After letting the game against Cy Ranch get away from them last week, the Wildcats were back at it on a beautiful Friday night, looking to regain that lost momentum. There would be no losing streak as the Cats topped Cy Creek 35-21, despite a lethargic, mistake-filled 1st half on their part. The Cougars finished off the scoring as time expired... no, no, I'll leave that alone. All in all, it was a solid rebound job from the Cats after a tough loss.
Now, after you saw Reece Clark in the game at QB to finish out the 1st half, I know what you're thinking... I'll go ahead and answer.
No, there is no quarterback controversy at Cy Woods. Reece is a solid QB and when he's been called upon, he has shown that he's more than capable of commandeering the offense. However... Nick, sink or swim, is this team's starting quarterback. They both bring a lot of good things to the table, and they both possess the ability to drive opposing defenses nuts.
So, What Happened Was...
Aside from allowing Creek to score first, the Wildcat defense was excellent to lead off the game, but the offense was unable to get themselves off the ground in the process, which prompted Reece Clark's entry into the game in the 2nd quarter. On his 2nd series, he completed a 27-yard pass to Taylor Tesch and a 28-yard pass to Zac Duncan, which set up a 1-yard TD run from C.J. Jones that was wiped out by a holding call. No matter... C.J. got his score with an 11-yard catch-and-run, which put the Cats up 7-6 with 5:15 left in the 1st half. That would be the only points that the Cats would put up on the scoreboard in the first 24 minutes.
The Cougars regained the lead inside of 2 minutes as they cashed in after picking off Reece. He threw another pick on Woods' next drive, but the Cats offense gained new life as that interception was wiped out by defensive holding. They got as far as Creek's 21 yard line, but unfortunately, they couldn't capitalize on that penalty and turned the ball over on downs with 35 seconds to go. They went into the locker room down 14-7.
The Cats seized all the momentum in this game when they scored 28 unanswered points in the 2nd half to take a 35-14 lead, which was capped off by Jordan Johnson's 37-yard TD reception.
C.J. Jones is a really, really good player, if you haven't heard. He opened up the 2nd half with an 8-yard TD run and scored again from 74 late in the 3rd. On 4th and goal from the Creek 2, Zac Duncan took a reverse, but instead of running it, he found a wide-open Nick Hooper in the endzone. That was Nick's first TD catch since November 2, 2012, when he scored from 12 yards out against.... Creek. The Cougars pulled one back as time expired, and that's the score you saw on the board on Friday, and the one you see at the top of this page.
Turning Point
For the 2nd straight week, C.J. opened up the 2nd half with a touchdown. His 8-yard run sparked a 28-0 scoring run in the 2nd half for the Cats.
Ground
R.J. Harmon and C.J. Jones both topped the 100-yard mark. C.J. ran for 103 on just 10 carries and scored twice. R.J. put up 162 on 20 carries. The only blemish on his line was losing a fumble in the 2nd quarter. Despite not finding the endzone after scoring twice in the previous week, R.J. put up another big game on the ground.
These are the numbers that I got. I gotta tell you, doing play-by-play by hand is pretty hard.
R.J. Harmon: 20 carries, 162 yards
Nick Hooper: 17 carries, 85 yards
C.J. Jones: 10 carries, 103 yards, 2 TD
Jared Taylor: 2 rushes, 3 yards
Jacobi Boudreaux: 2 carries: -2 yards
Air
The Cats had some good things going for them in the passing game after that nightmare last week. Still needs some refinement: some timing issues, some balls thrown behind receivers, receivers dropping passes.
Nick Hooper: 10-20, 155 yards, TD, INT
Reece Clark: 5-12, 98 yards, TD, INT
Zac Duncan: 1-1, 2 yards, TD
Zac Duncan became the 4th player to top 100 receiving yards this season.
