YATES CENTER Despite having only 13 players suited up, the Yates Center Wildcats managed to hang around for a half against the Northeast Arma Vikings on Friday night, before untimely turnovers and exhaustion finally took its toll on the young squad.
Coach Ryan Pankos team trailed just 8-0 at the break and nearly scored on the last play of the second quarter, before the Vikings scored 28-unanswered points to snap a 30-game losing streak with a 36-0 win.
I dont know if we got tired or overrun there at the end, but we lost something in the second half. I think that was a more evenly match game than it showed. We just didnt execute, they won and they deserved it, Panko said. We just got to get better.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter, but the Vikings did manage to take advantage of a Wildcat turnover with :31.3 left to play as Cole Richard found Karter Dugan for a 7-yard touchdown pass.
It looked as though the Wildcats offense was going to get on track, when quarterback Sean Hurst hit Connor Griffith for a 40-yard pass play but the drive would soon stall out.
Later in the second, the Wildcats moved all the way to the Vikings 10-yard line but the drive ended in a turnover. Hurst threw a pass that hit the turf behind the line of scrimmage and the Vikings fell on the ball.
The Wildcats let another scoring chance fall out of its grasp just moments later.
Trent Burton sacked Richard for a huge loss back to the one-yard line. After calling two consecutive timeouts to stop the clock, YC took over on downs at the one with just 0:00.1 remaining. But Hurst could not get around the corner on the final play of the half.
YC had three scoring opportunities that could have changed the whole course of the game.
That is the key word for the game right there. Opportunities. We had them and we didnt take advantage, Panko said. We will have to try to stay healthy this week and see what we can do.
YC had 20 guys on the roster entering the season, but that was not the case on Friday night.
Two guys quit, so we are down to 18 now. Then we lost two starters for the year and we are dealing with some other injuries, Panko said.
One has to wonder if the team can make it through the year without having to forfeit some games to get healthy. The squad doesnt have enough players to scrimmage in practice and with nearly every player taking every snap, it puts the players at an added risk for injury.
We are hurting. We are hurting pretty bad, Panko said. Its a risk. A couple of them are little and undersized. It is certainly a risk. We have eight sophomores and freshmen starting for us. I am hoping that bodes well for the future. I am hoping we are building something and hoping they dont get burned out before the end. Its just tough.
Dugan went on to score two more touchdowns for the Vikings, while Jasper Atchison added a pair of scores as well. Atchison scored the games final points with a 20-yard scoring run with 3:39 remaining.
