Paden City's Zane Yeater hauls in one of his two touchdown receptions against Van.

After making the three plus hour drive to Van High School, Paden City came out fired up looking for their first win on the young season. These Wildcats are small in numbers but large in heart and they displayed that on Friday night as they took the home team to the trenches and nearly came home with the win, but were dissappointed in the end when the home team managed a score with 30 seconds left to sneak in the 23-18 win.

Wildcat Coach Zach Heasley who is fresh out of West Liberty University where he played for the Hilltoppers, had his team ready to play. After two hard fought losses against Frontier and Wirt County, the Cats showed they are not quitters regardless of the past.

They jumped on top of the home team 6-0 at the half, on a 12 yard pass from senior quarterback Ethan Cross to freshman wide receiver Zane Yeater with 1:15 to play. With 8:25 to go in the third the duo connected again on a 78 yard pass and run play that Yeater took to the house and the Cats led 12-0.

The Bulldogs got on the board with two scores to tie the game, but Paden City found the end zone to take the lead 18-12 when Cross went in from 4-yards out with 9:55 left in the game. Van managed to squeek out the win scoring the next 11 points.

Paden City had 300 total yards of offense in the game with Clayton Thomas rushing for 56 yards on 13 carries, Cross gained 60 yards on 15 totes, and Higgins had 18 on eight tries. Yeater led the team with 94 yards on 3-receptions for two scores, while Bryant McKay added 27 yards on three catches. Shane Anderson had four yards on one catch and Wade added 12 yards on a reception. Thomas was the big play maker on defense with 14 tackles, including a sack for a loss and a fumble recovery. He added another tackle for a loss. Jason Anderson also played hard nose defense with eight tackles, while Brad Baker added six solo tackles. Jake Amos was all over the Van offense with 15 tackles including one for a loss. Jeff Billiter had five tackles. S. Anderson had three, Cross had five, Hunter Fulks added three. Logan Fluharty had two, Gavin Lewis had two, Parkewr Higgins had three Wade two and Yeater one. Cross also blocked a field goal attempt.

Clayton Thomas surges ahead, looking for bonus yards.

Paden City is coming on strong and improving with each game, their season is far from over and the wins are still to come. A nice crowd showed up at Van and although they didn’t get the win the fans got their money worth as Paden City played to win in every category. Big game coming up at home this week against Bridgeport, Ohio. Come out and support the Wildcats.