WRIGHT CITY – Jeremy Cundiff got the Wildcats going from the get-go.

With the football program’s first-ever conference title at stake and an amped up full-house on hand for Homecoming, Cundiff returned the opening kickoff 65 yards for a touchdown that set the tone for a historic night as Wright City shellacked Mark Twain 40-0 in last Friday’s regular season and EMO finale.

“I saw an open hole and took it,” said the senior receiver/defensive back, who also took some pressure off his teammates by scoring on the game’s first play.

“The great thing about Jeremy’s touchdown is that it made everyone a little more relaxed and less tense, which is exactly what we needed,” Wright City Coach Jeff Sargent said.

A cool, calm and collected Wildcats squad seemed to do no wrong – producing their best offensive performance of the season (500 yards, five TDs), their third shutout on defense (the most since 2006) and, of course, securing a share of the Eastern Missouri Conference championship, which was split with Montgomery County and North Callaway.

All three teams finished 6-1 in league play. Wright City beat North Callaway, North Callaway beat Montgomery County and Montgomery County beat Wright City.

“It’s pretty special,” Sargent said. “Knowing that this is the first conference title Wright City football has ever had, that means something. We had high expectations and the kids came together and bought into the program. Hopefully we can continue on that.”

So what’s different about this Wright City group? How did they accomplish something no previous team had?

Cundiff pointed to chemistry.

“Honestly, I think it’s because of how well we bond together and how close we are,” he said. “Our whole senior group, we just play for each other. We don’t care about stats. We just want to get the win.”

The ‘Cats may not care about them, but their stats looked pretty good against the Tigers.

Sophomore quarterback Hayden Beck completed 19-of-32 pass attempts for 259 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. He also had 23 rushing yards on three carries.

Junior running back Branden Contrares had a game-high 170 rushing yards on 15 carries with two TDs, including a 24-yarder to increase the lead to 14-0 in the first after Brennan Logan connected with Timmy Daniels on a successful two-point conversion.

Senior Will Janowski hit the 100-yard plateau from scrimmage for the fourth time this year, hauling in seven catches for 105 yards, while adding a 14-yard rushing touchdown.

Senior Dillon Seabuagh, who scored the game-winning touchdown in the final minute of Week 8’s 34-29 triumph at South Callaway, had eight catches for 68 yards and two TDs against Twain. His 38-yard end zone trip in the third quarter was the last score of the game and the paved the way for a running clock in the fourth.

Cundiff added six catches for 59 yards and Dalton Wiser gained 18 rushing yards on three carries

“We have a lot of weapons and we’ve been utilizing them better,” Sargent said. “Hayden is doing a great job of distributing the ball where it needs to go. He’s making the smart play and not trying to do too much.”

Wright City was four-for-six on fourth down, while Mark Twain was 0-for-eight on third and fourth downs. The ‘Cats forced five turnovers on defense and limited the Tigers to 75 offensive yards.

Senior linebackers Shane Vehige and John Burke totaled seven tackles apiece. Drake Myers had six and Xavier Caffey notched five takedowns and a sack.

JJ McRoberts had two interceptions to go along with three tackles.

George Pezold and Austin Dorman added three tackles each and Djuane Le-Noir had two tackles and his first pick off of the campaign.

Wright City went undefeated at home in the regular season en route to a 7-2 overall record, while Mark Twain fell to 3-6.

BRING ON THE BULLDOGS

While the Wildcats will play a home game in their Class 3 District 4 opener, Sargent wasn’t exactly thrilled with how the final standings unfolded.

Wright City is the No. 4 seed and hosts No. 5 Mexico (4-5) this Friday (Nov.1) at 7 p.m.

Moberly finished the regular season with one less win than Wright City but received a better seed due to strength of schedule.

“Was I disappointed that we were one of three 7-2 teams and a 6-3 team was ahead of us? Yeah, I was disappointed in that,” Sargent said. “It’s kind of a slap in the face to our conference and says that the EMO isn’t strong. It’s frustrating, but that’s the way it went. Mexico’s a good team and we have to be ready to get the job done this Friday.”

The Bulldogs of the North Central Missouri Conference rely heavily on junior running back Dante Billings, who’s scored double digit TDs this season and racked up 134 yards on 24 carries in a 35-23 loss at Moberly last week.

“We’ll reset ourselves as we go into Week 10,” Bulldogs Coach Steve Haag said to the Mexico Ledger after the Moberly setback. “I believe we’ll come out and give (Wright City) a good ball game.”

Wright City has only played Mexico twice in program history, during Week 1 in the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Mexico won the first matchup 40-0 and Wright City the second 32-18.

Friday night is different though. This is the postseason.

“We expect (Mexico) to run the ball, run the ball and run the ball,” Sargent said. “Their offense is kind of similar to South Callaway’s so we have to be careful because South Callaway did give us some fits.

“Defensively, Mexico relies heavily on its D-line. If they don’t get off their blocks they have a tendency to give up some chunk runs so that could put us in a position to do some good things offensively.”

The Wright City/Mexico winner advances to play the victor between No. 1 St. Charles West (7-2) and No. 8 Winfield (1-8) in next week’s quarterfinals.

In the other Class 3 District 4 games, No. 7 Orchard Farm (2-7) visits No. 2 Lutheran St. Charles (7-2) and No. 3 Moberly (6-3) hosts No. 6 Fulton (3-6).