On Saturday, the Cy Woods Wildcats (now 4-5) were defeated by the Cy Ranch Mustangs (now 7-2) in an epic final season game. Cy Woods pulled ahead of Cy Ranch early in the game with a 99-yard touchdown on the first play and maintained their lead during the first half to end it at 10-7. But, the Mustangs came back to wrestle with the Wildcats for the lead and eventually coming out on top after a touchdown in the final minutes to bring the score to 21-17. The Wildcats attempted to stage a comeback but were denied by the Mustangs in the final seconds to win the game. Even though this was the final game, there are some big takeaways from it.

The Wildcat defense struggled with securing their tackles and often would let the Mustangs gain precious yardage, especially late in the game. Cy Woods had several opportunities to inflict some serious damage on Cy Ranch’s offensive drive, but they failed to take full advantage of it and allowed Cy Ranch to easily recover. At one point, Cy Ranch was under the threat of losing up to five yards due to a tackle in the backfield, but they managed to escape and run the ball 15 yards for a first down. Particularly in the third and fourth quarters, the Wildcats could not stop the Mustangs from pushing through for another few yards no matter how many defenders were trying to stop this. This allowed Cy Ranch to continue their momentum on drives and give them more opportunities to score in a comparatively low scoring game. The Wildcats need to work on securing their tackles in order that they may actually stop a run from progressing any further.

In addition, the Wildcat offense had major issues with diversifying their plays. The whole third quarter can be summed up offensively with just quarterback keepers, a handoff run up the middle and a short pass to be run on the outside. That was the majority of the offense’s plays in the second and third quarters. This proved disastrous for Cy Woods, specifically in the third quarter, because they failed to do much scoring and could not keep up with Cy Ranch once they took the lead. However, this has not been a big issue in recent games, and in the first quarter, which calls into question why this was an issue at this game. By not using a greater variety of plays, the offense was easily read by the Mustang defense, and they actively used this to their advantage to dismantle a drive. If the defense can predict what a play is going to be, the play is being used too much and too often, and the offense needs to make adjustments. Thus, the Wildcats need to diversify their offensive drives like they did in the first quarter and previous games.

Despite all of this, some major credit has to be given to the team as a whole. A pretty good chance of losing, a tough opponent and no chances of getting into playoffs are not exactly a recipe for success. In fact, it is the exact opposite. However, the Wildcats came into this game with the full intention of not going down without a fight. Cy Creek’s loss to Cy Falls last night officially doomed the Wildcats’ chances of making playoffs, but they refused to let this fact stop them from playing a good game and try to beat Cy Ranch. Going into this game, only bragging rights were on the table, yet Cy Woods ignored this and still came to win. Even though they lost, the Wildcats must be applauded for their effort despite losing their playoff chances already.

With this the final game of the regular season, no one wanted Cy Woods to end it on a sour note like this one, but the Wildcats put up a good fight. They may have lost the game and playoffs, but they have won in their own way. Going into this game and this season, Cy Woods was mostly counted out by many people, yet despite this, the Wildcats proved time and time again that they are on the rise. After two preceding seasons of hard losses, Cy Woods is finally coming around and, hopefully, is climbing back to the top. For more on the season as a whole, be on the lookout for the final season review this coming week along with photo highlights.