For the third year in a row, the Lake Highlands Wildcats started their season off on the right foot with a 34-27 win over Mesquite High School.

With 283 rushing yards, Lake Highlands (1-0) offense inflicted nearly all of their damage on the Mesquite Skeeter defense via the 'Cats ground attack.

With three touchdowns and 135 total yards (118 rushing, 28 receiving) the ‘Cats workhorse on the night was senior wide receiver/running back DeVonte Sunwenghan.

"He’s the guy," said Head Coach Scott Smith of his senior team captain.

"DeVonte said he wanted to be the man after Desmond left, and you saw that tonight. We're going to feed him the ball and expect a lot from him."

For Sunwenghan and the rest of his teammates, playing their first home opener at The Boneyard in four seasons was a nice change of pace from years past.

"It felt good," Sunwenghan said of playing in front of the home crowd.

"We played our hardest. It was a good start but we have to get better each week. Everybody has areas they can improve."

Junior quarterback, Michael Ketchmark, was the team’s second leading rusher with 74 yards on the night. The second year starter iced the game late in the fourth quarter with his first touchdown on the season – scoring on an impressive 25-yard off tackle scamper.

The Wildcats looked unstoppable in the early going after scoring on their first two possessions.

Junior running back Elbert Landry capped off the ‘Cats opening 10 play, 70-yard drive with a rushing touchdown from five yards out. Then Sunwenghan stretched the ‘Cats lead, rushing for a TD from one yard out, finishing off an 11 play, 60-yard drive.

Defensively, Lake Highlands stymied Mesquite in the early going, holding the Skeeters to less than 100 total yards in the first half. However, Mesquite managed to get on the board late in the 2nd quarter when they went for it on 4th and long, throwing a TD pass from 30 yards out.

This play would be a sign of things to come.

All four Skeeter touchdowns followed either a blown coverage or missed tackle by the Wildcats, allowing Mesquite to score.

If you remove these four big scoring plays, Mesquite likely would have ended the game with less than 200 yards of total offense and a big goose egg on the scoreboard.

"We have to communicate better on defense," Coach Smith said after the game.

"We had some coverage busts that cost us."

"As a group, we just weren’t communicating well. As we go through practice this week, we’ll get better on communication. You take out about four plays, and offensively they didn’t do much to hurt us."

Next up for the Wildcats is a Mesquite Horn team that has had the ‘Cats number the last two seasons. Like last year, the Jaguars enter Week Two following a loss in their season opener to Coppell.

After two straight losses to the Jaguars, Coach Smith and his team have something to prove this Friday night at the Boneyard.

Be sure to tune in to LH Today for our LIVE broadcast from the Boneyard. The pregame show begins at 7:00 p.m. with kick-off set for 7:30 p.m.

GO 'CATS!