Wildcat comeback falls short vs Raymond Central
It was the first home game of the year for the St. Paul Wildcats Friday night as the Cats looked to shake off a 37-14 loss to Kearney Catholic as St. Paul welcomed in Raymond Central to Wildcat Country.
The Cats couldnt ask for a better start as they forced a 3 and out on their opening possesion on defense. The Cats had great field position and capitalized on an Alex Meinecke 25 yard run. The Drive stalled out briefly as a bad snap on a 30 yard field goal attempt turned into a positive as kicker Christian Lemburg picked it up and completed a 19 yard strike to Jadyn Thomsen to setup a first and goal for the Wildcats. Meinecke finished the drive off with the 1 yard score to make it 7-0 following the PAT.
The ensuing kickoff the Wildcats forced a fumble deep in Mustang territory. Turning lemons into lemonade the Cats strike again as Meinecke finds Zandyn Weller for a 15 yard score to make it 14-0. Before the first quarter was finished the Cats pounced again forcing another turnover at midfield. the Cats were setup again in prime real estate driving down the field. Weller capped off the drive with a 1 yard run to make it 20-0 after a missed PAT.
Raymond Central found life in the 2nd as Quarterback Wyatt Jelinek broke off a 16 yard run evading 5 Wildcat defenders that sparked Tysen Tayler to find the endzone to go into halftime 20-7 St. Paul.
The Cats received the 2nd half kickoff and ran off about 7 and a half minutes of clock before giving it back to the Mustangs. Central would cut the deficit to 6 as Jelinek scored from 1 yard out to make it 20-14. St. Paul missed a 30 yard field goal to the right.
The 4th quarter was defined by special teams as Raymond Central tied the game with a 1 yard run by Tayler. The PAT was botched but the Mustangs were able to capitlize on a botched snap and turn it into a 2 point conversion to make it 22-20. Jelinek found the endzone 1 final time with 3:54 left. With the game in the balance another botched snap saw RC tried to seal the game with a 2 point conversion was halted by Carter Hawley.
The Cats found life when Hawley busted off a 20 yard run and drew a personal foul from the Mustangs to setup the Cats with great field position. The Cats got to the one on a completion to Jadyn Thomsen. The Cats ran 3 straight draws and couldnt find the endzone. The Cats on 4th and goal with :23 seconds left found Zandyn Weller all alone on the right size of the field to cut the game to 2 setting up the 2 point play to try and force overtime.
The 2 point play saw Meinecke roll to his left to have his pass deflected looking for Weller one final time. The Cats couldnt recover the onside kick as Raymond Central kneeled their way to a 2-0 start while the Cats fall to 0-2.
Christian Lemburg snagged the Dugout Grill Dang Good Play of the Game with the botched field goal into setting up the Cat's first Score.
Meinecke earned Runza Player of the Game with his 3 Touchdown effort.
The Cats will travel to C1 Broken Bow next week where one of the 2 teams will crack the win column for the first time as Bow fell short against Ogallala 18-7.