The Marcus Whitman Wildcats came to town on a beautiful Sunday morning to take their turn at handing the HFL Youth Cougar Football C-Team their first loss of the season. After taking the opening kickoff from the Cougars, the Wildcats failed to get a first down when the staunch Cougar D proclaimed … NO FIRST DOWN FOR YOU! Taking over on downs at their own 45, the offense quickly went to work taking the lead. On the 4th play from scrimmage, Quarterback Matt Meacham tossed a 20 yard go route to Aaron Fasick, who got behind the defenders and took the ball another 31 yards untouched for a 51 yard scoring play. After an unsuccessful extra point attempt, the Cougars led 6 to 0. That lead, however, only lasted  one play, as the Wildcats answered with a 67 yard TD run on their next possession,. They added the extra point to take a 7 to 6 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter started with the HFL Offense eating up chunks of yardage on the ground with nice runs by Drew Angelo, Landon Hammond, and Meacham. The Cougars finished the drive by going to the air again with a 10 yard TD strike from Meacham to Angelo.  Luke Weiler tacked on the extra point through a big hole made by the offensive line to put the Young Cougars up 13 to 7. Big tackles on the next Wildcat possession by Fasick, James Zona, and Kaleb Snyder gave the ball right back to the HFL Offense. Another pass to Hammond over the middle was followed up by an exciting 10 yard touchdown run by Conor Finn that put the Cougars up 19 to 7. The extra point was converted on a QB keeper around the left side by Meacham, who reached for the goal-line, and put the Cougars on top 20-7. Big tackles before the half by Giovanni D’Anna and Garret Moon kept the score at half-time HFL 20, Marcus Whitman 6.

The start of the second half looked just like the start of the first. The Cougars took the second half kickoff at the Marcus Whitman 39 yard line and aired it out again on the first play as Meacham hit Fasick for his 2nd score of the game and the 3rd HFL touchdown through the air! The extra point was no good, but HFL was now up 26 to 7 with only a few seconds gone in the second half. HFL looked to be cruising to its 4th win as Luke Weiler recovered the ensuing on-sides kick and big runs of 21 yards by Angelo and 25 by Hammond took the ball to first and Goal at the 1 yard line.  A huge hit on the next run by Marcus Whitman jarred the ball loose and the Wildcats recovered on the 2 yard line … the HFL defense was none too happy and decide to take things into their own hands. Not yielding even an inch on big hits by Hammond, Fasick, and Austyn Crego, the 4th play from the 1 yard line was blown up deep in the Wildcats end-zone for a safety by Landon ‘the Hammer” Hammond … HFL 28, Marcus Whitman 7! All seemed well for the Cougars as they would be getting the ball to their potent Offense again with excellent field position following the free-kick from the 20 yard line. For the first time in the game, 3 penalties and 2 sacks turned over the ball on downs in HFL territory. Three plays later, the Wildcats scored to close the gap to 28 – 13. The Wildcats had nothing to lose so they went to the on-sides kick late in the 3rd quarter and recovered it to take over as the 4th quarter begun. Only 3 plays later, the Wildcats scored AGAIN on a long run and the score was now, following an incomplete extra point attempt picked off by Hammond, Marcus Whitman 19, HFL 28. Figuring that all was lost with only a few minutes left in the game, the Wildcats attempt ANOTHER on-sides kick … and a fluky bounce off an HFL player gave them the ball back on their own 45 yard line … 1st and 10! The Wildcats drove the ball down the field, but the tough HFL Defense would not yield anymore big scoring plays. Liam Wise, Cooper Levine, D’Anna, Crego, Hammond, Fasick, Snyder, Meacham, and Zona all had big tackles on the ground to keep the Wildcats out of the end-zone. On 4th and Goal from the 10 yard-line and only a few seconds left on the clock, the Marcus Whitman quarterback launched a desperation pass into the HFL secondary and Matt Meacham picked it off in stride and raced 93 yards down the right sideline as time expired to crush any hopes of a Wildcat miracle comeback. The HFL Youth Cougar C-Team remained undefeated by beating the visiting Wildcats of Marcus Whitman, 34 to 19. The boys will start a 2-game road trip as they square off next week against the Midlakes Jr. Eagles.