdville. They closed with a 63-0 win at Carrollton Newman Smith.
That schedule gives Highland Park the most points scored of the two teams, 483 to North's 382. It also shows the Scots' defense has been tested. They allowed 289 points, many of them in those early nondistrict games. North has allowed 244, but 107 of those came in its last two games against Melissa and Lone Star.
North's last outing was its roughest. Lone Star led 38-0 at halftime on Nov. 5, and the Bulldogs' only touchdown came on a 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter, Pitch Threads Texas reported. Highland Park's offense has topped 60 points three times in district play: 62 against Carrollton Turner, 63 at Carrollton Creekview and 63 at Newman Smith.
The volleyball match comes first. North's volleyball team swept Dallas Wilson on Friday to extend its winning streak to 19 matches and set up Monday's regional final against Highland Park, according to MaxPreps. That match decides a state tournament berth. Friday's football game starts a bracket that runs through December.
The football winner moves to the area round Nov. 19-21. The 5A Division I state final is scheduled for 11 a.m. Dec. 19 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
