YATES CENTER — Take away several misadventures with their punting game, and Yates Center High was able to put up quite a fight against powerful Marais des Cygnes Valley High Friday night.
But the special teams errors were too much to overcome, Wildcat head coach Ben Wiehn said.
Marais des Cygnes ran back two punts for touchdowns, and had a third long run that wound up back at Yates Center’s original line of scrimmage. Another punt was blocked, while a fifth went awry when the ball was snapped over the punter’s head and rolled dead at the Wildcat 5.
The plays were crucial in Marais des Cygnes’ 64-16 win to drop the Wildcats to 3-3 on the season and 1-1 in district play.
“They’re a good team, and they have a lot of depth,” Wiehn said. “The punts led to 30 of their points. We just couldn’t overcome that.”
Still, Wiehn praised his team’s effort.
“We were able to hang with them for the most part,” he said. “They gouged us for a couple of big plays on play action. They have a good quarterback.”
Yates Center trailed 8-0 on a punt return for a touchdown when Caleb DeNoon scored for the Wildcats on a quarterback sneak to tie the score.
Austin McNett later added a four-yard run for Yates Center.
DeNoon rushed for 113 yards, threw for 43 more and had four tackles and an interception on defense. McNett rushed for 75 yards.
Robert Arnold had 33 yards receiving to go with six tackles and two sacks.
Yates Center travels to St. Paul next Friday to continue district play.
Special teams costly for Wildcats
