The Woodmore Wildcats Football team gained its first win in the SBC over Cardinal Stritch. The Wildcats took control of the game and won 40-16, and are now 1-3 on the season. The team had just over 400 yards and scored 6 touchdowns while Cardinal Stritch had only 165 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Head Coach of Woodmore Curtis Schlea was asked about the game and responded,”The players were very determined throughout the entire game. The energy, attitude, and physicalness was great. The team executed the game plan incredibly well and played very hard, I was extremely happy with their effort.” That game was quite an eventful one as it was the first time in Woodmore history the Wildcats put a running clock on another team since it became a rule in 2014.
The Wildcats were consistently able to drive the ball down field. Having only one third down, which was the very last play of the game. Sophomore Michael Seeger, the starting Varsity Quarterback, completed 2 of 2 passes for 112 yards and one passing touchdown, then rushed for 50 yards with a running touchdown. Brady Thatcher received one pass for a 59 yard touchdown as well as making four of five extra point attempts. The other pass recipient was Jesse Guiterrez who received the ball for a 53 yard gain. On the ground half back sophomore Landon Rich led in rushing yards with 11 carries for 128 yards and one touchdown. The full back Jack Caldwell had 10 carries for 81 yards and 3 touchdowns. “Everyone was working together as a team, did their job, and trusted their teammates.” said Seeger.
A key part to the Wildcat Offense is their aggressive offensive line, many of which are the team captains. The team captains are Senior Jack Caldwell, Senior Camden Knepper, Senior Will Watson, and Junior Izaiah Wilson. The Wildcats linemen are Senior Josh Crowell at left tackle, Sophomore Ryan Maynard at left guard, Senior Will Watson at center, Junior Izaiah Wilson at right guard, and Junior Karter Walper at right tackle. The line had a great game with holding Cardinal Stritch’s massive defensive front four that averaged 280-300 pounds across the board. The line handling was what allowed the Wildcats to rush for nearly 300 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
Defensively the Wildcats were very strong against Cardinal Stritch. Defensive Coach Aaron Strong said ”Everyone played great. They knew what to do, and their effort has been outstanding.” As a team they had six sacks and 14 hurries on the quarterback. Senior middle linebacker Jack Caldwell had 10 tackles and 3 sacks. Freshman middle linebacker Cole Potridge made 7 tackles, half a sack, as well as a forced fumble. The Wildcats defensive line had an excellent game constantly keeping the quarterback on his toes and making up almost all of the hurries on the quarterback. Junior Izaiah Wilson alone had four hurries on the quarterback himself and Senior Brant Deal had 1.5 sacks on the quarterback. In addition to the great pass rushing, the line shut down Stritch’s ability to move the ball on the ground keeping them from scoring any touchdowns on the ground.
That game was a huge win for the Wildcats after losing the previous week to Montpelier in a tight game with the final score being 9-7. Seeger was interviewed on the topic and replied, “That’s a game we shoulda had, we learned from it and improved a lot, just in one loss took what we learned and used it against Stritch,”. He then continued to say, “It was more of a mental thing, we were upset after the game, and everyone just got right back to work, got ready for next week.” The Wildcats got right back to work all week at practice. This was a game the team has been waiting for since the two teams were eyeing each other before the season even started in a pre-season 7 on 7 competing against another team that was not the Wildcats. Everyone was waiting for the game, it was being hyped up since the start of the school. Principal Nolan Wickard commented, “From my perspective, there was a lot of positive energy as we came back to school. The energy from the staff and students was great. The student section at the girls volleyball game was very upbeat and then on Friday we had a great pep rally and a great student section at the game Friday night. Of course, the football team was outstanding and took care of business on the field. There is a lot to be proud of about being a Woodmore Wildcat and I hope that same school spirit and that same energy we saw last week in the school, in the student section, and on the playing fields continues throughout the fall season!”
A huge congratulations to the Woodmore football team on their first win of the season, keep up the good work and goodluck!
