Through two weeks of the season, Wright City senior wide receiver TJ Hamel is exactly one yard behind his production for the entire 2025 season.
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One yard.
Through two weeks of the season, Wright City senior wide receiver TJ Hamel is exactly one yard behind his production for the entire 2025 season.
Stepping into the role of a featured receiver, Hamel has shined for the Wildcats (0-2) with 186 receiving yards, an average of 20.7 yards per catch, and one of the team’s two touchdowns on an 81-yard scoring reception as he caught a pass from junior quarterback Kayden McCurdy and proceeded to streak down the right side of the field in the team’s 34-7 loss to Westminster last Friday.
“This feels so great, better than it did last year,” Hamel said. “I already have almost as many yards as I did last season, and (as many) touchdowns. We’re only going to get better, over time, as a team. We will (be successful).”
For his part, McCurdy said that he really likes the bond he’s forged with Hamel.
McCurdy knows, he said, that when the ball is up in the air, there are few out there in opposing secondaries who will come down with the ball before his senior.
“We have a great connection; if I throw the ball to him, I don’t have to worry about it. I know he's catching it,” McCurdy said. “I don’t have to worry about him dropping it.”
And once he caught it?
“I knew there isn’t anybody around here catching him,” McCurdy added. “I knew he was gone.”
For Wildcats Coach John Klekamp, the strong start from Hamel is just a preview of even better things to come.
After all, when the team has its full complement of offensive weapons for McCurdy to spread that ball around to, everyone will get the chance to feast.
“We always felt like TJ could make more plays than he did a year ago,” Klekamp said. “We’ve just got to get him more opportunities. Kaveon (Schulte) was out (against Westminster). If you put Kaveon on one side and then TJ on the other, and you’ve got John Cole who can go over the middle, we really feel like we have something there. Our running back, Benji Rodriguez, is dynamite, too. If we get all those things going at the same time, we feel really good.”
Statistically, in the Westminster loss, McCurdy completed 10 passes for 138 yards and the one score, as Hamel hauled in five of those for 108 yards while Cole added four catches for 28 yards.
On defense, Wright City was led by Rodriguez’s 10 total tackles with two team sacks, led by one from Jayden Henke while Kevin Miller and Zamarion Rawlinson each recorded half a sack.
Up next, Wright City will travel to Eastern Missouri Conference foe Bowling Green (1-1) for a 7 p.m. kickoff tomorrow (Friday).
Last season, Wright City defeated Bowling Green 34-8 at home to snap a four-game losing streak to the Bobcats.
“Their coach is going to have them ready to play,” Klekamp said. “Our game was a big game for them last year. It was a surprise for them. They looked good in their first game, for sure. We’re going to have to be ready to roll.”
