Things didn’t start so well for the Wright City football team on Thursday, but that changed quickly.

After giving up an onside kick recovery and a quick touchdown to visiting Principia, the Wildcats took firm control, rolling to the 47-22 win in the teams’ Class 3 District 3 quarterfinal at America’s Heartland Stadium.

The win ended a brief two-game slide for the Wildcats (7-3) after losses to Montgomery County and North Callaway.

“We really had something to prove because the last two weeks we really got humbled,” senior quarterback Dayton Humphreys said. “I really think we did well in all phases of the game tonight.”

Down by six, Wright City ripped off five straight first-half scores to blow the game open.

A 10-yard run by sophomore Kayden McCurdy on the ensuing drive gave the Wildcats a lead the team wouldn’t relinquish.

After the game went to the second quarter with the Wildcats up 7-6, Wright City caught lightning in a bottle, scoring 21 points in a tidy 2:26.

The scoring run began at 9:31 in the quarter on a 25-yard scoring strike from Humphreys to junior TJ Hamel.

“Dayton did really well getting the ball just to where the receivers needed it to be tonight,” Hamel said.

Humphreys 10-yard run saw the clock stop at 7:23.

The offensive blitzkrieg finished when a 35-yard interception return for a score by senior Quinn Schnarre turned the 1-point game into a 28-6 lead with 7:05 left in the quarter.

“Our team was put in that predicament to start, but we just stepped it up,” Schnarre said. “To score 21 points in two minutes had everyone hyped.”

For good measure to close out the half, Humphreys found senior Lavarious Green on a 52-yard strike with 23.6 seconds left in the half to make the score 34-6, Wildcats.

Wright City picked up where it left off after halftime as Humphreys found sophomore Kaveon Schulte on a 30-yard connection to make it 41-6 before Principia responded with a pair of scoring drives to make it 41-22.

A McCurdy 3-yard run with 7:53 to play rounded out the scoring.

Principia, a co-op team with Whitfield, finished its season at 4-5 after dropping the first-ever meeting between the teams.

The win is the Wildcats' third district opening victory in the past four years. Previously, the team defeated Duchesne to open the playoffs last season and did the same against Normandy to kick off the 2022 postseason.

With the win, Wright City will advance to the district semifinals, where top-seeded Borgia (5-4) awaits for a game in Washington, Mo.

“Borgia is a perennial power,” coach Tyler Rickard said. “We’re going to have to be ready because we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”

The game is tentatively scheduled for next Friday and, just as with Principia, it will be the first-ever meeting between the programs.