Eighth grade teams fall to Pine Tree

Photo/Jim Jackson A Wildcat eighth-grader reels in a pass in Thursday's loss to Pine Tree.

Both eighth grade squads fell at home last Thursday to the Pine Tree Pirates by identical scores of 22-6.

In the "B" game, things looked good early as the Pirates fumbled on the first play from scrimmage, and Corey Davis pounced on the loose ball.

QB Salib Kazmi then hit Juan Martinez with a 32-yard pass, and then an 8-yard run by Ryan Keller set the Cats up at the Pirate 11- yard line. However, the Pirate defense held on four downs to keep the Cats out of the end zone.

Eight plays later, Cedrick Crawford scooped up a Pirate fumble, which led to an 8 play, 42-yard drive that was capped off with a 6- yard TD pass to Martinez for a 6-0 lead.

The Pirates countered with a scoring drive of their own to knot the score at 6-6 heading into halftime.

Neither team had much luck moving the ball during the third period.

The game then turned when the Wildcats had a bad snap deep in their territory, which resulted in a Pine Tree TD when the ball was recovered in the end zone. The two-point conversion made the score 14-6 in favor of the visiting Pirates.

Things remained the same until late in the game when Pine Tree scored a late touchdown to end the scoring.

In the "A" game, after the initial Pirate drive stalled, Wildcat QB Hunter Taylor found Ross Viergever and Jonathan Aldridge on consecutive passes to drive the Wildcats deep into Pirate territory.

Two plays later, Gunnar Dorsey found daylight up the middle of the Pirate defense for a 21-yard TD run to give the Cats an early 6-0 lead.

The Pirates mounted a scoring drive of their own, but Logan Liptak scooped up a fumble and returned it to the 34-yard line.

The Wildcat offense could not take advantage of the turnover, and Pine Tree's next possession led to the go ahead score and took an 8-6 lead into the half.

The wheels came off in the second half for the Wildcats as the offense struggled to execute, and the Pirates found the end zone twice more to win the game, 22-6.

In addition to his fumble recovery, Liptak had a sack on the night for the Wildcat defense. Other standouts on the defensive side of the ball were Justin Bloom, Brennon Eberhart, Jacob Van De Carr and A.J. Minter.

On Thursday, Oct. 4, the "B" team won 12-0 against the Jacksonville Indians. The "A" team was defeated by a score of 18-6.

The eighth grade squads are back in action tonight at Wildcat Stadium as they play host to the Hallsville Bobcats.