Wildcats falter in second half

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The West Stokes Wildcats hosted the Bishop McGuinness Villains on Friday, October 31^st for Senior Night.  With a packed house on hand, the Wildcats allowed Bishop to score 19 fourth quarter points and win 33-32 on the last play of the game. 

The Wildcats started the game quick and scored two first quarter touchdowns.  The first by Casey Jackson on a fake field goal attempt and the second when the Cats capitalized on the Villains only turnover of the game and scored a touchdown from Jeremy Cuthrell. 

West added another touchdown mid-way through the third quarter on a 16-yard run by Cuthrell.  Leading 19-0, the Wildcats opted for an onside kick that didn't quite go the distance.  "We had already scored on our first three possessions and really felt like they couldn't stop our offense," stated Head Coach Jimmy Upchurch.  "I thought if we could get the ball and score again before half that would be to our advantage. Instead the ball didn't go 10-yards and to Bishop's credit that took advantage of good field position." 

Bishop drove the field and scored their first touchdown on a 5-yard run by Jared Pluciniczak and cut the Wildcats lead to 19-7 at the half.

The Wildcats opened the second half with a defensive stop that seen the Villains drive down to the Cats' 30-yard line and use over 5-minutes of the game clock.  West Stokes took control and drove 70-yards in 12-plays to take a 26-7 lead on Jackson's second touchdown reception from Austin Fleming with 2:31 left in the third quarter. 

Bishop took the next drive and went 65-yards on 6-plays and scored when Pluciniczak scored on a 9-yard run with 25-seconds left in the third.  Kevin Saxon added the extra point and the Villains had cut the Wildcat lead to 26-14. 

On the pursuing kickoff, the Villains opted for an onside kick that worked to perfection.  They were able to jump on the ball at the Wildcats' 33-yard line.  Almost 4-minutes later, Bishop scored on a fourth and one with a pass that caught the Wildcats' defense sleeping.  After the extra point, the lead had been trimmed to 26-21 with 9-minutes remaining in the game.

On the Wildcats next possession they looked to move the ball down field, but stalled on a 3^rd and 5 when a wide open pass was dropped by a West Stokes receiver.  After a punt by West, Bishop drove 80-yards and scored the go ahead touchdown on a 21-yard pass from Josh Rathburn to Thomas Lawler with 3:10 left in the game. 

Trailing 27-26, the Wildcats' offense looked to score for the fifth time in seven possessions.  Fleming completed three passes on the drive and ran for another 17-yards before being stopped 2-yards shy of the end zone.  Senior Matt Bennett ran the distance with 1:28 left in the game.  After a two-point conversion attempt failed, the Wildcats had regained the lead at 32-27. 

The Villains started their winning drive with 2-timeouts and from their 32-yard line.  After a long pass play that seen them get to the Wildcats' 17-yard line, they were able to run three more plays before the end of the game drama begin.  With 9.7 seconds left in the game, Pluciniczak looked to get in the end zone, but was stopped at the ½ yard line with what appeared to be no time left on the clock.  Players, coaches, and fans from West Stokes started to celebrate only to see the referee crew allow an untimed down for the Villains saying that there was time left on the clock.  After the untimed down and a score by the Villains, the referee crew realized there could be no untimed down, so they put 1.7 seconds on the clock and allowed another play.  Even though time looked to have expired again Rathburn plunged into the end zone for the dramatic come from behind win for Bishop McGuinness.

The Wildcats totaled 438 all-purpose yards in the game with 276 of them coming on offense.  Cuthrell led the offense with 119-yards rushing on 21-carries and two touchdowns.  Fleming was 10-for-15 with no interceptions for 100-yards and two passing touchdowns. 

Bishop tallied 400-yards of offense with 300 coming on the ground and with 284 of them in the second half.  Pluciniczak rushed for 161-yards on 24 carries, while Rathburn had 106-yards on 21 carries.

Jordan Hall led six Wildcats' in double figure tackles with 18.  Jackson finished with 17, Aaron Belton 15, Ryan Ward 13, Alex Smith 11, and Bryan Wilson with 10.

With the loss, the Wildcats fell to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the Northwest Conference, while Bishop improved to 8-2 and 4-2.  West Stokes will travel to North Surry on Friday, while the Villains will take on North Stokes in both teams final regulars season games.