DALLAS — A Highland Park Scot is heading to the Super Bowl.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford led the Los Angeles Rams to a 20-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.
With the game tied, the Rams got the ball with 6:26 left in the fourth quarter. And Stafford went to work, engineering a drive to the San Francisco 12-yard-line to set up Matt Gay's go-ahead field goal.
This season has been a breakthrough for Stafford. After more than a decade in Detroit, he was winless in three playoff appearances. Now he's heading to the Super Bowl as the favorite over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Stafford will be trying to add another championship to his collection. In 2005, he led Highland Park to an undefeated season and the Class 4A Division I state title.
In 2014, WFAA visited with Randy Allen, Stafford's coach at Highland Park, before Stafford and the Lions played the Cowboys. Allen called Stafford the best player he ever coached.
"He would throw the ball with such velocity it would make a noise in the air. You could hear it spinning," Allen said.
The Highland Park Class of 2006 ended up giving Los Angeles fans something to cheer for: Clayton Kershaw, who led the Dodgers to a World Series in 2020, is also from Highland Park and is friends with Stafford.
The Dodgers drafted Kershaw out of high school, and Stafford went on to play college football at Georgia, before the Lions drafted him No. 1 overall in 2009.
Stafford will be the first Highland Park quarterback to play in a Super Bowl. But he's not the first Scot to be part of NFL history.
Before the Super Bowl era, John Roach, Bobby Lane and Doak Walker won NFL championships, and Walker and Layne are Hall of Famers.
Stafford isn't the only Super Bowl-bound player with North Texas ties. Here's more:
Rams
LB Von Miller (DeSoto)
LB Travin Howard (TCU)
OL Joe Noteboom (Plano/TCU)
DL A'Shawn Robinson (Fort Worth Arlington Heights)
DL Bobby Brown (Arlington Lamar)
OL Bobby Evans (Allen)
LB Justin Hollins (Arlington Martin)
Bengals
OL Hakeem Adeniji (Garland)
TE coach James Casey (Azle)
RB coach Justin Hill (Mesquite)
