The De Soto Wildcats football team began its season on Sept. 6 with a 27-7 home loss against the Holton Wildcats, the defending 4A State champions.

Head coach Brian King felt comfortable with the effort put out by his players against the projected best team in the state.

“Our kids played really physical. That was our challenge, to give great effort and to match their physicality, and I think that our kids did a great job of that. We have to capitalize on scoring when we get inside the red zone. The positive is that we did not give up,” King said.

Even though De Soto lost, the team did out gain Holton in yardage. Throughout the game, De Soto gained 244 yards while Holton only gained 235 yards.

Senior offensive lineman Mitch Gehrt also feels that the De Soto team played very well during the game.

“We cannot ever celebrate a loss, but we can celebrate the way we played because we played with a lot of effort and hit a lot of people,” Gehrt said.

The coaches and players have high hopes for future games.

“We have a physical team; we can run the ball. I feel pretty positive about what we can do this year. If we can run the ball and move the ball against Holton, the No. 1 team in the state of Kansas, we can move the ball against anything,” King said.

The best way to achieve this goal is to “win the next game, go week by week,” Gehrt said.