On Friday, Sept. 13 the Wildcats were on the winning side of the offensive brawl against the Skidmore- Tynan Bobcats, 61-46. The heavy scoring gave Head Coach Ryan Knostman the opportunity to express to his team the potential he sees. “How good could we be if we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot? How great if we tighten up and don’t make those mistakes. Just think of how great we could be…the potential. Keep putting in work day in and day out and keep getting better. We have a special group, imagine what we could be,” stated Knostman to the huddled players.
Early in the game both opponents traded heavy blows. Skidmore- Tynan struck first, scoring on their first series and converting on a two point conversion. However, the Wildcats quickly retaliated with a touchdown, squashing their opponent's momentum. Calvin Duprie nearly returned the kickoff before being brought down near the 15 yard line. Brody Metting finished what Duprie started, stepping into the endzone while Kason Sullivan tacked on the extra point, 7-8.
The Wildcat defense forced a punt while the offense rushed down the field, positioning themselves to take the lead. On the 12 yard line the ball came loose on the exchange and was recovered by the Bobcats. Skidmore- Tynan executed off of the fumble with 47 seconds remaining in the first period, 7-14. The Wildcats had plenty of fight left; the touchdown by Skidmore-Tynan ignited their fire. Immediately the defense held strong, preventing the two point conversion. With only seconds remaining the Wildcats struck back, tying the game with a long run by freshman McKenzie Yanta.
The tone was set with a tackle for a loss by Rylan Rau on the opening play of the second period. Eventually, Skidmore Tynan scored on a 23 yard run, but were stopped short on the two point conversion by Daylon Meyer and Manuel Macias, 7-20. On the 22 yard line the Bobcats converted on a 4th down situation and scored a play later from 21 yards out. 3:44 remained when a slew of wildcats prevented the two point conversion, 7-26. With the end of the quarter drawing near the Wildcats launched a counter attack, resulting in them taking over the lead with a mere minute remaining on the scoreboard, 2826. With 1:43 on the clock, Yanta scored his second touchdown on a ten yard scramble. Matthew Olguin recovered the onside kick on the 31 yard line, setting up for Metting to rush in with 1:03 remaining. Eager to not be overshadowed the defense stepped up as Richard Flores and teammates tackled the quarterback for a five yard loss and then caused a fumble that unfortunately a Bobcat recovered.
Once Yorktown had the lead, they simply went full throttle, no limits. The Wildcats took advantage of getting the ball first to start the second half, extending their lead, 35-26. Nine touchdowns between the two teams had been made but the scoring was not near finished in this offensive brawl. Yorktown scored four more touchdowns between Duprie and Metting while holding Skidmore-Tynan to three more. With 51 seconds left on the clock a long pass from the 35 yard line to the other 35 yard line was caught by a Bobcat receiver and pushed out of bounds by Cameron Willis. Skidmore- Tynan would get down to the eight yard line when Olguin intercepted the ball. The Wildcats would kneel, winning the game, 6146. On Friday, Sept. 20 the Wildcats will challenge Taft in an away game starting at 7:00 p.m.
