Playoff thoughts: HP can clinch a playoff spot with a win this Friday at McKinney North, plus a Pearce win over McKinney. That is the only clinching scenario if the Scots win. 

Why? Because at this point, there is no guarantee that if HP lost its final two games and finished 5-2, that it could advance through a possible multi-team tie at 5-2 with any combination of teams and McKinney. If Pearce beats McKinney, HP would own tiebreaking wins over every other team that could finish at 5-2, and McKinney would then have three losses.

 

The Scots cannot mathemetically clinch a playoff spot with a loss because at 4-1 there are too many multi-team tiebreaker possibilities to guarantee HP would advance through them.

 

Should they reach the playoffs, HP will play in the Division II bracket. Wylie East's loss last Friday guaranteed that it would not make the playoffs, so HP now has the second-lowest enrollment among the teams still contending for playoff spots.

  

* More on the playoffs - The postseason is still three long weeks away, but based on the current standings in Region II-4A, here is how the Division II first-round playoff pairings would look if the playoffs began this week. Tiebrekers were broken using only overall records. This list is only to display contending teams, not firm matchups, and is certain to change.

Frisco Liberty (4-0, 7-0) vs. McKinney North (3-1, 5-2)

Seagoville (4-0, 6-1) vs. Lincoln (1-2, 2-5)

Sulphur Springs (3-1, 6-2) vs. Jacksonville (3-1, 5-2)

Corsicana (4-2, 5-3) vs. Bryan Rudder (2-1, 6-1)

Frisco Wakeland (4-0, 6-1) vs. HP (4-0, 7-0)

Pinkston (2-2, 4-3) vs. Hillcrest (4-0, 5-2)

Mount Pleasant (1-2, 1-6) vs. Whitehouse (3-1, 5-2)

Mesquite Poteet (4-2, 6-2) vs. Hutto (3-1, 7-1)

* HP is now 11-4 all-time against Richardson Pearce. The Scots and the Mustangs have been in the same district every year but two since 2000. HP is 8-1 against Pearce during that time. The Scots and Mustangs have played 15 times, which is the 13th-longest series in HP's history and the longest current series at five years. The HP-Rockwall-Heath series will also be at five straight years when they meet in two weeks. HP and Sherman is the longest all-time series with 47 games played.

* HP has now won 61 consecutive games at Highlander Stadium, a streak dating back to the 1998 season. The Scots lost consecutive games at Highlander in midseason of 1998, won the last two at home that season, and have won 59 straight since. HP has one home game remaining in the regular season.

* The Scots' 14-game win streak in regular-season games is tied for the seventh-longest in school history. The school record is 47 in a row from 2004-08. Two more wins will tie the 1992-94 streak at 16. The 14-game unbeaten streak ties four other such streaks for the eighth-longest in school history.

* Jake Howeth has taken over the Scots' ground attack. The senior quarterback had 18 rushing attempts in consecutive games for HP, gaining 190 yards and five touchdowns. He also had 20 attempts against Everman, and 19 against Sherman. For the season, Howeth is averaging 14 carries per game with 545 rushing yards and a 5.56 per-cary average with 14 touchdowns. Preston Miller is next with 482 rushing yards with a 6.60 average with three touchdowns.