Whitehouse seventh-graders go 2-1 against Jacksonville

The Whitehouse seventh grade teams traveled to Jacksonville last Tuesday to close out their 2007 football season.

In the "C" game, the Wildcats came out on the short end of a 28-0 loss.

The "B"game opened good for the Cats as Elijah Stevenson ran the opening kickoff back 27 yards to the Brave 46-yard line. The drive ended shortly thereafter as Jacksonville picked off an errant pass two plays later.

Jacksonville moved across midfield but turned the ball back over on downs to Whitehouse at the 45 of the Wildcats. The Braves then recovered a fumble three plays later and then broke a 41-yard run for the first score of the game to take a 6-0 lead.

Stevenson did not let the Wildcats stay down long as he took the ensuing kickoff 64 yards for the score to tie the game at 6-6 midway through the second quarter.

The Wildcat defense then forced a punt as Cor tez Copeland came up with a big hit on third down.

QB Braden Haskell started the next drive with a pass to Alex Fort followed by a run by Stevenson to the nine of Jacksonville. Haskell then called his own number on the next play for the nine-yard TD run. He then passed to Joe Kaiser for the two-point conversion to give the Cats a 14-6 lead.

That score stood heading into the four th quar ter before Stevenson got his second score of the night on a 20-yard run. Haskell then hit Taylor Graham for the two-point conversion to end the scoring and giving Whitehouse the 22-6 victory.

The "A" game proved to be a very entertaining game as it pitted the running game of the Braves against the passing attack of the Wildcats.

Jacksonville wasted little time getting on the board as they scored on their first play from scrimmage on a 65-yard run and then added the two-point conversion to take the early 8-0 lead.

The Wildcats got on the board midway in the first quarter when the Whitehouse defense forced a fumble that was recovered by Hunter Conn on the Brave 36.

QB Will Weathers did the rest as he scampered 36 yards for the score, but the two-point conversion failed, and the Braves clung to an 8-6 lead.

The Whitehouse defense stood tall again stopping the Braves on their next possession on a fourth and one to turn the ball back over to the offense.

Whitehouse again struck quickly as Weathers went deep to Dylan Cantrell for a 54-yard TD completion, and then Aaron Clemons burst over for the twopoint conversion to give the Wildcats the 14-8 lead.

The first half fireworks were not done yet as Jacksonville returned the ensuing kickoff the distance for a 70-yard score to tie things up at 14-14.

The Wildcats threatened to take the lead on their next possession, but a fumble at the Jacksonville 2 stopped the drive. The Braves then marched down the field scoring on a 12-yard run to take the lead back at 20-14 with only 16 seconds left in the first half.

If fans left the stands early to visit the concession stand, they missed more excitement from the Wildcats.

After taking the ensuing kickoff, the Cats had little time left and faced the task of a desperation throw in an attempt to score before the half, which is exactly what they did.

Weathers threw the ball up for grabs to Cantrell who went up and took the ball down over the cornerback and then raced to the end zone as the clock went to 0:00 and brought Whitehouse even, 20-20, at the half.

Just as the first half provided plenty of fireworks and offense, the second half turned into a defensive battle as both teams failed to find the end zone headed into the final quarter.

The Jacksonville offense looked as though they were on a scoring drive to take the win, but William Thomas ripped the ball away from the Jacksonville running back and headed the other way down to the Brave 20.

After throwing a pass to Cantrell, Weathers went around right end for an 11-yard TD run to give the Wildcats the final score of 26-20.

The seventh grade team ended the season with an overall record of 7-1.