It was same old same old for football on Friday night. The team had another opportunity to get their first win of the season against 0-5 B-CC. But, once again, the team could not maintain focus for the whole 48 minutes and could not step up under pressure when the game hung in the balance.
The Wildcats came out flat against the Barons making multiple costly mistakes. Junior quarterback Cole Ahnell threw an interception early in the game, and the Barons scored a touchdown on the very next play. Then, after an unsuccessful and brief WJ drive, B-CC returned a WJ punt all the way back to the end zone. With roughly seven minutes left in the first quarter, WJ had already dug themselves a 14-point hole.
WJ tried to respond, getting the ball into the redzone at the end of the first quarter, but the team failed to gain a first down on fourth and two, the Cats turned it over on downs. WJ then got a boost from junior defensive back Zach Hazlett intercepted an errant pass over the middle. The Cats got the ball early in the second quarter, and tried to seize the opportunity punch back. But, despite a number of long, impressive runs, the Cats got nowhere after an equally astounding display of costly penalties. Junior running back Ryan Davis had a long touchdown run taken back for holding. On the next play, sophomore wide receiver Elad Covialiu had a 25-yard run brought back for another holding call. Then, the Barons got a sack, only to be followed by another big first-down run, this time by Ahnell, that was brought back for an illegal block in the back. After all of this, WJ ultimately moved backward, and was forced to punt.
After battling back and forth for the majority of the quarter without points, senior running back Michael Pitsenberger took a handoff from Ahnell, found his way through the hole, then bounced it to the outside, running all the way to the BCC 5-yard line. After being stopped on the first three downs, WJ was left with a fourth and goal on the BCC one, with three seconds to go in the half. Pitsenberger lined up under center as quarterback, took the snapped and forced his way over the pile, breaking the plane and scoring a touchdown. At halftime, the score may have been 14-7 B-CC, but the WJ crowd was feeling the momentum.
In the second half, B-CC came out firing. They connected on a long pass early in the third quarter, taking the ball all the way down to the WJ 5-yard line. But the Cats fought valiantly on the goalline, forcing B-CC to settle for a field goal. Yet, WJ was down more, with the score at 7-17.
WJ got the ball back, but the offense failed to get anything going, and was forced to punt.
As the team has done for most of the season, the defense stepped up when the team needed momentum. B-CC’s quarterback slung a pass over the middle that was complete for about 10 yarrds, but, just as the play looked over, junior linebacker Alex Schiponi stripped the ball from the receiver’s hands, forcing a fumble, and returned it for 40 yards.
On the resulting series, Ahnell was forced out of the pocket, rolled to his left and found a wide-open Davis in the corner of the end zone for the score. 14-17, WJ.
The defense then stepped up once again, forcing a punt on the next B-CC drive. WJ gained possession and moved the ball downfield to about the 20-yard line. Ahnell then dropped back to pass on third down and found senior wide receiver Alec Sterling open along the sideline. Ahnell threw a perfect pass, leading Sterling just enough to put him in position to make the catch. The pass however, just slipped through his hands. On the resulting fourth down, Ahnell was sacked, and B-CC got the ball again.
On the next play, B-CC connected for a long pass and drove down the field, scoring on a quarterback scramble into the end zone.
Just as the ball did to Sterling, the game just slipped away from there.
The defense struggled to make stops, and the offense struggled to move the chains. B-CC scored one more touchdown before the game ended at 30-14.
WJ’s next game is at home against Northwest, who is 1-4, on Oct. 16.
