The opening night of the 2009 High School football season proved to be a difficult one for the Paden City Wildcats in more ways than one. Not only did the ‘Cats fall to the Van Bulldogs in a hard fought, high scoring effort, 49-38 at Herschel Jarrell Field; by night’s end, the team would be forced to return home to Paden City in a Boone County school bus.

“It’s bad enough that they beat us,” said Paden City head coach Brent Croasmun, “But then to have to borrow a bus to come home in, that was just unreal.”

It seems that during the three hour bus ride to Boone County for the season opener, the Wetzel County bus encountered mechanical problems leaving the local team unsure of a way home. Fortunately,

Boone County school officials were kind enough to hook the local team up with a ride north after the game. Just another facet of small town sports.

Van, whose 2009 football schedule was all but halted for lack of interest in June, matched up very well with Paden City during the game, jumping ahead in the score 35-24 by halftime. In the second half, Van would go on to add 14 more points to hand Paden City the loss, 49-38.

Offensively, Paden City gained 344 rushing yards in the game on 50 carries. Senior Malakai Anderson carried the ball 23 times to gain 236 of those yards and scored once on a carry. Taylor Still had 17 carries for 65 yards and a touchdown; Josh Bennett was credited with eight carries for 26 yards; Geoffrey Bidwell rushed once for 12 yards; and Jordan Kerns rushed once to gain five yards.

In total, the Cat’s completed nine of 24 passes for 221 yards. Anderson turned in a fine performance in the quarterback slot for the Green and White, completing eight of 18 passes for 201 yards and three TD’s. Bennett also time in the quarterback position for Paden City, completing one of six passes for 20 yards.

Bennett was the top receiver for the Green with six catches for 193 yards and three touchdowns. Taylor Still caught two passes for eight yards and Anderson caught a 20 yard pass.

The Bulldogs, known for their running game in the past, threw only one pass in the match-up, gaining their 404 yards all on the ground,.

Defensively for the ‘Cats, Still led the team with eight tackles. Senior Michael Greathouse was credited with six.

“Our offense played well,” Croasmun said. “But it was one of those games where you do good things and are able to put numbers on the scoreboard, but so does the other team. Defensively, we just didn’t tackle well in this game. We had some poor pursuit angles that we’re going to have to work on correcting.”

The Wildcats will again take to the road on Friday as they head up the Ohio River to take on the Blue Dons of Weirton Madonna. Kick off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.