Wildcats spoil Jacksonville homecoming, 48-3

Photo/Jim Jackson Cody Brown returns a fumble for a touchdown.

After a poor performance in its district opener against Kilgore, Coach Randy McFarlin considered this week's game a must win game in order to get back on track and get the Wildcats back in position to make a strong run at the district title.

McFarlin spent last week challenging his defense to step up and make plays, be more aggressive, and give the offense more possessions to put up the points it had early in the season.

All things were accomplished last week at the Tomato Bowl as Whitehouse executed almost to perfection its coach's desires in a 48-3 scalping of the Jacksonville Indians.

Things did not start well for the Cats as they failed on an early fourth and one run and turned the ball over to Jacksonville at their own 28 on their first possession.

"I wanted to get our guys going early by calling the fourth down run, and if we didn't get it then, I wanted to see our defense rise up to the challenge early," said Coach McFarlin.

The defense did rise up to the early challenge as a second down sack by Taylor Sulser helped force a field goal try by the Indians, and Cody Brown stormed through the line to block the kick and hold the Indians off the board.

Then enter the Wildcat offense. After hitting Lesley Perdue for a big third down completion, QB Brady Attaway hit Bart Henderson deep down the sideline all the way to the Jacksonville 18.

This play then set up a 13- yard TD pass to Heath Mayo, and Taylor Burns' PAT staked Whitehouse to an early 7-0 lead.

The defense then got its second challenge as a good kickoff return by the Indians, followed by a 15-yard facemask call, put Jacksonville in good shape at the Wildcat 19.

After moving the ball to the five-yard line for a first and goal, the Wildcat defense again stood tall and forced another field goal, which cut the lead to 7-3 with 2:52 in the first quarter.

The defense proved to get better as the night went on, and the Wildcat offense got the extra possessions that it did not get the week before.

Attaway had plenty of time to throw all night, and later in the second quarter, he found Henderson in the end zone for a 30-yard strike to extend the lead to 14-3.

Jacksonville then seemed on the move as a long pass moved the ball to the Whitehouse 48, but on the next play a bad snap bounced loose, and Brown picked up the ball and headed 45 yards into the end zone to give Whitehouse a comfortable 21-3 lead.

On its next possession, Whitehouse started asserting itself on the ground as Chad Lewis began to find open holes in the Jacksonville defense.

Attaway then faked a hand off on third and three and found open running room down the sideline to the Jacksonville 28. When Henderson got open, Attaway found him for his second score of the night, and Whitehouse took a 28-3 lead at the half.

The second half proved to be much of the same as Whitehouse continued to work on its ground game. RB Matt Ponce picked up big yardage on Whitehouse's first possession of the half that ended in a 7-yard TD strike from Attaway to Perdue to make the score 35-3.

After the defense forced the turnover on downs at their own 30-yard line, Whitehouse continued to pressure the Indian secondary, and a great pump by Attaway got the Jacksonville corner to commit.

Henderson then turned the route deep and was wide open for his third score of the night - this one covering 38 yards to push the lead to 41-3.

In the fourth quarter, the Wildcats played all of its reserves but continued to play at a high level.

It was only fitting that the defense got the final points on the night as defensive end, Jarone Reddick, scooped up a Jacksonville fumble and stormed down the field 52 yards for the final score at 48-3 in favor of the Wildcats.

"I was proud of how we responded tonight to the challenges. We had a much better effort defensively, and our offense executed very well tonight."

"Jacksonville is a young team and is going to get better as the year goes on and may surprise someone later in district. This was the team effort in practice, and in the game, that we need each week in this tough district," said Coach McFarlin after the game.

"Now we go back home to play our homecoming game against Pine Tree. They are going to try to come in and play physical up front and run the ball and do much of the same things Kilgore did," McFarlin stated.

One thing is for sure, this year's Wildcats have to now understand that they are the hunted and the target is there each week.

With a district that is tough and even from top to bottom each week, it is going to be a battle. The Cats have to continue to bring the effort they had in Jacksonville throughout the rest of the season.

The Wildcats play host to the Pine Tree Pirates tomorrow evening with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

Individual Statistics:

Rushing - Ponce 10-54, Lewis 10-44, Attaway 3-38, Henderson 2-7, Hicks 3-5, Printers 2-3

Receiving - Henderson 9-165-3, Perdue 3-40-1, Williams 3-26, Lewis 2-5 Johnigan 1-14, Mayo 1- 13-1, Bell 1-10

Passing - Attaway 20-26-262-5

		Score By Quarters
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Whitehouse	7	21	13	7	48
Jacksonville	3	0	0	0	3

Wildcat Note: The Athletic Booster Club wants to thank KTBB for providing the radio broadcast in Jacksonville last week as well as the following game sponsors: Whitehouse Family Dentistry, East Texas Brick, RBJ Fabrications, Whitehouse Medicine Shoppe, Golf Connection, and Austin Bank. Remember that tomorrow night's game against Pine Tree is homecoming and the game will be sold out.