In a battle of Green-on-Green, the Fighting Irish of Bellaire St. John Central took the 34-8 win over the Paden City Wildcats on Friday at Berger Field.

St. John scored a touchdown in the first seven minutes of play to take the lead and hold the homestanding ‘Cats to zero points until the final quarter of play.

The visitors played their game on the ground, adding two TD’s in both the second and third periods to take the their second win of the season.

“They were a decent team,” said Wildcat head coach, Brent Croasmun. “And they had some size, which we lack.”

“Our kids did a good job though, they’ve shown improvement from our last game and they never gave up. It was a tough loss for us.”

Paden City put their eight points on the scoreboard with a few minutes to go in the game on a Brandon Cross seven yard run in for a touchdown. The goal was followed by a Cross pass to Kennedy Cain for two points.

The ‘Cats rushed for 146 yards on the ground on 39 carries and passed for 21 yards for a total of 167 offensive yards. The Irish had 265 yards on 37 rushes and passed for 14 yards for a total of 279 yards.

St. John fumbled five times in the game, losing one, and were penalized 10 times for 95 yards. Paden City lost three of three fumbles and were penalized three times for 25 yards.

Offensively, Cross was the leading rusher for the home team, carrying the ball 27 times to collect 141 yards and one touchdown. Kane Pyles rushed five times for 10 yards.

In the receiving department, Kennedy Cain caught one pass for 14 yards, and caught the extra-point pass in the endzone, and Drew Bidwell had two catches for nine yards.

In the quarterback position, Cross completed four of eight passes for 21 yards.

Defensively, Craig Allen led the ‘Cats with 12 tackles. Pyles was credited with 10 tackles, one for a loss and one fumble cause; Cross has six tackles; Logan Carroll and Dakota Gaitain each had five tackles apiece; and Denton Thomas recovered one fumble.

The Wildcats will travel to Gilmer on Sept. 14 to take on the Titans.