John Stephen Jones threw for 466 yards and six touchdowns to lead defending champion Highland Park to a 56-49 victory over Texarkana Texas at the Ford Center on Saturday.

But Jones and the Scots faced a monumental challenge.

Texas quarterback Riley Russell also threw for six touchdowns while totaling 343 passing yards and 125 rushing yards for the Tigers.

On just the second play of the game, Jones hit Paxton Alexander for a 70-yard score and the theme for the afternoon was made clear.

The Tigers’ Tevailance Hunt — a TCU-commit — was outstanding. Hunt made several spectacular grabs throughout the afternoon while ripping off 201 receiving yards and a touchdown on nine catches.

Texarkana took its only lead on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Russell to Chris Sutton following a Jaqualin Brown interception in the second quarter — but Highland Park would recover with 28 straight points, building a margin that the Tigers never quite could erase.

Cade Saustad was a monster for the Scots, racking up 171 receiving yards and three touchdowns — the highlight of which was a fourth down and 15 play in which Saustad got behind the defense and plucked the ball out of the air just beyond the reach of the defender for the score.

Next up for Highland Park is an area playoff matchup with McKinney North at AT&T Stadium on Friday.