Following four consecutive setbacks, the Wright City football team finally pieced together a dominant victory in Week Eight, returning to .500 at 4-4.

The Wildcats road trip to Louisiana resulted in a 55-20 triumph thanks to efficient execution of an offense that had been stifled since a Week Three win over Winfield.

“Hopefully it gives us confidence, because there’s no rhyme or reason we should have lost those four games,” said Coach Jeff Sargent. “We either weren’t prepared or didn’t have the matchups given the circumstances we were put in with quarantined athletes.”

Wright City put up 607 yards of total offense, guided by junior quarterback Hayden Beck, who completed 12 of 14 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns. He connected with four different receivers, finding junior Jake Smith on six occasions. Smith finished with 161 yards, igniting the Wildcats’ scoring.

“We finally got the ball in the playmakers hands in space,” said Sargent. “We’ve been trying to do that all year, and it finally worked out for us.”

Wright City overcame a slow start that included penalties on its first two plays. Beck was able to scramble and salvage a play by connecting with Smith on a 60-yard touchdown toss. It was the spark the Wildcats needed to deliver a dominant performance, with two players trading trips to the end zone. Sophomore running back Jeremiah Davis crossed the goal line four times, finishing 180 yards on just 12 carries.

“We have not been able to get Jeremiah going consistently, because he’s so valuable on defense,” said Sargent. “With Jake, we’ve had him just concentrate on offense. He’s been struggling with ankle injuries the past few weeks. He sat out a couple series this week, but that didn’t prevent him from having a huge impact.”

Sargent says the Wildcats’ success through the air was a by-product of their ability to run the ball effectively.

“If we can get four to five yards up the middle per carry and press the edge, that’s when our big explosive plays happen,” said Sargent. “Things really begin to open up for us.”

Wright City was able to impose its will in the trenches, creating running opportunities for Davis and the seven other Wildcats who ran the ball. Freshman Denzel Dowdy added 23 yards on eight carries.

“We controlled the line of scrimmage,” said Sargent. “You can definitely tell doing that changes the whole outcome of the game. When we control the line of scrimmage, we’re an entirely different team.”

Louisiana was able to score right before halftime and added another pair of touchdowns late in the game. Sargent was thankful to be able to employ reserve players near the end of the contest. Among those was backup quarterback Joey Gendron, who completed all four of his passes.

“The whole fourth quarter it was nice, because we were able to get almost our whole junior varsity team in,” said Sargent. “We were able to score a touchdown with them too, which is great for confidence moving into the future.”

Defensively, the Wildcats were led by Beck with 14 tackles and senior Drake Meyers with 12 takedowns. Four different Wright City players recorded one sack a piece.

The Wildcats will host South Callaway this Friday during their Homecoming matchup at 7 p.m.