The Wright City football team found itself outmatched most of the night during a 53-14 loss to Clopton on Friday. With an advantage in both size and experience, the Indian Hawks exploited their opponents’ weaknesses in the secondary, showcasing an extremely productive passing attack. “There’s some good teams in this conference, and we were one of those great teams last year,” said Weir. “We’ve just got to get back after it.” Wright City didn’t have an answer on most of its offensive drives, but matters were complicated when the team’s leading rusher was forced out of the game due to an injury. Junior Nick Hanff missed the entire second half, turning the offense over to an inexperienced cast. Coach James Weir says his team will need time to develop before contending with such a formidable opponent. “We’ll take our lumps,” said Weir. “You can’t lose 19 seniors and expect for there not to be some bumpy roads. Our kids worked hard, and that’s all I ask for, is their best effort.” Clopton wasted little time putting itself on the board, using the rushing attack to initiate its offense. Quarterback Scott Kroeger broke free on a 45-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter and scored again on a two-yard run on the ensuing drive to push the Indian Hawks ahead 14-0. Kroeger was perhaps more effective with his arm, throwing for 301 yards on 15 of 20 passing. He hooked up with Charles Fraction on a 22-yard touchdown strike to end the first quarter with Clopton in control 21-0. Wright City had opened the game with a promising drive that stalled on a failed fourth-down conversion on the 29-yard line. The Wildcats went three-and-out on their next two drives before freshman Allen Hoffman broke free on a 13-yard after replacing Hanff. “We’ve got to clean up the sloppy penalties that killed us on the first two drives that we were rolling right down the field on,” said Weir. “In the scheme of the overall final score it doesn’t mean much, but in the game it does. It takes time off the clock and puts in their mind that they might have to do a little more against.” Much of the running responsibility fell on junior Rico Blanks and Hoffman for the remainder of the game. Blanks managed to score on a 40-yard run midway through the second quarter, but Clopton was relentless with its passing attack. The Indian Hawks led 47-6 by halftime. Hoffman provided a spark in the second half, including returning a kickoff 75 yards on a play that called back as the result of the penalty. But life Hanff, he too was unable to finish the game. Hoffman suffered a back injury and was later airlifted from the facility. Blanks and Matt Dollard handled the bulk of the offensive responsibilities during the final two quarters. The Wildcats sustained a drive with six carries by Blanks and a 12-yard run by Jared Schmidt. Blanks scored on a three-yard run with 45 seconds remaining in the third period. “Rico did a great job running the ball,” said Weir. “I knew he could having rotated with Nick anyway. He just ended up carrying it more.” Blanks finished with a team-best 131 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. Hanff had 58 yards on four carries during limited action, while Hoffman rushed 20 yards on seven carries. Wright City was 0-for-3 passing the ball, with all 225 of their yards coming on the ground. “We had to switch in a couple people on the offensive line, because our center (Phil Janowski) got hurt,” said Weir. “That almost threw us off a little bit more than the running back deal. That line had worked together for six weeks now.” Freshman Aaron Dohrman led the Wildcats with six tackles, while Danny Malta and Schmidt each had four tackles. “We’re going to be fine,” said Weir. “We’ve got lots of kids that want to play. We’re going to get back to working on fundamentals.”