On a cool summer evening with just a slight breeze, Wildcat football was reintroduced to thousands of loyal fans. Unfortunately, many were forced to either leave early or leave in defeat after the Wildcats were romped by the Klein Collins Tigers 42-14.

The game saw plenty of injured Wildcats forced to come off the field, including workhorse CJ Jones early in the first quarter. Last year Jones was in the top of the district for rushing yards per game and will likely top his numbers this year. It appeared that Jones suffered what looked like a sprained knee but he should have enough time to heal with a bye-week coming up.

“CJ going down definitely didn’t help,” Coach James Whitmore said. “We had a lot of guys getting thrown around into positions maybe they weren’t accustomed to, but as we learn and grow together it’ll get better.”

Jones wasn’t the only player to go down, and many sophomores were given a chance to play and fill in the shoes of the older, more experienced players.

“This is the first game,” Jacob Isbell said. “There are a lot of new guys that haven’t played on varsity before, but I think as the year goes on and we get into district we are going to improve a lot.”

One key performance to note after the starting Quarterback Jacob Kainer was taken out in the second half for unmentioned reasons, was that of Sophomore Semaj Trahan, who looked Manziel-esque and played well, rushing for over 20 yards on 7 carries.

“Semaj showed out and really stepped up,” Isbell said.

Running back Jack Barrientez also did well after being called to play when Jones was injured. Totaling 55 yards, most of which came on a 30-yard sprint to the end zone, he pumped life-support into a struggling Cy Woods offense momentarily.

“I think the [younger guys] did well,” Cody Eggleston said. “I think they were nervous coming into it, but once you are out here it really isn’t a big deal, you get over it quick.”

The Wildcats looked a little shaky in their first game, but it was expected with such a new team. Only a handful of starters returned and many positions were left open for anyone who worked hard enough to earn them. Losing former Quarterback Bryson Powers to Klein Collins certainly didn’t help at all either. Powers was one of the lone bright spots on last year’s team but transferred to Klein Collins in the off season for personal reasons. He walked all over the Wildcat defense with 144 all-purpose yards.

The Wildcats patiently await their first district game against Cy Springs on September 9^th at Pridgeon Stadium. Until then, there are plenty of things to fix.