Taylor Still

The 2011 high school football season is seven games in and local teams are finding it difficult to find their footing against stalwart opponents. The Knights of Tyler Consolidated are still looking for their first win, while the Paden City Wildcats have seen success three times. Both teams continue to put their best game plans forwards in hopes of bringing wins home to the fans.

Wildcats

The Paden City Wildcats earned their third win of the 2011 football season on Saturday afternoon in Bellaire as they handily defeated the Irish of St. John’s Central, 42-7. The loss kept the Irish still looking for their first win of the season.

The ‘Cats played with determination in this game, leaning heavily on senior Taylor Still who headlined the event with four touchdowns and just shy of 300 yards on the day.

“It was a good game for us,” said head coach of the Wildcats, Brent Croasmun. “The boys played very well. We had a few mental errors, but overall, the coaching staff and I were not disappointed.”

Cole Kocher, Swen Scheidemantel, Koty Martin

The Green and White got off to a good start in the beginning of a game with a 15 yard run by Still for the first score of the game, followed by the extra point kick off the foot of Zach Heasley. Geoffrey Bidwell, senior, scored the next TD for Paden City in the first quarter with a 29 yard run. Heasley again kicked the extra point.

In the second quarter, it was Bidwell getting the nod again for Paden City on a 36 yard run, followed by Heasley’s kick to put the score at 21-0 in favor of the ‘Cats at the half.

In the second half, it was all Still for the Wildcats as the workhorse senior scored on three, 10 and thirteen yard runs to seal the win.

St. John’s only score of the game came near the end of the fourth on a short 13 yard run.

The Wildcats rushed for 389 yards on 52 carries overall in the game with Still accounting for 295 of those yards on 38 rushes, including four touchdowns. Bidwell carried the ball 11 times in the game for 94 yards and two touchdowns.

Freshman quarterback, Zach Heasley completed two of seven passes for 12 yards and kicked the extra point after all six touchdowns in the game.

Kennedy Cain caught one pass for Paden City for eight yards and Aaron Higgins had one catch for four yards.

“Our freshmen played the majority of the fourth quarter for us again,” the coach said. “They’re doing a good job and getting experience in varsity situations. We’ll have our work cut out for us on Friday against Beallsville. We’re going to need all the experience we can get. They’re a very good football team, probably the best team on our schedule.”

Paden City will host Beallsville on Friday at Berger Field. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Silver Knights

The Silver Knight football team at Tyler Consolidated put forth a good effort on Friday at home, but it was not enough to take the win, as the Braxton County Eagles laid claim to victory to the tune of 39-16.

“We shot ourselves in the foot most of the night,” said head coach Rob Caldwell. “We’d have a good drive, grab some good positive yards, and then a mistake or a miscue which would put us back in the hole again. We have to put things together out there and we’re just not getting it done.”

Junior quarterback Hunter LeMasters passed for 37 yards in the game, completing five of 12 passes.

Koty Martin caught one pass for 35 yards and a touchdown; Jacob Highley had one catch for two yards; Levi Henderson had a catch for two yards and Alex Doak had two catches.

Highley was the leading Knight rusher in the game, gaining 69 yards on 13 runs; Evan Cline had two rushes, LeMasters and Josh Ruble each had two rushes in the game.

Defensively, Evan Cline led the defense with seven solo tackles, five assists, and caused a fumble; Hunter LeMasters was credited with six solo tackles, two assists; Jacob Highley had six solo tackles, four assists and one quarterback sack; Levi Henderson, five tackles, four assists, two special team solo tackles, and one special team assist; Koty Martin, two solo tackles, five assists; Cole Kocher, two solo tackles, three assists; Swen Scheidemantel, two solo tackles, three assists and one quarterback sack; Jay Earley, two solo tackles, three assists; Alex Doak, one solo tackle, two assists; Skyler Leasure, one solo tackle, one special team assist; Josh Ruble, one solo tackle, one assist; Nathan Billiter, one solo tackle; Zach Zills, one solo tackle; Slade Dillon, one solo tackle, two assists; Chris Ice, one solo tackle, one assist and one special team assist; and Spencer Billings, one special team solo tackle and one special team assist.

“Our defense was on the field way to much,” Caldwell said. “We didn’t give them a chance to catch their breath. We’ve got to sustain our drives better than we are doing. We can pull this season out and see some success, we just have to have more focus.”

In the 2010 season, the Silver Knights pulled their season together by winning the last three contests of the year. With three games left on the schedule, the Silver has a chance to repeat the feat. The team will travel to Ritchie County on Friday to take on the Ritchie County Rebels.