PLANO – Confetti cannons shoot out red and silver confetti as the frat theme has come to life.
A game corralled with a test to begin was soon settled and resulted in a 38-10 victory for Coppell (12-0) over Lake Highlands (9-3) on Friday at John Clark Stadium in the Class 6A Division I Region I area playoffs.
“This is a very special group of young men,” Coppell coach Antonio Wiley said. “I’ve said it all year and they have delivered all year.”
A dominating performance on the other side of the bracket ensued as well with North Crowley (12-0) handed legendary high school program Odessa Permian its worst loss in its teams playoff history, winning 72-14.
Coppell and North Crowley will battle at Vernon Newsom Stadium in Mansfield on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the regional semifinals.
“It is going to be a battle of two heavyweights,” Wiley said. “If the Cowboys show up, it will be a good game.”
With Lake Highlands beginning the game with the ball, junior running back Christian Rhodes and senior quarterback Harrison day combined in a methodical drive, making the score 7-0.
“We let them get that in the first half, and that is not how we should have come out,” senior safety Alex Kraus said. “We shut them down in the second half and we should have done that from the start.”
After that, it was senior running back O’Marion Mbakwe striking back with a one-yard leap for the touchdown, and then a three-and-out for the defense, followed by a 36-yard dart to senior wide receiver Harry Hassmann bringing the score to 14-7.
“Coach Wiley was stressing it all week,” Mbakwe said. “We had to put our foot in their neck and we stressed it all week in practice.”
With Lake Highlands unable to put anything together until late in the half, it was too late as the Cowboys made a field goal as well as Griffin having all green in front of a seven-yard rushing touchdown.
“All props to coach Wiley and his staff; they have a great team in Coppell,” Lake Highlands coach Cory Campbell said. “We knew coming in that we had to play one of the best teams in the state and they came out today.”
With the third round being where Coppell lost last season, they will look to get past the Panthers who are ranked No. 3 in the state as the Cowboys are ranked No. 8 according to Dave Campbell’s Official Texas High School Football rankings.
“We lost in the third round last year,” Kraus said. “We have a better shot this year and it is going to be our toughest game.”
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