Wildcats claim bi-district championship, 28-10

Photos/Jim Jackson Wildcat running back Luke Shivers makes his first touchdown in the Wildcat bi-district win over Mount Pleasant Saturday. Next up for the team is Frisco for the area championship. At right, QB Brady Attaway stretches across the goal line for a score.

The city of Mesquite was the setting for a day that Wildcat fans and the community of Whitehouse will talk about for years to come as they witnessed their hometown boys come into Mesquite Memorial Stadium as the District 12-4A champion and they would leave carrying the bi-district trophy back home with a convincing 28- 10 defeat over the Mt. Pleasant Tigers last Saturday.

The win will send Whitehouse to the area round where they will face Frisco Friday night at 6 p.m. at Pizza Hut

Park in Frisco. Frisco defeated West Mesquite last Friday and had already won the home flip with Whitehouse previous to both bi-district games last weekend.

Despite having the home field advantage, the fans of Frisco have not witnessed what is becoming not just a team but also a community coming together and believing that each week is just a step closer to a state championship.

Whitehouse would start the game as it has many this season and that is by setting the tone for the day with its dominating defense. The Wildcat defense would take advantage of a first down penalty to force Mt. Pleasant to an early three and out and would give its offense great field position to start its opening drive.

That drive would be a quick one as Jimmy Kennedy would find a running lane down the Whitehouse sideline and go 45 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the 4-yard line. Luke Shivers would score on the next play on a run up the middle, and after Paul Metzner's PAT, the Wildcats would stake claim to an early 7-0 lead.

After being stopped on its second possession, it looked like Mt. Pleasant would get some good field position but Metzner would boom a 76-yard punt to push the Tigers back inside their 10-yard line.

Metzner would be a key on the day, as he would continue to use his right leg to force the Tigers into bad field position all day. Whitehouse would start its third possession with a pass from QB Brady Attaway to Lesley Perdue over the middle and would end the drive with Shivers second TD run of the day.

Photo/Jim Jackson The Wildcat defenders Gavin Green, Evan Beaton, Bradley Wallace, Zack Hill and Taylor Sulser wrap up the Mount Pleasant offense.

This time, Shivers would score on a 3-yard run, and the PAT by Metzner would give the Wildcats a 14-0 lead with 1:08 left in the first quarter.

The defensive line, led by Bradley Wallace, Zach Hill, Gavin Green and Evan Beaton, would continue to stuff the Mt. Pleasant running game.

When Tiger running backs got by the Wildcat defensive line, then linebackers, Taylor Sulser, Shivers, Cody Brown and Julian Broaddus would step up with big hits.

When the Tigers tried to go to the air, the secondary of the Cats led by Chad Emmons, Kennedy, Steven Hicks, and Jon Harvell would clamp down on coverage and force incompletions.

The Wildcat offense would strike again midway through the second period as Attaway would find Seth Cashion on consecutive completions of 19 and 35 yards, the latter coming with a 15-yard penalty for a late hit on Attaway to move the ball to the six yard line.

Attaway would then call his own number and score on the 6-yard keeper, and the PAT would give the Wildcats a big 21- 0 lead with 4:26 to go before the half. The Tigers would get on the scoreboard late in the quarter as they would convert an interception into three points on a 40-yard field goal to make the score 21-3 Whitehouse at the half.

The second half would turn into a defensive struggle until Shivers would break loose out of the backfield on a 20-yard run down to the Tiger 6-yard line where Attaway would go over the goal line on a 3-yard run to extend the lead to 28-3.

The Tiger offense would find itself in a difficult situation facing a 25-point deficit and a run oriented offense.

A long drive by the Tigers in the third quarter would bring their first touchdown but would end the scoring at 28-10 and send "Wildcat Nation" into a frenzy as they started making plans for the next step in the drive to state.

Wildcat Note: The victory matches the bi-district championship obtained by the last Wildcat playoff team in 1997. The attendance at Mesquite Memorial was reported at 7,500, and probably 6,000 of those in attendance were wearing maroon or the black district championship t-shirts in honor of the Wildcats new black pants brought out by Coach McFarlin for the playoffs.

Individual Statistics:

RUSHING - Kennedy 7-74, Shivers 5-31-2, Attaway 5-23-2

RECEIVING - Perdue 6-89, Cashion 4-64

PASSING - Attaway 10-17- 153-0-1