Rangers Drop Contest to No. 13 Rockwall: Jesuit Dallas sparked a second quarter rally to cut into an early Yellow Jacket lead, but an unrelenting Rockwall offense held home field and handed Jesuit its first loss of the season at Wilkerson-Sanders Stadium. The Rangers would fall to the state-ranked No. 13 Yellow Jackets, 75-28. Senior quarterback Gage Roy completed 20-of-39 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns while junior quarterback Charlie Schmidt recorded his first career touchdown pass to go along with four completions for 55 yards. Senior Hunter Krepp led the team with seven catches for 153 yards and a touchdown, while junior Cameron Martin led the team in the ground game with eight carries for 38 yards and a touchdown. Senior Walker Houdek led the defense with nine tackles, followed by Brady Kinzer with eight stops followed by Robert Fitzgerald, Charlie Freeman and David Long, who recorded seven tackles each.
Milestones for Senior Offensive Threats: Seniors Gage Roy and Hunter Krepp accomplished milestones on Friday. Roy hit 3,000 career passing yards during the matchup, and now has 3,194 career passing yards over 13 games, averaging 249.5 yards per game during his Jesuit career. Roy has 32 career touchdowns to his credit, and is four away from tying Jacob Palisch '17 for the second-highest number of career touchdowns from a Jesuit passer since 2013. Krepp surpassed 1,000 career passing yards, and now has 1,028 receiving yards during his career. Krepp enters his 13th varsity start averaging 85.7 yards per game and has 13 receiving touchdowns to his credit.
All-Around Contributor: Senior Robert Fitzgerald has emerged as an all-around threat for Jesuit Dallas, as the Northwestern verbal commit currently leads the team in rushing with 84 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Fitzgerald caught his first touchdown reception of the season on Saturday, and currently has three catches for 84 yards on the year. Fitzgerald is additionally third on the team in tackles with 10 stops on the year, and leads the Rangers with three pass breakups. A three-year varsity starter, Fitzgerald has 173 career tackles, with 82 tackles during his sophomore year and 81 stops during his junior season.
Early Season Trends: Jesuit Dallas recorded a trio of plays that gained 40 yards or more last week against Rockwall, including a 45-yard touchdown pass from Charlie Schmidt to Cooper Cutler and a 55-yard strike from Roy to Krepp. Fitzgerald recorded the team's longest rush of the season with a 20-yard run against Flower Mound Marcus.
Home Cooking: The Rangers enter Friday's game looking for their first 2-0 start at home since 2015. That season, Jesuit upended Arlington Bowie, 35-0, in the season-opener on Aug. 28 before securing a 38-27 win over Strake Jesuit on Sept. 11. The Rangers would finish the 2015 season with a 6-0 record at home en route to a 10-2 overall record. Since 2015, Jesuit Dallas is 29-10 at Postell Stadium.
Returning to Out-of-State Play: Friday marks the first out-of-state game for the Jesuit Dallas since 2013, when the Rangers welcomed St. Joseph's Prep from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Postell Stadium, a game that the Hawks would win, 48-27. Jesuit's last win against an out-of-state opponent came on Aug. 24, 2012, when Cody Wicker '13 converted a 28-yard field goal with 49 seconds remaining to help the Rangers defeat Wilmette Loyola (Ill.), 30-29, in Dublin, Ireland.
SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS
Coming Out Swinging: Choctaw is 2-0 on the year and firing on all cylinders after a pair of convincing victories to start the 2021 campaign. The Yellow Jackets opened the year with a 66-0 win over Beacon Hill (Va.). Quarterback Steele Wasel completed 12 passes for 110 yards and three touchdown passes, contributing to the team's 478 total offensive yards. The Yellow Jackets moved to 2-0 on the year with a 63-6 win over Springdale on Sept. 3, avenging a 46-18 loss to the Bulldogs in 2020.
Steele Curtain: As he enters his junior season, Choctaw quarterback Steele Wasel currently has offers from Virginia, Tech, Tulsa and Rice. A pro-style quarterback, Wasel racked up 3,324 yards and 33 touchdowns, helping the Yellow Jackets to the a state championship appearance.
Holding the Line: Choctaw boasts an offensive line headlined by an NCAA Division I commit and some considerable size. Senior left tackle Cade McConnell is a 6'6'' TCU commit, and one of two offensive linemen standing at 6'5'' or taller, joining senior center Alton Robinson.
Corbin Leading the Charge: Yellow Jacket head coach Jake Corbin enters his fourth season at the helm with a 21-15 record at Choctaw. Last year, Choctaw reached the state championship game but dropped a 17-14 decision to Bixby.
