Last night the Wildcats battled the Cy Springs Panthers at Pridgeon Stadium in a game that was vastly different from both teams first games. The Wildcats won 69-34, dominating the entire game. If you would like to see a recap of the game, Billy Schuerman wrote about it here. Below I will be breaking down how each positional group performed against the Panthers, and revealing what areas improved or need improvement.

Quarterbacks: A

Jacob Kainer looked fantastic against the Panthers defense, consistently gashing them on the ground when he was not dicing them through the air. Kainer was able to pick up just over 300 yards passing, and 128 yards rushing. Kainer simply could not be brought down, often requiring four or more defenders to be stopped. He did a fantastic job evading pressure, utilizing the option extremely well outside of a fumble in the red zone, or dumping the ball off at the perfect time for a big gain. Kainer also utilized the play action well, fooling the Panthers early on to the tune of a 43 yard Sam Landingam touchdown. The only area of improvement I could see for Kainer was necessitating a stronger pocket presence, as there were a few plays where Kainer took off a little too early or panicked and threw a risky pass. He has the arm and accuracy to be a stellar pocket passer and it would really make the Wildcat offense even more dynamic if he were able to complete over 20 passes a game. But overall, Kainer looked fantastic and definitely is the starter that Cy Woods needs.

Running backs: B+

The stable of running backs for the Wildcats also had a stellar game, providing relief for Kainer and allowing him to utilize the option and play action very well. Jack Barrientez started this game, and did a very solid job picking up 48 yards rushing on 7 attempts. Where he really impressed though was out of the backfield, bringing in 5 passes for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns. The offense this week really relied on the running backs working out of the backfield and they excelled. CJ Jones came in the second half and provided another element to the offense, opening up both the passing and running game. Late in the game Bobby Dodson came in and had some fun, racking up 45 yards on 4 carries showcasing the depth that the Wildcats have. This grade would have most likely been an A if the backs had gotten more carries, but they did their job very well last night and should be proud.

Receivers: B+

The receivers did an admirable job this game, racking up 7 catches for 158 yards. Although this game was won on the ground, the receiving corp did secure 3 touchdowns, making some spectacular plays after the catch. Although they were not involved in the offense too much, they excelled when called and really opened the offense up by consistently being a threat. On only 7 catches it is difficult to tell how this group will do in the future, but they performed well this game and I expect them to continue exploiting secondaries across the district.

Offensive Line: C+

The offensive line was a little rough this game, allowing consistent pressure on the quarterback and forcing Kainer to run more than he should have to. The pocket would often collapse nearly immediately, which is what forced so many runs from the quarterback. Run support was better, but it was still not entirely uncommon to see a Springs linebacker tackle a running back as he hit the edge. Overall they were serviceable, but they can not rely on Kainer being a human wrecking ball the entire season. This game could have very easily ended differently if it had not been for Kainer’s ability to deal with pressure. Luckily the coaching staff was able to mask the weakness here with a heavy use of options and dump offs, but I am afraid that might not hold up the entire season.

Defensive Line: B

The Wildcats definitely seemed to win this battle in the trenches, consistently collapsing the pocket and stuffing the run up the middle. The ends were slightly exposed once again; on the outside Taye Barber and James Brooks were often able to hit the edge for big gains, although this is a shared burden between the linebackers and ends, so I can not fault the defensive line completely here. A good sign for this defensive line was the Panthers realizing early on that they were outmatched in pass protection, sparking their excessive use of screens. This defensive line had a solid game but increased containment on the outside would have lead to a nearly perfect game.

Linebackers: B-

The line backing corp for Cy Woods did their job similarly to the rest of the team, and had a lot of the same problems that the defensive line had. I would like to see the outside linebackers do a better job of setting the edge, which would stop those big gainers on the edge that plagued the Wildcats in their first two games. Jah’marea Sheread, of Cy Springs, was often able to bring in passes underneath the safeties or straight out of the backfield. This exposure was not necessarily the result of strictly poor coverage skill, but rather the shiftiness of Sheread. Of course this is not strictly the linebackers fault as the safeties were not able to drop low enough to stop him, but so long as Cy Woods runs a Cover 2 the linebackers will need to be a little more mindful of receivers working underneath coverage. That said, the linebackers generally did a good job containing the run up the middle and not allowing too many passes out of the backfield. There is a solid foundation here and I expect to see lots of growth from this group.

Secondary: B

The secondary group was very confusing this game. Some plays they were stellar, and for others they were getting burned over the top. The safeties generally had a solid game, opening up the game with a Troy Spears interception which did a great job of setting the tone for the game. The corners had a rough time stopping the run when Barber or Brooks were making their way down the sideline, but actually did a stellar job picking up screens throughout the game. The Panthers offense relied heavily on screens this game, and while some of them were successful, the Wildcats did a great job preventing too many big plays. While the stat line may look bad, displaying 360 passing yards for the Panthers, the secondary actually helped pretty well for the most part. Most of these yards came on small gains through screens, or in garbage time when Panthers quarterback Xayvion West tossed two touchdowns against the Wildcats second and third string players. Good showing from the secondary outside of a few big plays and tackling issues but there is no need for concern from the starters in this group.

Special Teams: C

The special teams unit for the Wildcats this week did not have a stellar game like they did against Klein Collins two weeks ago. While Reyes was able to nail his extra points, kickoffs seemed to be hit or miss. He did not have a bad game, but his kickoffs either flew out of bounds or landed perfectly in the end zone. Punting was abysmal compared to two weeks ago, only averaging 29 yards a punt. That combined with the 103 yard kickoff return by Sheread do bring some worry for the future of this unit. Hopefully next week against Cy Ridge they return to form, or else they could definitely be beat on special teams.