Lake Highlands football triumphed 35-13 over the Haltom Buffalos in the bi-district round on Friday at Wildcat-Ram Stadium.
Lake Highlands football’s defense celebrates during a 38-7 victory over Richardson on Nov. 6, 2026, at Wildcat-Ram Stadium.
Six of seven selectors for SportsDay predicted a Wildcat win, and they got just that. With the victory, Lake Highlands (9-2) has now won four consecutive bi-district championships.
Lake Highlands Dominates After Halftime
The second half proved decisive for the Wildcats, going on a 21-0 run to close the game on a dominant note. Lake Highlands held a slim one-point lead over Haltom (5-6) after halftime, but after a touchdown with 6:15 in the third, the game was all Wildcats.
“We didn’t finish the drive before the first half ended,” Lake Highlands coach Cory Campbell said. “We had a bad snap, we had a protection issue and just didn’t finish. I think in the second half, we were able to run the ball a little bit and kind of get going and were able to finish some drives and put the ball in the end zone.”
At their own 38-yard line, Wildcats quarterback John Cothern received the snap and found Franklon Evans in the left flat. Evans had room and capitalized, bursting forward and 62 yards down the sideline for a touchdown to go up 21-13.
After an effective kickoff and a first-down false start penalty against the Buffalos, Haltom handed the ball off on its 7-yard line and Lake Highlands forced a fumble. Lexx Wyatt jumped on the ball for the Wildcats, making his second big play of the day and setting Lake Highlands up deep in enemy territory.
Starting from the 11, it took the Wildcats just one play to get back into the end zone. Once again, Cothern found Evans on the left side of the field, where he dragged his feet to secure a toe-tapping touchdown to extend the lead to 28-13 with 5:51 in the third.
The icing on the cake for Lake Highlands was a 96-yard drive early in the fourth to finish off the Buffalos. After making its way to the Haltom 26-yard line, the Wildcats faced fourth and 2. Lake Highlands opted not to go for a field goal, but to go for it and put the game away. Cothern took the snap and unloaded a deep shot to the left side of the end zone, where Conrad Ince was there to haul in the evening’s final score with 10:16 remaining.
Parks Buoys Haltom’s Offense In A Tight First Half
Haltom running back Khristopher Parks, who came into the game as the Dallas-area’s top rusher behind the Buffalos’ Wing-T offense, managed 163 yards on the ground against the Wildcats and got his team rolling early.
“The thing that’s hard to get ready for after you get past all the X’s and O’s and all the things that go with it is how long they can keep the ball away from you,” Campbell said. “You know it when you watch video, but when you’re down there on the sidelines, we’re itching to try to get it back.”
Parks made his impact felt with a dominant second-quarter drive. Haltom rushed the ball 14 times on the drive, with 13 of the carries going to Parks. All in all, he accounted for 55 yards and capped it off with a 5-yard score. After a missed extra point attempt, Lake Highlands still held onto a slim 14-13 advantage with 2:38 remaining in the first half.
The Wildcats got deep into Buffalo territory with the first half dwindling, but Haltom held strong and forced a 32-yard field goal that sailed left as halftime commenced.
“It’s so hard to simulate that kind of offense,” Campbell said. “That ball disappears and you don’t know where it’s going. I think once we started to figure out exactly the speed of the game and the collision that was going to happen and all the stuff, I think we settled in.”
Lake Highlands’ previous score came on the back of its defense. With the Buffalos facing third and 19 from their own 22-yard line, the Wildcats swarmed for a 16-yard loss. Deep in its own territory, Haltom was forced to punt.
The ball went high but not very far, and Lake Highlands caught the Buffalos off guard. Expecting the Wildcats not to touch the ball after a short punt, Haltom’s special teams eased up and Lake Highlands’ Wyatt smartly scooped up the ball and dashed 27 yards into the end zone, arms extended in celebration as he scored to extend his team’s lead to 14-7 with 10:37 left in the second.
“(Wyatt) was just heady enough to pick the punt up and took it in,” Campbell said. “Only being a sophomore, he’s got a bright future ahead of him.
Both teams found the end zone in the opening quarter, the two scores courtesy of big plays.
On his own 45-yard line, Cothern dropped back and delivered a strike up the right sideline to Mason Spangler, who pulled the ball in and stumbled forward for a 55-yard touchdown. With 5:56 left in the first, the Wildcats held the momentum and a 7-0 lead.
The momentum and lead were short-lived, as Bryan Harvey broke through for a wide-open 71-yard scamper up the middle to the end zone with 5:04 left to level the score for Haltom. Despite the level first half, however, Lake Highlands would prevail.
“Hats off to our defense,” Campbell said. “We played an O-lineman on the D-line. We played a freshman on the D-line. A lot of people contributed to that win tonight and it’s big. Always good to win another gold ball and on to round two.”
What’s Next?
The Wildcats return to action against Denton Guyer (9-2) in the area round next week.
“I think (Guyer) has the number one d-line in the country,” Campbell said. “They have four Power Four kids on that d-line, so we’re gonna enjoy this one for three or four hours and then we’re gonna go and try to figure out all the stuff. Fun time of year. They’re a great, great football team and we’ll see what the video looks like.”
