The Northwest Texans remain undefeated in district after a nail-biting homecoming win against Haltom, 24-21 Friday night.

“Our kids hung in there,” head coach Bill Patterson said. “We didn’t play too good. We’ve got to play better – but that was a big win. We have four more games to go.”

For the Texans (5-1, 3-0) it all came down to a field goal by Cayden Ihrig in the final seconds of the game.

“I kind of wanted to be in the situation all year, and he iced me, but it took away the nervousness and we got it,” Ihrig said, after the Haltom coach called a timeout prior to the game-winning kick. “Our offense played well but our defense played better. They made up for a couple of mistakes we made.”

The Buffaloes got on the board first with a 28-yard pass from Travis Danford to Rashaad Davis seven minutes into the contest. But a 44-yard field goal attempt was unsuccessful in the final minutes of the first quarter, and the Texans answered with 3:15 to play in the first half on an 8-yard run by Dakota Chavis.

Less than 90 seconds later, the Texans scored again, this time on a 49-yard pass from Draze Lawliss to Chase Morrison.

Caleb White picked up a Haltom City fumble early in the third quarter and the Texans put their final touchdown on the board when Lawliss hit Morrison for a 7-yard scoring strike. It was 21-14 going into the final stanza.

But Haltom City wasn’t going away. They tied the game on a 1-yard run by Danford and the homecoming crowd was on the edge of its seats as the clock wound down.

The key play of the game came with 1:13 remaining, when the Buffaloes were flagged for roughing the kicker after a Texan punt. Instead of turning the ball over to the visitors, the Texans had a first down.

“That penalty for roughing the kicker made the difference,” Morrison said.

With the drive still alive, the Texans were able to get within range and Ihrig nailed the 24-yard field goal with seconds remaining in the game.

The Texans, who move to 5-1 on the season, will play at Southlake Carroll next Friday, at 7 p.m.

NORTHWEST 24, HALTOM 21

Northwest … 0 … 14 … 7 … … 3-24
Haltom … 7 … 7 … 0 … … 7-21

FIRST QUARTER

Haltom – Travis Danford pass 28 Rashaad Davis; kick good

SECOND QUARTER

Northwest – Dakota Chavis run 8; kick good
Northwest – Lawliss 49 pass Chase Morrison; kick good
Haltom – Shaqui Burden run 14; kick good

THIRD QUARTER

Northwest – Lawliss pass 7 Morrison; kick good

FOURTH QUARTER

Haltom – Danford run 1; kick good
Northwest – Cayden Ihrig 24-yard field goal

NORTHWEST … HALTOM

First Downs … 16 … 12
Rushes-yards … 41-104 … 44-208
Passing yards … 108 … 72
Total yards … 212 … 280
Comp-att-int … 8-18-0 … 5-10-1
Punts-avg … 6-34 … 4-33
Fumbles-lost … 5-1 … 4-2
Penalties … 5-40 … 7-50

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing: Northwest, Emmanual Moore, 6-41; Haltom, Undrell Thomas, 9-88
Passing: Northwest, Lawliss, 18-108; Haltom, Danford, 10-72
Receiving: Northwest, Morrison, 2-56; Haltom, Roman Gordon, 2-41.