Wildcats spoil Raiders’ homecoming

The Weimar Wildcats traveled to Altair, TX to take on the Rice Consolidated Raiders for their Homecoming game in week three.

The Wildcats ended up taking home the victory in comeback fashion with a final score of 36-33.

“Unbelievably proud, we started off in a hole this game and our guys never quit,” Wildcats Head Coach Dylan Conway said. “That is a really really good football team over there, their record is not indicative of who they are, and we knew it was going to be a slugfest and our guys just kept on fighting. Could not be more proud.”

“I thought our kids played hard, we have been getting better and better each week,” Raiders Head Coach Brad Dumont said. “We made a couple of crucial mistakes, we had a fumble, and our defense did not stop their offense well enough, and they controlled the ball and the clock and that was the bottom line.”

Jumping into the game it was, as Conway said, a slugfest to say the least. The first half of the game was the defensive slug fest that saw a total of 21 points be scored to go into halftime with a 12-10 score in favor of the Raiders.

Kor’Dae Johnson threw two touchdown passes in the first half to Glenn Mills and Isaiah Castillo. While Jerron Fisher posted the only Wildcat score in the first half.

In the second half of this game there was the offensive slugfest that saw a total of 47 points scored. Talk about a fireworks show for homecoming.

The third quarter started with a huge run from Johnson to put his team up 19-10. Then Mikael Shifatu takes the hand off and rips off a 60+ yard run to cut the Raiders lead down.

Johnson and company were not done though as Ta’Rell Taver ended up punching in a score in the third quarter to go up 26-17. Ty Chmelik decided to join in on the fun though and ran the ball into the endzone to cut the Raider lead to 26-24.

Shortly after Johnson extends the Raider lead once more after finding AJ Jenkins in the endzone for the score to go up 33-24. Chmelik and the Wildcat offense stormed down the field again and scored once more before getting the ball back and handing it to Shifatu who ripped off another long run to take the lead 36-33.

This score would hold until the end and at the end of the game Conway gave a ton of praise to his defensive and offensive line.

“We challenged the offensive and defensive line. We got hit in the mouth in the first half and we talked about from day one that group gaining valuable experience because we did not have a ton of returners,” Conway said. “We told them to buckle down, put their hand in the dirt and go get the job done and they did, and we cannot be any more excited about how that went.”

On the flip side Dumont said he challenged his team as well but this time it was after the game. Sitting at –03 to start the season the Raiders need something to help them get over the hump and Dumont was blunt with his team after the game.

“I told them we are about to find out what kind of football team we are, are we one that tucks tail and runs or are we a football team that comes back and keeps working and keeps getting better,” Dumont said.

He also took time to give his guys credit for the work they have done this season and agrees with Conway in saying the Raiders are not an 0-3 football team.

“We definitely are not an 0-3 football team, we are physical, and we have a talented roster I do not think we are an 0-3 football team at all, and I still believe in this group,” Dumont said. “We just have to get back to work and continue to work hard and continue to believe in ourselves and everything will work itself out.”

Despite the loss Dumont said the Raiders are still eyeing a return to the playoffs and said it’s actually one of the team’s goals they made at the beginning of the season.

“We still want to win four district games because that is what it takes to get back to the playoffs and we are good enough to do it we just have to keep believing in ourselves and come back ready to work next week.”

Looking ahead to next week’s games the Raiders will be hitting the road to take on Hallettsville and the Wildcats will enjoy home field when San Antonio Holy Cross comes to town with both games on Friday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.