Wildcats hand Dragons sixth loss, 21-8
Rain, mud and Wildcats would dampen homecoming festivities for the Cameron Dragons on Friday in Cameron as Paden City evened out their record for the season 3-3, by handing the Dragons their sixth loss of the season with the 21-8 loss on the football field.
“It was a muddy mess,” said head coach of the Wildcats, Brent Croasmun. “It drizzled pretty much the whole time we were traveling there and then just as the game was getting ready to start it came a big downpour. The sides of the field wasn’t bad, but the middle was really muddy. That made it impossible to have any kind of throwing game.”
So the Wildcats ran. In fact, they ran 48 times to gain 139 yards while pushing the Dragons back to a minus fifteen yards rushing on 18 carries.
With 6:51 to play in the first quarter, Taylor Still ran the ball in for the first Wildcat touchdown of the game. Malakai Anderson ran in the two point conversion to put the ‘Cats ahead in the contest by 8-0.
The first play of the second quarter, Anderson was well on his way to score six points when he was hit at the goal line causing him to spit up the football. Team mate Kyle McFadden was on hand to make the save, picking up the ball and getting the score for the visitors. The two point pass conversion did not work out for the Green, but they still led the game, 14-0.
Cameron made some noise before the half ended, scoring on a pass interception, followed by a two yard pass conversion. Headed into the locker rooms, Paden City held the lead, 14-8.
In the third quarter, neither team scored. Paden City found themselves with bad field positions several times and unable to cross the goal line, but then, so did Cameron.
“We moved the ball, backed them up, but just couldn’t seem to get anywhere,” Croasmun said. “But I will say that our defense played better in this game than we have played all year. They worked hard and got the job done.”
In the fourth quarter, it was Anderson picking up a fumble after a bad Cameron snap, and taking it in for the TD. He then kicked the extra point which sealed the scoring for the game with Paden City taking the win, 21-8.
“Our kids never gave up in this game,” the coach said. “We made some changes defensively, moved Malakai to outside linebacker and Still, and the changes made a difference. The quickness made a difference.”
Anderson rushed for 74 yards on 21 carries against the Dragons to lead the Wildcat running game. Still gained 54 yards on 19 carries; Bennett carried the ball seven times for 14 yards.
Anderson completed two of five passes in the contest for 12 yards, and both passes were caught by Still.
Still also led the defensive effort with eight tackles, three of those for a loss. Anderson had seven tackles, one for a loss, one quarterback sack, caused a fumble and recovered a fumble for a TD. Bennett had four tackles, one for a loss; Silas Davis was credited with three tackles, one for a loss; Jamie Billiter had one tackle and one for a loss; Jordan Kerns recovered a fumble; and McFadden had two fumble recoveries, one for a TD.
On Friday the Wildcats will travel to Marshall County again, this time to take on the Bishop Donahue Bishops at Monarch Stadium at John Marshall High School.
“They’ve got a lot of speed and a nice running back that we’ll have to keep our eyes on,” Croasmun said. “They’ve got good receivers too, so we’re going to have to be ready for anything. We’re going to have to play well, with no mistakes, no turnovers and we’re going to have to play defense like we did against Cameron to come out of this one.”
Bishop Donahue comes to the game trying to improve on their 3-2 season record. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.