Zac Duncan: 4 rec, 104 yards
Jared Taylor: 4 rec, 40 yards
C.J. Jones: 3 rec, 29 yards, TD
R.J. Harmon: 2 rec, 23 yards
Jordan Johnson: 1 rec, 37 yards, TD
Nick Hooper: 1 rec, 2 yards, TD
Taylor Tesch: 1 rec, 27 yards
Defense
The defense, aside from a couple of 1st-half scoring drives, was solid all night as the 21 points were the fewest they've allowed all season. They were even better in the 2nd half as they tightened the clamps on the Cougar offense, only allowing a touchdown as time expired. I'm a bit surprised that Creek didn't have more plays that lost yardage, but they did have plenty that went for less than 5.
The defensive line play was rather good in this game: Randall Medlin had a nice night, as he had a sack and recovered a fumble after Jake Jones jarred the ball loose in the 2nd quarter. Justyn Johnson and Isiah Clay combined on a sack in the 3rd. They did take a bit of a hit as Morgan Tosten left the game with an injury.
Brandon DePrato put his skills as a former receiver to good use as he picked off his 2nd pass of the season. The Outlaw Shane Lawless was in on 15 tackles, tying Tyler Greaves for the season-high in that category.
Tackles: Shane Lawless 15 (12 assisted, 1 tackle for loss), Tyler Greaves 11 (9 assisted), Wade Carson 10 (9 assisted), Justyn Johnson 8 (1 TFL), Randall Medlin 8 (2 TFL), Brandon DePrato 7 (1 TFL), Michael Wirt 6 (1 assisted, 1 TFL), Isiah Clay 5 (all assisted, 1 TFL), Morgan Tosten 5 (1 assisted), Bryson Powers 4 (3 assisted), Myles Wilson 3, Nick Bailey 3 (1 assisted), Matt Swalm 3 (all assisted), Kason Franklin 3 (1 assisted), Jake Jones 3 (2 assisted), Jared Taylor 2, R.J. Harmon 1, Elijah Kinnison 1, Brandon Love 1 (assisted)
Sacks: Randall Medlin 1 (4 yards lost), Justyn Johnson 0.5, Isiah Clay 0.5 (3 yards lost)
Fumbles forced: Jake Jones 1
Fumbles recovered: Randall Medlin 1
Interceptions: Brandon DePrato 1 (2 season)
Special Teams
A rather quiet night on this front. Jordan Johnson only punted twice, averaging 37 a kick. Luis Reyes missed a 27-yard field goal with a minute left in the game, but he made all 5 of his extra points.
Luis Reyes: 0-1 FG (missed 27), 5-5 XP
Jordan Johnson: 2 punts, 74 yards (37 average)
The Cats only had 3 kick returns in this one. Bryson Powers did not return any punts.
Jordan Johnson: 2 kicks returned, 25 yards
C.J. Jones: 1 kick returned, 10 yards
Observations
Nick had a tough start, but he showed tremendous character and poise in rebounding and his efforts in the 2nd half played a significant role in getting the Cats the victory.
When Reece is in, just know that the offense is in good hands. He's come a long, long way since his freshman year, when he was the starting QB on the B-team.
Myles Wilson can roll... he showed that speed off when he chased down a Creek receiver in the open field in the dying moments of the game.
Danny Malone, special teams ace, did not have a tackle on special teams, but he did have a rather impressive-sounding hit on the final drive of the game. He also unveiled a new hammer! Well, after 6 years, even the hammer, which is awarded to the player with the biggest hit in the previous week's game, is undergoing changes. What can I say... new era in full swing, all the way down to the hammer.
SLEDGEHAMMER 2.0. "Forged Oct. 3, 2014" #GATA #CDUB #THECLOSER #ACE pic.twitter.com/IMIn1N7f1u
— Danny Malone ♠️ (@dannymalone56) October 4, 2014
Jordan Johnson's TD catch gave the Cats their first 4th quarter points of the season.
Man of the Match
C.J. Jones. His 2 scores in the 3rd quarter helped the Cats create separation between themselves and the Cougars. We know that R.J. Harmon is a special talent as well, but I feel that C.J. has been the breakout player for the Cats this season.
Looking Ahead
The Cats will return to Pridgeon on Friday as they take on Cy Lakes at 7:00. It's homecoming.... for the Spartans. So naturally, Woods will be the away team for this game.
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