First-year Wright City quarterback Sean McDonald insisted his team’s expectations haven’t changed since the season began three weeks ago, despite an 0-3 start and 46-6 home conference loss to South Callaway Friday night

“I think we got a big head and came out thinking we would be really good,” McDonald said. “But there were a lot of mistakes, a lot of penalties. We didn’t always know what was going on, and those are easy things to fix. But we have to fix them. We have to get in that mentality where we play perfectly the entire game.”

After trailing Winfield by six at halftime of Week 1, the Wildcats have been outscored 112 to 28.

“We’re really trying to stay focused,” McDonald said, “no matter what the score is at the time.”

That hasn’t always been easy for the Wright City offensive line.

The Wildcats boast a number of offensive plays and formations, and Head Coach Jeff Sargent calls the plays from the sideline while trying to play at a quick pace.

Not only that, but Wright City’s best offensive option is junior wide receiver Devon Holmes, meaning the line needs to give McDonald and Holmes enough time to connect downfield.

“I’ve been trying to stay in the pocket as long as I can to get him time to get downfield, but it’s been tough because a lot of teams know we can’t handle pressure,” McDonald said. “So there has been a lot of pressure from the outside. I think it can get confusing for the offensive line at times and they can get confused on their blocking assignments. I want to help them out and  try to simplify things for them as much as I can.”

Junior running back Jaime Malta has impressed as of late, alleviating some of the pressure felt by McDonald, Holmes and the offensive line.

“He’s doing good,” McDonald said of Malta. “He had a bunch of rushing yards last week because I think he’s focusing on running up the field and less on juking. He’s just hitting the hole and pushing on through.”

Wright City travels to Mark Twain Friday in hopes of picking up its first win of the season.

The Wildcats are expected to roll McDonald out of the pocket more, as well as calling more play-action passes to keep the Mark Twain defense off-balance.

McDonald hopes to get more out of junior wide receiver Cameron Cole Friday too.

Cameron is doing great at practice and he is showing he can be a great receiver,” McDonald said. “I think he can translate that into the game, and that would be huge for us.”

Either way, the Wildcats are still hoping for another playoff run as the season enters its second trimester.

“The expectations have stayed the same since Day 1,” McDonald said.