RSS Feed
|  |
| |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Wranglers lasso Wildcats to end playoff run
However, the Wranglers from West Mesquite had other plans and went on to stretch its halftime lead and end the season for the Wildcats with a 47- 29 win. The beginning of the game appeared promising for the Wildcats as they took the opening kickoff and moved into Wrangler territor y behind Lesley Perdue's opening kickof f return and a pass from Brady Attaway to Bart Henderson. Then, with the ball at the West Mesquite 28, Attaway hit Henderson again on a fade route to the Wrangler five-yard line, but the play was called back due to an illegal formation call against the Wildcats. Then, a holding penalty pushed the Cats back even farther and out of field goal range when they were forced to punt. The Wranglers took advantage of the Whitehouse penalties and proceeded to go on an 80-yard scoring march that ended with a 12-yard TD run by Kenny Davis to claim an early 7- 0 lead.
On the ensuing drive, the Wranglers began to find their groove of fensively as QB Kendall Thomas picked apart the Whitehouse secondary. Thomas proved to be more effective as a runner and continued to hurt the Wildcats with his scrambling ability when the Cats' secondary had good coverage. Thomas put the Wranglers back on top 13-7 early in the second quarter with a 24-yard TD connection to Quadric Moore. West Mesquite was at it again on their next possession going 61 yards for the score with the drive ending on a oneyard TD run to increase its lead to 19-7 with 7:18 remaining before the half. The Wildcats looked ready to get back in the game on the ensuing possession, but Attaway was picked off on a long pass intended for Henderson at the West Mesquite three-yard line. Once again, the Wranglers made the most of the Wildcat's mistake going in for a 97-yard scoring drive capped off by a seven-yard TD run to push the lead to 26-7. The Wildcats then found an offensive spark behind Attaway's consecutive completions to Trey Johnigan moving the Cats down to the Wrangler 30-yard line. Perdue hauled in a 12-yard reception before the Wranglers were called for pass interference on Trey Metoyer in the end zone, which led to a two-yard run by Matt Ponce to get the Cats to 26-12 headed into the half. The Wildcats found themselves in a very familiar position, trailing at the half, but this night unfortunately did not lead to another second half comeback. West Mesquite came out of the locker room and marched down the field to score on a 25- yard TD completion from Thomas to Chazz Virgil to increase the lead to 33-14. The Wildcats seemed determined to stay in the game as they scored on their next possession on a clutch fourth down reception by Perdue for a twoyard score to cut the lead to 33- 21. Just as the Wildcat defense seemed ready to make a game changing play, the Wranglers again got another break. On a third down and eight play from the Wrangler 45, Thomas felt pressure from Julian Broaddus on the pass rush and was forced to heave a desperation throw down the middle. Steven Hicks was in position to make a play on the ball, but the pass was deflected off of his hands and into the hands of Jordan Schell for the 55-yard score, which pushed the lead to 40-21 with only 2:42 left in the third quarter. This score proved to be the back-breaker for the Cats who could not come up with any big plays in the final quarter. West Mesquite scored again midway through the final period, and the Cats put up the final points on a 10-yard pass from Attaway to Perdue to make the final 47-29 in favor of the Wranglers. The loss ends the playoff run for the Wildcats, but they were able to match the school record with 10 wins and followed up last year's area championship with another bi-district win this year. Also, the Wildcats claimed a tie of the district crown with Kilgore with a 6-1 district record. In addressing the players after the game, Coach Randy McFarlin acknowledged the seniors who had played their final game for Whitehouse and commended them for carrying on the tradition that had been started the year before. Although unhappy with the loss, McFarlin applauded the 10 win season and urged the underclassmen to work harder and continue the tradition, and not only to learn from such a defeat, but to improve upon what the Wildcats had accomplished in the past two seasons. This season has definitely been a great season filled with excitement and memorable moments for the 2007 Wildcats.
|
for larger version  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
)
