Wright City bounced back last week from a string of tough losses, beating Mark Twain at home to improve to 2-2 overall.

“It’s always the goal to get above .500, and step one is getting there in the first place,” Wright City Head Coach Jeff Sargent said about his team’s 41-21 win. “We had a tough, tough loss at Southern Boone (week two) and it definitely carried over to the next week. It took the kids time to get past that game. We lost the game in a minute-and-a-half, so it was tough.”

After their 31-28 loss to Southern Boone, the Wildcats were beaten by South Callaway, 48-6, on the road.

The offense returned to form against Mark Twain.

Senior quarterback Sean McDonald completed 12 of 18 passes for 263 yards and four touchdowns; senior wide receiver Devon Holmes caught eight passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns; and junior Jayden Mahaney led the way with 10 carries, 124 rushing yards and one touchdown.

“I was very pleased with Jayden’s performance,” Sargent said. “He’s as fast as he wants to be, and it showed with that 71-yard touchdown run that got called back. He can fly, and he is understanding things. I told him during the offseason that I wanted him to run the ball more, and he’s taken that to heart and is doing a really good job so far at running back.”

Defensively, Mahaney joined senior Joe Phillips with one sack while finishing with six tackles.

Friday’s game also was an opportunity for freshman Branden Contreras to showcase his talents.

The running back entered the game in the second half and tallied 82 yards on 10 carries, as well as a touchdown.

“Brandon Contreras had a great game and he’s going to be a phenomenal player, I can already see that,” Sargent said. “He didn’t even get into the game until the second half, and in one half he had 82 yards. I’m very excited to see what Brandon and Jayden have for us this week.”

The running back duo will face off with a 3-1 Van-Far team that is coming off a 43-38 loss at Bowling Green.

“I don’t know if they can match up with our speed, but I do know they have a lot of athletes and they’re starting to get healthy,” Sargent said. “That makes things nerve-wrecking for me because it was a close game last year. It depends on what we do this week in practice.”