{"id":799504,"date":"2026-05-16T01:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/799504\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T01:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:48:14","slug":"red-white-game-gives-fans-a-glimpse-of-2026-wildcat-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/799504\/","title":{"rendered":"Red & White Game gives fans a glimpse of 2026 Wildcat football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wildcat fans got their first taste of 2026 Lake Highlands<\/a> football at Friday\u2019s annual Red & White game.<\/p>\n

\"p-48MO3f.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lake Highlands football celebrates after its 27-0 win versus South Grand Prairie in the first round of the 2024 playoffs at Wildcat-Ram Stadium. Courtesy of Mike Duhon Photography.<\/p>\n

Nearly six months after the final game of the Wildcats\u2019 2025 season<\/a>, Lake Highlands fans came out in droves to support the program as it embraces a new era. The result was a 34-23 victory for the white team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about it all the time, how special this place really is,\u201d Wildcat coach Cory Campbell said. \u201cThe Red-White game is a tradition that\u2019s been around for a long, long time. So it\u2019s special for our kids, the culmination of spring football is over and they get to come out here and play some semblance of a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the game kicked off, Lake Highlands took a moment to honor its seniors. The soon-to-be graduates were brought to centerfield, donning t-shirts from their chosen college.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a coach, it\u2019s unbelievable to watch kids walk in the door as freshmen and just watch them grow up and mature. Not only in the game of football but in the game of life,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThey\u2019ve left a legacy that they can be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those seniors were running back Christian Rhodes<\/a> and linebacker Aaden Little<\/a>. Both have Division I football in their futures, with Rhodes signed on to play at SMU<\/a> next season and Little headed to UNT.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe graduated 44 seniors. I think it\u2019s the largest graduating class in Lake Highlands (football) history,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThere definitely will be some change schematically because, at the end of the day, we don\u2019t have the same players.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of the new crop of players have impressed Coach Campbell this spring, instilling faith that they can be pillars of the 2026 Wildcat team and fill the gaps left by the departing seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys like Franklon Evans<\/a> and some guys that have returned from last season, Israel Samuel<\/a> is another one,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cUltimately, (they) didn\u2019t get a lot of playing time, but they had really good springs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans excelled in the Red & White Game, too. Towards the end of the first quarter, he scored on a short reception from quarterback John Cothern to give the white team an early 7-3 lead. Evans made his impact felt again in the second by recovering a fumble and taking it the distance to extend the white team\u2019s lead to 28-10.<\/p>\n

Samuel, the sophomore linebacker, has had quite a successful spring as well. Since the end of last season, he\u2019s accumulated 17 of his 18 Division I offers, ranging from Alabama to Oklahoma and SMU.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a great young man,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cYou play 12 or 13 ball games as a sophomore and you get that tape, and then he\u2019s got measurables to go with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we had 117 colleges out here this spring recruiting. So everybody from Division III all the way to Alabama, Texas, A&M and all the schools. I think for us, a lot of our kids got to experience what recruiting really looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

The graduating cheerleaders, trainers, video crew, Bell Boys, color guard and band members were also honored before passing the baton to next year\u2019s senior class. At halftime, the Highlandette seniors performed their final routine before being highlighted for the crowd themselves.<\/p>\n

After the game concluded, the Lake Highlands Exchange Club<\/a> hosted players on the field for hot dogs, continuing its tradition.<\/p>\n

The Wildcats\u2019 2026 season kicks off with a scrimmage against Rockwall<\/a> on August 20 at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wildcat fans got their first taste of 2026 Lake Highlands football at Friday\u2019s annual Red & White game.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":799505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-799504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-tx","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116581741899126416","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}