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Wildcats notch homecoming win
The Pirates played inspired football and kept the game close until Whitehouse finally got the two score lead they were looking for and held on for a 36-27 win and moved into the thick of the district race at 2-1. The Wildcats struck early as they took the opening kickoff and traveled 52 yards ending with a 9-yard TD run by Matt Ponce, and with the PAT by Taylor Burns, the Wildcats got an early 7-0 lead. The key play in the drive came on a fourth and three run by Ponce to keep the drive alive. After the Wildcat defense forced a punt on Pine Tree's first possession, the Wildcats looked poised to get another score, but Asher Williams got stripped on a run after the catch. Pine Tree then picked up the fumble at the Wildcat 33. The Pirates took five plays to score ending the short drive with a 13- yard TD pass over the middle to tie the score at 7-7.
QB Brady Attaway did not get on track until the Wildcat's fourth possession of the night as he found Bart Henderson for a 40-yard gain down to the Pirate 19. Henderson was not finished on the drive as he hauled in a 10-yard pass from Attaway for the score. However, the Wildcats chose to go for two and were the unfortunate benefactors of a bad call as Heath Mayo was called out of the end zone on the catch when it appeared as though his foot was down with possession of the ball. The score, though, cut the Pirate lead to 14-13. The Pirates then had their first mistake of the night fumbling the ensuing kickoff and giving Whitehouse a great chance to take the lead into the half. The fumble was recovered by Jarone Reddick. The Cats took full advantage of the break as Ponce dove over the goal line following a block by Lesley Perdue. Then, Henderson caught Attaway's pass for the two-point conversion, and just like that, the Cats had the halftime lead at 21- 14. Pine Tree did not go away quietly and took advantage of another 15-yard face mask call on its initial drive of the second half to lead to a score to knot the game at 21-21. The Wildcats got the lead back on the next series as Seth Cashion bowled over from two yards out. The big plays of the scoring drive came on consecutive first down passes to Trey Johnigan and a third down pass to Perdue to move the ball inside the Pirate 20. The rest of the third quarter got sloppy on both sides as both offenses had turnovers, and the Whitehouse defense started to dictate the play as they got Pine Tree out of their running game. After forcing a Pine Tree punt, Henderson caught a long pass in double coverage to move the ball to the Pirate 20-yard line. The Wildcats were stopped on third down and attempted a field goal that was blocked. However, the Pirates were off sides and then Whitehouse sent the offense back onto the field. Attaway then faked the handoff and hit Julian Broaddus at the two-yard line for first and goal. Two plays later, Attaway faked the handoff again and went around the left end for the score to give Whitehouse a comfortable 36-21 lead at 5:48 left in the game. Pine Tree scored one final time to cut into the lead, but the Cats held on for a 36-21 win. With the win, the Wildcats move to 2-1 in district tied with Kilgore and Henderson and trailing both Nacogdoches and Marshall at 3-0. Four huge games remain, and Whitehouse must focus one week at a time because each week presents a new challenge, and in District 12-4A, any team can win on any given night. The Cats will play host to Hallsville tomorrow night with game time at 7:30 p.m. Individual Statistics: Rushing - Ponce 19-73-3, Lewis 5-10, Perdue 2-6, Cashion 2-3-1 Receiving - Henderson 9-145-1, Williams 4-53, Johnigan 2-28, Perdue 1-28 Passing - Attaway 20-35-290-1-2 |
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