The Woodlands teams to renew rivalry in regular-season finale

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Tonight’s showdown between The Woodlands High School Highlanders and the College Park Cavaliers stokes the flames of a longstanding rivalry and presents unique opportunities for both sides.

The action unfolds at 7:30 p.m. at Woodforest Bank Stadium.

Woodlands Online will be there covering the game. We will bring you a recap, video highlights, Player of the Game and On-Demand video to relive it all.

The Highlanders (9-0) enter the game heavily favored, and they will try to complete a perfect 10-0 regular season as a final tune-up as playoffs being next week.

College Park, however, has struggled through a 1-8 season, and there would be no sweeter way for the Cavaliers to wash away the memories of those losses than to close out the year with an upset of the unbeaten Highlanders.

It’s an uphill climb for College Park, but they’ve been playing their best football over the past three weeks, and their defense has especially improved. They were giving up 42 points per game in their first five losses. In the last three games, they’re allowing less than 30.

Offensively, they’ll need big plays from quarterback Jordan Turnquest and running back Tucker Woody.

Turnquest has thrown for more than 800 yards and six touchdowns. He’s even more potent when he takes off with the football, running for 460 yards and 10 scores. Woody has run for nearly 800 yards and averages more than five yards per carry.

The Highlanders’ offensive leaders are the usual suspects, and they will be a tough test for the Cavalier defense.

Quarterback Eric Schmid has crafted a masterful senior season, completing more than 71 percent of his passes and throwing for 26 touchdowns against just one interception. The Woodlands spreads the field as well as anyone, and three Highlander receivers – Kesean Carter, Chris Stewart and Dylan Casey – have 24 or more catches. When they keep the ball on the ground, they rely on running back Jordan Talford, who has more than 600 rushing yards and nine touchdowns this season.