Four years ago, the Wright City football team was struggling, with only one win and eight losses. Going into senior night, Head Coach Tyler Rickard challenged the entire team, specifically the freshmen, with one task: invest in the program.

On that day, Rickard told them a quote that would stick with them, “The grass is greener where you grow it.”

Over the course of the next three seasons, those same freshmen went on to accomplish a feat that had never happened in the history of the program. The Wildcats won at least five games in each of the past three seasons.

While Wright City’s district run did come to an end on Nov. 8 after a 49-42 loss against Moberly in the Class 3, District 3 semifinal game, Rickard is proud to see the work those freshmen put in over the course of three years.

“After the game [on Friday] as hard as it was, I said look around, the grass is a whole lot greener because of your 11 seniors,” Rickard said. “I’m just so proud of them for their investment and their belief in what we were trying to get.”

Rickard noted the seniors invested in the next group of players and instilled that mindset in them.

“They didn’t look down at them and looked at them as an equal and important piece to this program,” Rickard said. “They wanted to encourage them and build them up because they wanted that to be a part of their legacy.”

The Wildcats ended their season with a 5-6 record, two shutouts and a first round district win. Rickard noted that what made this team unique was their selflessness.

“Not to say that any other team wasn’t selfless, but I just felt that this group was very selfless and they just wanted to win. It wasn’t about who was scoring or who was catching the ball, throwing the ball, running the ball, making the tackles, they just wanted to win,” Rickard said.

Rickard also touted the Wildcats’ growth. Coming into the season, they knew they were a run team. However throughout the season, the team saw major growth in their passing game despite having a first year varsity quarterback.

During his first year on varsity, Dayton Humphreys threw 832 passing yards and seven touchdowns. He also touted Kaleb McCory for his accuracy during special teams, noting his nine touchbacks. On the defensive side, Rickard praised the defense for their growth after having lost key players from the year before.

“We just saw a lot of growth from our guys that hadn’t had a ton of varsity time and that’s what you want to see,” Rickard said.

After digesting the loss, Rickard said it’s easy to look back and wish you could redo some plays or games, but that’s not possible, so instead you have to look at it differently.

“I say it all the time, but I’m just proud of our kids. We dealt with a lot of ups and downs, injuries, bad breaks, but as they showed in that last game and as they showed it throughout the year, they don’t ever give up. They keep fighting until the very last whistle,” Rickard said. “That comes from our seniors and they have that mentality that we’re always going to keep pushing and we’re never out of it until the final whistle.”

This is the second time in the last three years the Wildcats have made it to a district semifinal. Now, they want to take the next step and get to Week 12.

Rickard noted districts change every year, but that does not matter.

“That will be our push this off season. We want to put next year’s team in a position to play for that district championship,” Rickard said.