The De Soto High School varsity football team took a critical win in its first District game against Spring Hill High School.

DHS scored quickly at the beginning of the game with an 84-yard kick off return by junior running back Trevor Watts in the first play of the game. Things were looking good for the Wildcats from the beginning, as they lead 7-0 only a few seconds into the first quarter.

However, the game took a turn when starting quarterback junior Bryce Mohl was injured in the team’s first offensive possession of the game. Sophomore quarterback Brandon Taylor went into the game for Mohl, who later learned that he had broken his ankle, and was rotated in the quarterback position with seniors Max Barger and Jackson Thaemert. Junior defensive back Brayden Brummer, a key player on the Wildcat defense, was also injured early in the game with a dislocated shoulder.

Although the Wildcat defense was able to hold the Broncos off the majority of the first quarter, two big passes by the SHHS offense led to a touchdown with 2:06 left in the first quarter. The Broncos took the lead with a touchdown near the end of the second quarter, but a missed PAT left the score 13-7 at half.

The Wildcat defense came back during the second half strong, with eight consecutive stops and several huge punts by Thaemert and were able to hold the Broncos scoreless.

The DHS offense made a comeback when Taylor scored the team’s second touchdown of the night with an 11-yard option run. A game winning PAT by junior kicker Ethan Rodriguez allowed DHS to take the lead mid-fourth quarter with a score of 14-13.

The Wildcats secured the win when senior defensive end Daric Coffee intercepted a Spring Hill pass late in the fourth quarter.

With 21 combined tackles by senior linebacker Nate Panagakis and junior linebacker Trevor Gress, 24 combined tackles by the defensive line consisting of Coffee, seniors Nathan Patterson and Lawson Marshall and junior Zach Titus, and eight tackles and four pass breakups by senior safety Chance Montgomery, the Wildcats had a huge game defensively, which made up for errors in the first half of the game.

“Our defense was unbelievable tonight, I mean unreal,” head coach Brian King said. “If you look at what numbers that team has been putting up, it’s ridiculous, and our defense came to play and that’s why we were in this game.”

King also gave a lot of credit to special teams, with punts by Thaemert “flipping the field” and a game winning PAT by Rodriguez.

As far as the season-ending injury for Mohl, offensive coordinator Mark Gastelum believes the senior driven offense will step up into the leadership role Mohl held.

“It [the injury] was a little worrisome. Bryce has been a big time catalyst for our offense, he’s been what everything runs through, he’s a great leader out there on the field for us and has been solid all year, but we knew that once he went down, we have a senior led offense, we start seven seniors on offense, and so we knew that they’d take control,” Gastelum said.

King agreed, saying that the team needs to “try and stay healthy for another week” and prepare the “next guy up” as best they can for the next two games.

On top of a District win, the Wildcats moved to first place in the Frontier League in a three way tie with Spring Hill and Louisburg High School.

The work of our kids and our coaches has put us in this spot and has given us the opportunity to be where we’ve always wanted to be,” Gastelum said. “To be so close to a Frontier League title, something that our kids have worked for and our coaches have worked for for so long, it feels incredible.”

The Wildcats will play Bishop Miege High School in their Homecoming game on Oct. 21. Bishop Miege is 6-1 and is the reigning division 4A State champ.

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