Chaos seems to follow the Wright City football team around, but the Wildcats continue to thrive in it. 

With their starting running back sidelined due to injury, a third-string quarterback taking snaps just a week earlier and a two-hour weather delay, the Wildcats have literally taken on what it means to go “into the storm.”  

After persistent weather delays forced the game to be called at halftime, Wright City secured its second Eastern Missouri Conference win of the season with a 27-14 victory over Louisiana on Sept. 18. 

“We wish we could have gone back out there for the second half and finished the game on a stronger note, but we’re excited we got to walk away with a win,” Wright City coach Tyler Rickard said. 

Even with the looming threat of storms, the Wildcats got moving on the ball quickly. After opening with a defensive stop, the Wildcats struck early with two first-quarter touchdowns to take control of the game.

As the game carried into the second quarter, the Wildcats’ made some changes offensively but were unable to get into a rhythm. 

“We kind of waned there a little bit in the second quarter,” Rickard said. “Defensively, they played really well. There were definitely moments that we did look like the team that played like last week (against Bowling Green) but we didn’t put it together for a whole two quarters.” 

Still, one of the defining moments came from the defense when a critical goal-line stand held off the Bulldogs. 

“That was tremendous. It was a huge momentum swing and we were able to complete a long pass on a third down to get out of the shadow of the end zone there,” Rickard said. “It’s good to see that even when they’re pinned against the goal line, they could still make a stop.” 

The defense accounted for 39 total tackles, including nine for loss and seven sacks. Quinn Schnarre led the charge with 10 tackles, while Grant Lehmen recorded three sacks. Ben Gomez recorded an interception and Evan Baum recovered a fumble.

“Our defense has been excellent all year,” Rickard said. 

With running back Benji Rodriguez out, Kayden McCurdy stepped up into the starting role alongside quarterback Dayton Humphreys, who made his return under center.

“They’re very competitive and they work well together. It’s obviously different than (Rodriguez) but they excel and do really well,” Rickard said. 

As Wright City gets deeper into conference play and currently remain undefeated at 2-0, Rickard will look to see how his team responds in a road game at Mark Twain Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. 

“You always get concerned when you go on a long road trip about how the guys are going to respond. It’ll be important this week that we stay focused on the task at hand and once we get there, that we bring the energy we need to be successful,” Rickard said. “We want to continue to march towards having a chance to play for that conference championship. Like I say every week, this game’s the most important game of the season because it’s the next one, so we just gotta go 1-0.” 

Also for the Wildcats, Nate Turner led with two receiving touchdowns and 88 receiving yards, Dayton Humphreys amassed for 175 total yards and one rushing touchdown and Schnarre had one touchdown. 

Wright City won its third straight game and is 3-1 overall.