RANGER RIVAL REPORT
(Recaps provided by Dallas Morning News)
Irving 35, Molina 34: Irving snapped their 33 game losing streak with a 35-34 win over Molina thanks to the combined efforts on the ground of Rashan Daniel and Jaycob Vine. Daniel rushed for 149 yards and scored two touchdowns. Vine rushed for 102 yards and one touchdown The game was a see-saw of emotions as Molina thought they won the game with less than two minutes on a deep touchdown pass, but the call was reversed and called out of bounds negating the touchdown.Irving's Henry Flores also helped Irving win with a key interception at the Irving 15 yard line that helped Irving hold on to the lead.
WT White 18, Berkner 12: J'Coi Ware returned an interception 34 yards for touchdown with 18 seconds to play to lift W.T. White past Richardson Berkner in a non-district contest at Wildcat-Ram Stadium.Richardson Berkner (0-2) had just forced a W.T. White (1-1) punt to gain possession, but instead of settling for overtime, Berkner attempted a pass which was picked off by Ware and returned for the game-winning score. Earlier in the period, Thomas Landry tossed a 25-yard scoring strike to Matt Randle to even the contest at 12-12. W.T. White carried a 12-6 advantage into the final period courtesy of a 4-yard touchdown by Daviawn Bishop and a 25-yard scoring pass from quarterback Jaydyn Sisk to Jonathan Ware. Sisk passed for 194 yards while Bishop added a game-high 101 yards on the ground to pace the W.T. White attack. Landry, meanwhile, paced the Richardson Berkner offensive attack, completing 19-of-37 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns.
Frisco Wakeland 55, JJ Pearce 7: Jared White rushed for 189 yards and three touchdowns, and Brennan Myer passed for 164 yards and three touchdowns as Frisco Wakeland (2-0) overwhelmed Richardson Pearce (0-2) at Eagle-Mustang Stadium. White had scoring runs of 13, 30 and 2 yards. Myer completed scoring passes of 16, 39 and 44 yards.Seven Wakeland ball carriers combined for 361 rushing yards. Five different receivers caught at least one pass for Wakeland. Davion Woolen scored one touchdown on offense, and one on defense. He caught a 16-yard pass from Myer, and also returned an interception 21 yards for another score.
Flower Mound Marcus 28, McKinney 21: Flower Mound Marcus withstood a furious McKinney second-half rally Friday night, hanging on for a 28-21 victory in a contest it led at halftime, 28-0. Quarterback Jaxxon Warren completed 12-of-20 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns while wide receiver Dallas Dudley hauled in seven catches for 170 yards and a touchdown. For McKinney, Sampson Nazarko entered under center at halftime and provided a spark going 15-of-24 for 194 yards and three touchdowns. Nazarko connected with Messiah Washington for a score with 1:19 remaining to trim the deficit to seven, however Marcus was able to recover the subsequent onside kick to prevail.
Lake Highlands 55: Plano East 24: Noelle Whitehead had an explosive 241 rushing yards and three touchdowns to lead Lake Highlands (2-0) to a 55-24 victory over Plano East (0-2) Friday night at Tom Kimbrough Stadium. Plano East was the first to strike as Ismail Mahdi ran it in for a touchdown halfway through the first quarter but Lake Highlands responded with 31 straight points. A 42-yard field goal by Plano East's Buzz Flabiano with 19 seconds left in the first half put a stop to the run but Lake Highlands took a 31-10 lead into halftime. Plano East's offense looked much more efficient in the second half, but Lake Highland's high-powered attack proved too tough to handle as they would continue to grow its lead throughout the game. Plano East's Mahdi also had himself a big game with 255 total yards, two rushing touchdowns, and a receiving touchdown. He was fed the ball all night by Drew DeVillier who had 143 passing yards and a touchdown throw. Lake Highlands had scoring help from a number of players, including Jeremiah Richards, 86 receiving yards and a touchdown, Caden Dotson, 182 total yards and a passing touchdown, and Deonte Dean, 39 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Garland 55, Richardson 3: Garland quarterback Cergio Perez connected with Jordan Hudson for a 99-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter of their team's 55-3 win over Richardson High. The pair combined for 175 total yards and three touchdowns, including a 53-yard score just over two minutes after the 99-yard strike. Perez had 350 passing yards and six touchdowns in the game. Keyunte King and Jayshon Powers each had a rushing touchdown for Garland (2-0, Dist. 9-6A). Powers also had a receiving TD. Richardson (0-2, Dist. 7-6A) recorded 49 yards on 22 rushing attempts, with Howard Armstrong rushing for 39 of those yards.
Up Next: Jesuit Dallas will enter its bye week before beginning district play on Sept. 24 against J.J. Pearce. Last season, the Rangers bested the Mustangs, 55-34, on Oct. 23 at Postell Stadium. In that contest, Jesuit racked up six rushing touchdowns and forced three turnovers. Kickoff for the showdown between the Mustangs and Rangers is set for 7 p.m. from Eagle-Mustang Stadium in Richardson. Jesuit will return to Postell Stadium on Oct. 1 for a major showdown with Lake Highlands.
