With three games remaining on the season Paden City high school was forced to cancel the remainder of its 2024 season due to a lack of players. The season started out on the bright side as the team of 14 made the trip to Zanesville, Ohio and picked up a win over FoxFire high school, a school that social media says is a school for troubled youth in their second season with a team.

The Wildcats then fell to a strong Tolsia team on the road by the score of 25-0 after three players suffered injuries and the game was called following a quarter of play. From there the season continued on a downward spiral with the Cat’s only able to complete one more contest against Hundred who defeated them on homecoming night 59-22. The other games included a forfeit to Greenbrier West and a couple of losses to Montcalm and Van high school in games cut short in the first half. Last week the Wildcats canceled their game with Southern Racine, Ohio due to lack of healthy players.

The decision to cancel the remaining three games was made for safety and low number reasons. Early in the summer Wetzel County schools made the decision to close Paden City temporarily and move the students to Magnolia. That decision was later reversed and the Wildcats started working on getting a football team together. The Wildcats were left without a head coach and a few players decided not to play. However once the school board hired coach Ron Casto as head coach he started putting the pieces together to get the Cat’s back on Berger field. End result was 14 players.

Two players from the 2023 season who were heavily counted on to make 2024 a success found themselves without the supporting cast from the previous year and now find themselves without a team all together.

Paden City’s legacy as a tough football town has changed with this move. It’s something they now have to put behind them and move forward with whatever the next step is.

Thanks for the effort put out by this season’s young men and for the coaches and their willingness to step into a tough situation and try and make it better.