Headed into the season, Wright City senior quarterback Dayton Humphreys and new senior wideout Nate Turner knew they’d have to be on the same page to help the Wildcats succeed.

That’s why, as early as last spring, the duo would grab a football and practice running routes and working on their on-field connection.

Fast forward six months, and the Humphreys-to-Turner pairing is helping Wright City (4-1), their teammates and Wildcats coach Tyler Rickard excel.

“These guys were out there, anywhere they could find in Wright City, throwing the ball around,” Rickard said. “They really developed a connection.”

That bond helped the team get off to a strong start in its 41-20 win at Mark Twain on Sept. 26. A pair of first-half connections between the twosome resulted in touchdowns, and the Wildcats (4-1 overall, 3-0 EMO) never looked back.

The scores came from 35 and 16 yards, with 5 minutes and then again with 40 seconds left, respectively, in the quarter to put Wright City up 14.

“Nate is such a talented receiver,” Humphreys said. “I know I can (throw it up field), and he’s going to be the guy who comes down with it for us. We went out and worked together (to build trust). There are a lot of talented guys on this team, and Nate is definitely a very talented receiver.”

While Humphreys heaped praise on his wideout, Turner was quick to return the favor.

“My QB, in a word, is a leader,” Turner said. “He works hard to put guys in the right position to succeed, and that makes the team successful. I know when he puts the ball up there, it’s going to be one that I’m the guy with the best opportunity to come down with it, every time.”

Through just over three games this season, Humphreys has 342 passing yards and six scores. Of those, Turner accounts for 207 receiving yards and five scores.

While the Humphreys-to-Turner connection kick-started the Wildcats on Sept. 26, the ground game and some lightning-fast scoring helped secure the win.

After Mark Twain (1-4, 0-2) cut into the two-score lead, the Wright City rushing attack went to work.

Sophomore Kayden McCurdy found paydirt with 4:44 left in the second quarter from 10 yards out before junior back Benji Rodriguez ran it in from 25 yards with 45.4 seconds left in the half to send the game to intermission with a 28-8 score in Wright City’s favor.

“It’s great to have both of us out there doing well,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a great back and I think things went really well for us tonight and I expect them to keep going well in the future.”

Mark Twain scored midway through the fourth to make the score 28-14, but from there, Wright City’s quick-strike offense went to work.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Humphreys took the snap and ran it 61 yards to the end zone to make it 34-14 with 7:19 left. In total, Humphrey’s 129 rushing yards combined well with Rodriguez’s 118 yards.

To back up the ground game, Turner’s 51 yards led the receiving corps.

After senior linebacker Kaiden Pilcher recovered the ensuing kickoff at the Mark Twain 5, Rodriguez scampered into the end zone on the first play of the drive, just seven seconds after Humphrey’s run, to make it 41-14 after the extra point.

A 4-yard run in the waning minutes pulled Mark Twain closer, but it was to no avail.

Defensively, Wright City recorded 10 tackles for loss, three fumble recoveries (Pilcher, junior cornerback Kayden Speiser and sophomore defensive end Johnathon Cole), and a pair of sacks (Cole and senior linebacker Grant Lehmen).

Rickard added that, amongst the bevy of accolades the defense earned on Sept. 26, one might just have been a program best.

The coach said that senior linebacker Quinn Schnarre’s 15 solo tackles are either a Wright City single-game record or are very close to the top mark.

The win marks the fourth straight over Mark Twain to tie the all-time series at six between the EMO rivals.

Up next, Wright City will return home to America’s Heartland Stadium for a 7 p.m Friday kickoff. South Shelby (1-4) will oppose the Wildcats for the teams’ first-ever meeting.

The team’s slow start shouldn’t fool anyone, Rickard said, as the Cardinals advanced to the Class 2 state semifinals in 2024.

“They’re a very good team that we’re going to have to be ready to go against,” Rickard said. “They’ve been very successful, and they have a great quarterback. This isn’t a team we can take lightly.”