Lake Highlands trounced the Irving MacArthur Cardinals 42-0 on Friday at home.
Israel Samuel (left) and Aaden Little (right) celebrate a tackle against Forney on August 28, 2025 at Wildcat-Ram Stadium. Photography by Mike Duhon.
The Wildcats, who were ranked at No. 18 in the SportsDay Dallas-area high school football rankings heading into this week, were led by a dominant defensive performance.
“We really preach in our building about going 1-0 on Monday, 1-0 on Tuesday and trying not to get out too far in front of our skis – you know, be where our feet are,” Lake Highlands coach Cory Campbell said. “I think our defense has played well all year long, and they’re getting better and better and it’s fun to see that group. It’s not very often – and I don’t care what kind of football you’re playing – that you see a goose egg.”
In the first half alone, Lake Highlands (4-1, 2-0 District 7-6A) forced three punts and turned the Cardinals over on downs twice. The Wildcats, however, scored touchdowns on each of their five first-half possessions.
Christian Rhodes was at the heart of two of those scores. He started off with 5:50 remaining in the first quarter on a 14-yard touchdown, breaking multiple tackles along the way to give Lake Highlands a 7-0 lead. Rhodes found the end zone again with 3:52 left in the second quarter on a one-yard dive that was set up by a 24-yard Franklon Evans reception. That score gave the Wildcats a 27-0 advantage.
Evans also got in on the first-half fun, scoring on a two-yard rush with 11:14 in the second, giving Lake Highlands a 14-0 lead.
Wildcat quarterback Chuck Smith also threw for two touchdowns in the first two periods. The first came when Smith rolled out left and delivered a beautiful ball, dropping a 19-yard pass right into the hands on Conrad Ince in the second quarter. On the next, Wildcat receiver Ollor Osarollor torched his man downfield and hauled in a 65-yard passing touchdown to give Lake Highlands a 35-0 lead with 1:41 left in the opening half.
Down five scores on the final play of the first half, MacArthur’s Banner Nitcholas took a direct snap and attacked a massive hole in the Wildcats’ defense. Nitcholas rumbled down to the two-yard line for 46 yards before Lake Highlands defensive back Holden Layne made a touchdown-saving tackle to preserve the shutout going into halftime.
The lone score of the second half came with 6:49 remaining in the third quarter when Smith delivered a rocket to Kobie Moreland streaking across the end zone for a one-yard touchdown pass. Smith finished with 249 passing yards in addition to his three touchdown throws.
The Cardinals, on the other hand, only accumulated 16 yards through the air on the evening. On the ground, MacArthur managed 140 yards rushing behind 94 yards on 11 carries from Nitcholas.
“They got off to a big start last week against Nimitz and we saw that on video – challenged our guys,” Campbell said. “We knew they had two big backs and we know we’re gonna play against good backs the rest of the way, and so it was a great, great, great opportunity for us.”
MacArthur is scheduled to return to action at 7 p.m. next Thursday against Berkner (3-1, 2-0) in a return to Wildcat-Ram Stadium.
Lake Highlands will have an opportunity to stretch its winning streak to five at 7 p.m. next Friday versus the Rangers at Jesuit (2-3, 2-0).
“For one, (I have) a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Hickman and his staff. We’ve been going against those guys (for what) seems like forever,” Campbell said.
“Our games have been back-and-forth, right down to the wire and it’ll be another huge challenge for us next week. We’ve got to cut out a few of the pre-snap penalties, and again, I haven’t got to Jesuit yet, but tomorrow morning we’ll get started.”
