Andrews –The Wildcats’ varsity football team returned home for their first home game of the season against Mitchell on Friday night, falling 38-7.
Mitchell (2-1) took an early lead and scored 25 points in the first half. In the second half, Mitchell rushed in a touchdown to increase its lead to 31-0 after missing the extra point.
Neither team scored the remainder of the third quarter. Early in the fourth, Mitchell rushed in another touchdown and made the extra point to lead 38-0.
In the final minutes of the fourth quarter, Mitchell fumbled, Andrews’ LaDannien Rattler picked it up and returned it for a 92-yard fumble recovery touchdown. Wildcats kicker Myca Gibson drilled the ball through the uprights to make the game 38-7.
Rattler had nine carries for 34 yards on offense, along with the fumble recovery touchdown on defense. Brady McLelland was 1/4 for 27 yards in the air, and in the second half had 12 carries for 47 yards.
Will Phillips had four carries for 45 yards. Logan Shuler saw action on the ground and in the air, with two carries for three yards and one catch for 27 yards. O’Malley Salinas had two carries for two yards.
“Overall, I liked our effort. I think we’re getting there. We definitely have to come out faster and start faster, get off to a better start, both offensively and defensively,” Wildcats head coach Jason Johnson said.
“I think we showed some grit and kept fighting when things were not going well for us. Poor tackling and fumbling, and big plays, cost us … they capitalized on that, and you can’t do those things against good football teams, especially programs like Mitchell’s … they made us pay for it. We just couldn’t get going and get our feet up under us.”
Along with Rattler, Johnson said Will Phillips and Logan Shuler stood out Friday night.
“I think Will Phillips stood out when we moved him to quarterback. At halftime, we moved him to quarterback and moved Brady McLelland back to tailback, and that gave us a little spark with Kelby Waldroup out,” Johnson said.
“Of course, Logan Shuler stood out. He continues to get better each week. We just have to do a better job getting the ball in his hands.”
To prepare for next week’s matchup, Johnson said the Cats are going to show up and work hard.
“They show up everyday ready to work and learn. They’ve already been around [Monday] morning excited for practice and wanting to get started, get better, asking questions already on what we can do to get better,” he said.
“We’re just going to work on things we need to work on, then we’re going to focus our attention on what Anderson does. They have a lot of speed, so we’ll have to be sure tacklers out in space and make plays out in space against this team.”
Up next
The Wildcats will return home for their second consecutive home game Friday against the Cavaliers from Anderson, S.C.
The Cavaliers have started their season 0-2 with losses to Orangeburg-Wilkinson and Christ Church Episcopal, two Division AAA schools in South Carolina.
The team is a Christ-centered football program for public, private and homeschooled high school athletes