The Wright City Wildcats were unable to hold onto a late lead in their loss to Louisiana High School last week. 

Wright City (4-5) fell to Louisiana 50-47. Wright City took a 33-28 lead into halftime and led 47-34 at the end of the third quarter. The Wildcats gave up 16 points in the fourth quarter and were held scoreless in the final quarter, allowing the Bulldogs to come back and win the game in the fourth quarter. 

“It was a close game for the most part,” Wright City football coach Tyler Rickard said. “They got up on us and then we were able to come back and take the lead going into halftime by five. We got up as much as 13 in the second half. But then they were able to come back in the fourth quarter.” 

Rickard thinks the time their defense spent on the field impacted Wright City late in the game. Louisiana ran 82 plays in the game, compared to Wright City’s 30 plays. Wright City gained 14 first downs in 30 offensive plays and averaged 16 yards per play over 28 plays. The Wildcats took a knee on two of their 30 plays. Rickard said the Wildcats were tired at the end of the game. He noted many Wildcat players play both offense and defense. 

“Our defense just played their hearts out,” Rickard said. “We got a stop on fourth down late in the fourth quarter. And then they got the ball back again and we fought and fought and fought, but we just couldn’t keep them out there at the end.”

The Wildcats found success offensively on the ground, with both Duan McRoberts and Jeremiah Davis rushing for over 100 yards and multiple touchdowns. McRoberts led the way with 217 yards rushing and five rushing touchdowns. Davis rushed for 164 yards and two touchdowns. Wright City rushed for 413 yards as a team. 

Rickard credited the offensive line for helping pave the way for the rushing success last week. He said the Wildcats knew heading into the game that they had an opportunity to be successful running the football. 

“We thought we had a good matchup up front with our offensive line,” Rickard said. “And so we came out and from the get-go were able to get the run going. Our offensive line played phenomenal. The backs will get the credit for the yards and for the touchdowns but it all stemmed from our offensive line creating the holes. They’re a big reason we ran for 413 yards.”

Quarterback Joey Gendron went 3-4 passing for 33 yards. Davis led the Wildcats with 29 yards receiving. 

Junior Devin Meyers led Wright City with eight tackles. Davis had six tackles. Carleon Jones had four tackles and 13 assists. 

Wright City will play in the first round of the Class 3, District 3 playoffs this weekend against Normandy Collaborative. The game will be played at 12 p.m. at Normandy Collaborative High School. 

Wildcats to travel to St. Louis for first round of district playoffs 

The Wright City Wildcats will travel to St. Louis this weekend to square off against Normandy Collaborative High School in the first round of the Class 3, District 3 tournament. 

Wright City (4-5) is seeded fifth in the district tournament. They will face Normandy Collaborative (5-4). The Vikings are seeded fourth in the district. 

The Vikings have won their past three games by an average of over 18 points. Prior to the winning streak, the Vikings had lost their previous four games. Normandy quarterback Jordan Robinson has thrown for over 1,300 this season for the Vikings. He has thrown 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Two Vikings running backs rushed for over 500 yards in the regular season. Marlo James rushed for 607 yards and one touchdown. Maury Sullivan rushed for 568 yards and nine touchdowns. Sullivan also caught 45 passes for 733 yards and nine touchdowns. 

“We’re going to see another team that wants to run the football,” Wright City football coach Tyler Rickard said. “Has a good, athletic quarterback. We’re going to have to be able to stop him. And so a lot of those things that we talked about today as we watched film from Friday are going to carry over to this week.” 

The Vikings also had a pair of defensive players reach double digits in sacks. Isaiah Davis and Malin Thompson both had 11 sacks this season. Sullivan recovered five fumbles for the Vikings. 

For the first time this season, the Wildcats will play on a Saturday. The game is slated for a 12 p.m. kickoff. Wright City played all nine regular season games on Friday nights. Rickard also noted the stakes will be higher in the win or go home playoff game. 

“We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can this week to put ourselves in position to play another week,” Rickard said. “And so you have that in the back of your head but you also don’t want to let that cloud your vision too much and put too much pressure on you. We just need to go play our game. We’re a talented ballclub. If we can just relax and play our game, I think we can give ourselves an opportunity to play again the following week.”

The Saturday game gave the Wildcats an extra day to focus on installation of the game plan specifically for Saturday’s game. They are also planning to have a team breakfast prior to leaving for the game to make sure the athletes are ready for the noon kickoff. 

“The noon kickoff is going to be unique for us,” Rickard said. “We’re going to bring the guys in Saturday morning. Our kitchen staff at the high school is going to come in and cook some pancakes for us. We’re going to get them some breakfast and try and get them up and moving plenty of time ahead of the game so that when we get there, we’re ready to go.”

After starting the season 4-1 and going on a four game winning streak, the Wildcats have lost their last four games. 

Offensively, the Wildcats are led by senior Jeremiah Davis and sophomore Duan McRoberts. McRoberts eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season. He rushed for 1,063 yards and 15 touchdowns. He had 90 yards receiving and one touchdown. He also threw for 181 yards. Davis had 361 yards receiving and two touchdowns. He rushed for 208 yards and two touchdowns. He also returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.