The Wright City football team continues to inch toward a complete football game – the Wildcats just aren’t there yet.
Playing at Louisiana, Wright City had a nice first half before falling to the Bulldogs 41-27.
Still, there were plenty of positives, Coach John Klekamp said.
“We played better,” Klekamp said. “Our margin for error is so small at times but this was definitely our best effort.
Wright City (0-4) will look to continue its positive upswing when the team returns home to host EMO Conference brethren Mark Twain (1-3) at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Against Louisiana (4-0), Wright City started strong.
The team jumped to 6-0 and 13-3 leads. The first score came on a Benji Rodriguez 25-yard scoring run and the second was on a 65-yard strike from Kayden McCurdy to Kaveon Schulte.
The Bulldogs closed the gap to 13-10 before the half and added two early second-half scores to make it 24-13 before Rodriguez and Wright City closed the gap.
His 5-yard scoring run with 5 minutes, 32 seconds left in the third made it 24-19.
He added a 6-yard scoring run in the final minute of the third quarter and, after a 2-point conversion, Wright City trailed 31-27.
A run of 10 straight Louisiana points in the fourth closed out the scoring, however.
The coach said the Wildcats are ready to play at home in front of their fans, something the team hasn’t done since Week 2.
“We’re in a stretch of games now where we’ll have the opportunity to gain both confidence and momentum,” Klekamp said. “We have upperclassmen that are playing well at times, but we have to work to consistently execute and hopefully get closer to game shape.”
The coach added that a preliminary forecast of a high temperature of 77 degrees can only bode well for the Wildcats. Especially since each game so far this season has been played in weather conditions very close to triple digits.
“The heat has really hurt our conditioning and practice time,” Klekamp said. “(We’re) hoping that more fall weather this week and coming home is the recipe for a good night of football for us.”
