With the regular season winding down, the Whitney Wildcats are setting a record pace and show no signs of slowing down.
The Wildcats blazed past the Maypearl Tigers Friday night at Wildcat Stadium, collecting a 71-14 blowout victory. Whitney’s 8-0 is the best starting record since the mid-1950s.
The win solidified a District 3A-Division 1 showdown this Friday with a longtime nemesis, the Grandview Zebras. The Wildcats will travel to Grandview to fight for the district title.
Both Whitney (8-0, 6-0) and Grandview (7-1, 6-0) have built momentum throughout the season to get to this anticipated matchup.
Whitney has knocked out its opponents left and right. Meanwhile, the Zebras had a lone setback against state-ranked Malakoff. Since that loss, the Zebras have rattled off six straight wins and only allowed 32 points during that span.
Most of those points came in the Zebras’ matchup against West last Friday. Grandview pulled out a 21-19 fourth-quarter victory. Whitney took care of the Trojans with ease in a 32-10 contest earlier this season.
Against Maypearl, the Wildcats proved once again why they are geared up for a solid postseason run. The Wildcats are in line for a #1 or #2 playoff seed and fired on all cylinders.
With an unwavering defensive blitz and a Swiss Army knife offensive attack, the Wildcats had the Tigers on their heels and guessing which Wildcat would score next.
Maypearl attempted to move the chains at the start, but the Wildcats forced a turnover on downs and then David (Trey) Haynes grabbed an interception on the next series. The pick opened the doors and Whitney responded with two rushing touchdowns from Jontae Johnson.
The defense upped the intensity in the second quarter with more pressure and a fumble recovery from Caden Hill. Once again, the offense was given the opportunity to shine.
Quarterback Mason Seely (22-36-338, 5 TDs) sliced and diced the Tigers’ secondary and tossed three touchdowns in the quarter. The first was a bomb to Kaden Tanner, which was followed up by back-to-back scoring receptions from Jairdyn Anderson.
Up 36-0 at the break, the Wildcats continued to churn out turnovers and touchdowns. Johnson found the end zone for his third score on the ground, while Anderson snatched his third touchdown from the air. Anderson finished with 151 yards on 10 catches. The scores were sandwiched by a Pick 6 from Marcus Wilson, who also had 100 yards receiving. Then Tanner decided it was his turn to return to the end zone. Tanner racked up a total of 71 yards to go with the two touchdowns.
Maypearl mustered a couple scores at the end of the third to bring the score to 64-14, but Whitney closed the fourth quarter by running out the clock and adding an exclamation point score, courtesy of a rushing touchdown from Angel Saucedo.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 in Grandview this Friday night.
The Lakelander 