By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practice at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will be posting preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2024 season on Sept. 6.
-------------------------------------------
After snapping an eight-year, 65-game losing streak in 2022 on the way to a breakout 6-3 campaign, Jemaine Monroe's Highland Park football team followed that up with a 7-3 campaign last fall, including the Scots' first playoff victory since 1991.
Jermaine Monroe's Highland Park football team will be aiming for its third straight winning season this fall after snapping an eight-year losing streak in 2022. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And now Highland Park is setting its sights on continuing its impressive climb.
"The guys that we have here in the program, they're now used to winning,'' Monroe said. "So now we're changing out mindset from trying to get some wins to maintaining and reaching for higher goals.
"Our quote this year is, 'Don't witness history, but be a part of history.' ''
Highland Park begins the 2024 season with a wealth of experience, including six players who received All-Meadowlark Conference recognition a year ago.
Senior linebacker Ricky Crawford and junior defensive back Tremaine Savage earned first-team all-conference honors in 2023 while senior slotback/defensive back Jamon Wilson received second-team all-conference recognition on offense and honorable mention on defense and senior lineman Tayseaun Rouser was a second-team pick on offense and junior Andres Ochoa-Perez and senior Jamelle Wms-Sanders received honorable mention.
Other top returning players include senior quarterback/linebacker Craige Sipple, senior slotback CJ Brown, senior lineman Elijah Thomas, junior quarterback/defensive back Dontrail Fox, junior running back/defensive back Genesis Cooper, junior running back/defensive back TJ Austin, sophomore defensive back Rayshon Pollard, sophomore running back/linebacker G'Honi Montgomery and sophomore defensive back Joe Kingcannon.
Senior Jamon Wilson racked up 1,185 all-purpose yards and scored 63 points last fall for the 7-3 Scots. [File photo/TSN]
Wilson compiled 1,185 all-purpose yards last season and scored 63 points while Sipple passed for 719 yards and seven touchdowns.
"This year at every skill position each one of those players can make dynamic plays, so it's just my job now to share the ball and give everybody a little piece of the wealth,'' Monroe said. "We're so blessed athletically and then we have a lot of experience on the line, too.
"The stuff that we were doing in that first practice, I wasn't doing that until the Thursday before our first game last year. We were able to march up and down the field running our offense and we're keeping things consistent and we're just in a good place right now.''
Defensive, Crawford was in on 78 tackles last season while Savage had 29 tackles and 15 pass breakups.
Monroe said the Scots should also benefit from a productive summer.
"With us, summer's a whole season by itself,'' Monroe said. "That's the way we treat it, so we have gone to four padded camps, we went to eight 7 on 7s and we had our camp here. We had close to 70 percent participation this summer, which is huge for us.''
The Scots will be without All-Shawnee County Top 22 senior lineman Adrian Burney, who is recovering from an ACL injury, while seniors Ja'Corey Robinson and Mikey Williams opted to concentrate on basketball this season.
Highland Park opens its season Sept. 6 with a home game at Hummer Sports Park against Meadowlark Conference foe Kansas City-Wyandotte.
The Scots face an intriguing non-league matchup on Oct. 4, going on the road to face Wichita East, a Class 6A quarterfinalist a year ago.
"That's something our athletic director (Boshner Whitaker) set up for us and I feel like it's a tough challenge, but I think if any group is going to play a team like that it has to be this group,'' Monroe said. "We're at our best right now, we're at our peak and I think that's what our athletic director noticed when he set up that game.''
Highland Park
2024 football schedule
(Home games at Hummer Sports Park)
September -- 6 KC-Wyandotte, 13 at KC-Summer Academy, 20 at KC-Schlagle, 27 KC-Harmon.
October -- 4 at Wichita East, 11 at Atchison, 18 KC-East, Mo., 25 KC-Washington.
Next up: Rossville.
