Varsity football takes third win of the season over Paola

Sydney Hoover, Editor-in-Chief|September 25, 2016

Sydney Hoover

Junior Trevor Gress tackles the Paola fullback at the game on Sept. 23. The Wildcats eventually won 28-7.

The De Soto High School varsity football team took their third win of the season over Paola High School on Sept. 23.

After a loss to Louisburg High School on Sept. 16, the Wildcats spent the week preparing for another physical Frontier League team. However, DHS was able to hold their own and defeat Paola 28-7.

Both the Wildcats and the Panthers had a tough first quarter, with many turnovers, fumbles and interceptions from both teams. At start of the second quarter, the score remained 0-0.

Junior Trevor Watts scored the first touchdown of the night with a 32 yard run. A PAT by junior Ethan Rodriguez put the Wildcats up 7-0 nearing the end of the first half. With a minute left in the first half, the Panthers brought the score to a tie with a 1-yard touchdown run. The Wildcats scored again quickly, with a touchdown by junior Bryce Mohl, putting the score at 14-7 at the half.

With a lead on PHS going into the second half, the Wildcats were on a roll. Mohl scored another touchdown off of a 34-yard run, and senior Jake Griffiths helped the Wildcats take control over the ball again with an interception on the DHS 40-yard line with 6:35 left in the third quarter. Griffiths’ interception set up Mohl for another score, a 49-yard touchdown run, to give the Wildcats a 21-point advantage (28-7) going into the fourth quarter.

The De Soto defense was able to hold Paola off throughout the fourth quarter, and the Wildcats claimed another victory, making them 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the Frontier League.

Head coach Brian King was proud of how the team bounced back after the tough loss to Louisburg.

“In football, you always just have to keep moving on and flush whatever happened last week out. Our boys did a good job. They came out very physical and they played hard,” King said. “The first four games of our season were going to be very tough. So if someone told me we were going to be 3-1, I would be very content with that.”

Watts agreed, saying that “Paola has always been tough for us … they weren’t very good to us last year, and we came out and we gave it to them this year.”

The team’s next game is against Nevada (Mo.) High School at home on Sept. 30.

“I’ll be honest, once we get out of the Frontier League, things tend to go pretty well next week, and I hope that’s what continues next week,” King said. “Frontier is a physical brand of football and once we get out of it, we do pretty well. I hope we carry that into next week.”

Although the team has never faced Nevada before, Watts believes the team is prepared and will go into the game with the “same mindset … we’re just going to do what we have to do.”