Comeback kids?
Second-half surge trend continues for Wildcats

Matt Ponce steps out of the grasp of a Mabank defender. Photo/Jim Jackson

The Whitehouse Wildcats continued the early trend for its season in Mabank last week falling behind at halftime and then storming back in the second half to pull away with a big win.

Mabank took the opening kickoff and went 85 yards for the first score as the Whitehouse defense continued to give up long pass plays and third down and long opportunities that allowed the Panthers to keep the drive alive. The PAT gave Mabank a short lived 7-0 lead.

The Wildcat offense took little time getting the seven points back as they scored in three quick plays.

After a pass to Skip Caldwell for 15 yards and a 38-yard completion to Bart Henderson, QB Brady Attaway handed off to Matt Ponce who got into the end zone for the score. The PAT by Taylor Burns tied the game at 7-7 early in the first quarter.

Early in the second period, Asher Williams got into the act for the offense as he hooked up with Attaway for a deep pass down to the Mabank 21 and then caught a slant route from Attaway for a 16-yard TD to put the Cats on top 14-7.

Then things turned sour for the Wildcats, as Mabank would score 14 unanswered points to take a 21-14 lead at the half. One of the drives came from a Whitehouse turnover deep in its on territory.

Things could have been worse, but C.J. Hallett picked off a pass deep in Whitehouse territory to stall a drive late in the first half.

Then, the second half began. The theme to 'come from behind' had been carried out in the first two games, and the question remained to see if the Cats could make it three weeks in a row.

The trend looked to be the same as Whitehouse took the second half kickoff deep into Mabank territory, but could not convert a 4th and 1 and turned the ball over on downs.

The defense then stepped up as they had in the first two games to force a three and out series and get the ball back to the offense.

Starting at the Whitehouse 46, Attaway found Lesley Perdue over the middle and then Henderson over the middle before Ponce took a shovel pass down to the 8-yard line.

Attaway then hit Henderson on an 8-yard slant route in the end zone, but a missed PAT left the Cats behind 21-20 with 5:11 left in the third.

Then, the play of the game occurred for the Wildcats on its next drive. After taking over on their own 28, Attaway hit Williams over the middle, and just when it looked like he had been stopped, Williams came out of a pack of Panther defenders and raced 68 yards to the house for the score.

Henderson then caught the two point conversion from Attaway to give the Cats their second lead of the night at 28- 21 with 2:50 remaining in the third quarter.

Mabank's next drive found Whitehouse territory, but the Cat defense stepped up again and stopped the Panthers on 4th down and 10.

The turnover bug would then hit the Wildcats as Attaway was picked off at the Panther 22. Mabank started a drive, but a big hit by Cody Brown on 3rd and one forced a punt to the Wildcats.

The pursuing drive saw Attaway keep it himself for a 5- yard gain on 3rd down, and the drive ended on an 8-yard TD run by Ponce on a shovel pass to put the Cats up 35-21 with time running down.

The defense, which had chances early for interceptions by Seth Cashion, Jon Harvell, and Quincy Aldridge, finally got a pick with 4:34 left in the game as Harvell got the interception and returned it to the Panther 44.

Attaway then put the game out of reach hitting Perdue over the middle for the final score of the game, and with the PAT, the final score was 42-21.

"Mabank had a good quarterback that did well running the spread offense tonight," stated Coach Randy McFarlin.

"When you execute in the spread offense, you are going to move the ball some, and we helped them some tonight with turnovers."

"Like last week, we again did a great job at the half making the necessary adjustments, and I give our coaching staff a lot of credit for that. The kids really went out there in the second half and executed, especially on the defensive side of the ball," McFarlin said.

The Wildcats will be open this week as they prepare for the big district opener next week at home against Kilgore. The Cats stunned the Bulldogs last year in Kilgore by the score of 28-7.

"The Kilgore game is a huge game to open district with. I am excited to get to that game. I know the town will be out in full force, and our kids will be excited to play in a big ball game at our house," said McFarlin.

	Score By Quarters
	1st	2nd 3rd		4th	Total
WH	14	0	14	14	42
Mabank	7	14	0	0	21

Individual Statistics:

Rushing - Ponce 15-67-1, Attaway 1-14, Hernandez 2-13, McDaniel 2-8

Receiving - Williams 3-123- 2, Perdue 4-116-1, Henderson 5-90-1, Ponce 4-28-1, Hernandez 2-18, Caldwell 3-16, Mayo 2-13, Johnigan 1-8

Passing - Attaway 27-40-412

Wildcat Note: The fans and parents of the Wildcats would like to send out their thoughts and prayers to Marco Hernandez who suffered a season ending knee injury in the Mabank game. Get your tickets early for the Kilgore game because a sellout is expected.