Friday, Oct. 25 the Wildcats remain undefeated in district play after defeating the Louise Hornets at home, 39-0. The Yorktown defense has dealt three shutouts this season with two back to back in the past two weeks. Defensive standouts Richard Flores, Rylan Rau, Adam Serbin, and Cameron Willis have a combined 175 tackles. Serbin leads the way with 52 total tackles. Rau, Willis and Flores have 42, 41 and 40 tackles, respectively. Matthew Olguin has given opposing quarterbacks distress, as he tops the wildcat leaderboard with six interceptions. Rau leads the team in sacks while senior Travis Buesing and sophomore Brayden Knostman have 37 and 30 tackles, respectively.
Against Louise the stout defense recovered three fumbles and held the team to 167 total yards of offense.
“The guys adapted well. Louise came out in something they hadn’t shown all year on offense. The defense adjusted quickly and played lights out all night long,” Head Coach Ryan Knostman said.
The Wildcats opening score came in the first period when Brody Metting charged in for two yards. He would score again on an eight yard rush, 12-0. The Louise Hornets tried a trick play during opening kickoff and again in the second period both resulting in fumbles. Near the end of the first period, Louise had third down with 13 yards to go on the 36 yard line when a long pass was broken up by Brayden Knostman. The Hornets would choose to go for it when a slew of Wildcats tackled the player allowing no yards to be gained.
During the second quarter defense remained tough as Brayden Knostman intercepted the ball and was brought down on the 48 yard line and Olguin had a fumble recovery on the 47 yard line.
With 5:59 remaining until halftime, Metting connected with Ryan Knostman, Jr. on an 11 yard pass and Kason Sullivan would tack on the extra point. Olguin would jet up the field and into the endzone after making a catch, 25-0. After a long 31 yard catch by Garrett Menn put the team in the red zone and with a little more than 30 seconds on the clock, Metting would score from 2 yards out to conclude the first half, 32-0.
In the third period, Olguin would score the final touchdown, 38-0.
“Offensively, Louise was determined to stop the run, but we were able to take advantage of the opportunities that gave us in the passing game,” Knostman said.
Yorktown had seven completions for 169 yards when they average slightly over 40 passing yards per game. The Wildcats are undefeated in district play and have an overall 7-1 record. Next week they will face the Falls City Beavers in an away game with kickoff set for 7:00. Please note last week’s article had a misprint as the 2004 team went four rounds in the playoffs not three as printed.
