Plano West 31 Lake Highlands 3-- Oct. 30, 2003

Lake Highlands lost to Plano West Thursday night.  It was more than a loss.  It was a humiliation.  The unimaginative offense, using a play sheet rather than a play book, pounded out 4 first downs and 94 yards of offense, at least 30 yards or more came with under 2 minutes left in the game.  Two of the four first downs came on West penalties.  Going with a 30 mph wind in the first, the Cats stuck mostly to  running plays and a few short passes.  Going against the wind in the second, the Cats threw one of their few deep passes of the night, incomplete.

The defense held the West offense in the first and only allowed one touchdown in the second, the result of a 50+ yard strike down the side line to the three yard line on third and long.  

In the third, West used the wind and their short passing game for two more scores taking a 24-3 lead.  The Cat defense was able to stop the Wolves and get a 3rd and 17.  The defense, needing the stop badly, were penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct after a West incomplete pass.  The Wolves' drive saw a show of poor Cat discipline  that netted the Cats THREE unsportsmanlike conduct calls,  and a Cat player ejected.  Two of the calls came in dead ball huddles. This guided West down the field for their final score.  As West lined up at the one with 4 seconds left in the third,  a run into the end zone netted a 3 second time elapse by the biased time keeper in the Plano press box but a wise zebra on the field noticed the bias and forced West to kick off against the wind in the fourth.

Answering the 28 point deficit with the clock running and with the wind at their back, the Cat offense stayed mostly with the three play running game out of the spread plus punts with the wind..

From the Dallas Morning News