The Cy Woods Wildcats fell to the previously 0-5 Cy Falls Eagles on Friday night, making their overall record now 1-5. Though the game seemed winnable throughout the first half- even when Falls was up 14-3 – fumbles and an inability to convert on third down plagued the Wildcats’ hopes of a comeback win.

The quarterbacks struggled to dig their heels in during the game, with Jacob Kainer, Brighton Gullickson and Semaj Trahan each seeing some of the ball. Kainer’s troubles started out with a fumble on the first drive of the game, regaining possession but determining the slippery path this game would go on- with Kainer throwing an interception and Gullickson following up with two more, one being a pick six. Though Kainer’s sturdy stiff-arm returned with a vengeance during this game, it wasn’t enough to get the Wildcats a single TD any time Kainer was at QB, which was partially due to an injury that kept him out the second half. The only touchdown of the game was a great pass by Brighton Gullickson to Matt Ficalora near the end, and although that reinvigorated momentum, it was silenced by the pick six with just a few minutes left in the fourth. Though these QBs seem to have some depth to them, the turnover issue is one that can’t be overlooked.

The run game suffered through the night, with no rushing game allowed by the Eagle defense, holding the Wildcats to 2.8 yards per carry. Although receivers seemed to gain a foothold during the last quarter, moving down the field through quick passes with Gullickson at the helm, the first half featured many incompletions that soared through the hands of open players- disappointing for an offense that flourished just a few short weeks ago.

The offense as a whole just struggled throughout the game, with only 12 first downs the entire night. 275 offensive yards does not lead to a victory unless the defense is packing a punch- which ours did a mediocre job at this time around. Though the defense did not allow much passing game, the run game was definitely a source of trouble for the Wildcat defense yet again, allowing over 200 yards rushing in comparison to the Wildcats’ abysmal 59.  With no turnovers to look to for hope, the only improvement I could see from last week was no real allowance of the deep ball, not really a tactic used by this run-heavy Eagle offense, but a source of hope for a secondary that has been struggling all season.

Special teams was fairly solid on the kicking end, with Reyes making the sole field goal he was tasked with and getting great yardage on punts- averaging 46.2 yards per punt. However, the success of the special teams ends there- with multiple bad decisions when the Wildcats were receiving punts, with players running sideways and failing to juke instead of powering through for positive yardage. A muffed punt almost led to disaster at one point in the game, and though recovered, was a dark blemish on this special team performance.
Next week the Wildcats play 2-4 Cy Lakes at Cy-Fair FCU stadium, hoping to get a win after losing to the last-ranked school in district 17-6A.