Wildcats Prevail 34-33 in Wild Season Opener

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cm-footballWILLIAMSPORT – It wasn’t easy and at times it wasn’t pretty, but by the time the final second clicked off the clock at the Williamsport High School football field Friday night, the visiting Central Mountain Wildcats traveled home with a rousing 34-33 win over their down river rivals.

It was a game of firsts for the Wildcats: the first win for new head coach Mike Nines and the school’s first touchdown scored by a 370-pound running back.

But the game finally turned on the Central Mountain defense. Riddled for much of the second half by a quicker Millionaire team, the Wildcat defense stopped the two final Williamsport drives after the Millionaires had scored twice to cut the lead to 34-33 CM with more than nine minutes remaining.

The Wildcats used two big defensive stops by linebacker Hunter Baker to end one Bill-town drive and the clock ended the other when Williamsport ran out of time on the Wildcat 26 yard line.

Central Mountain used a big-play offense to race to a 34-19 lead well into the third period, then held off the home team.

Using a no-huddle offense, junior quarterback Bryce Bitner was 4-for-5 passing for 132 yards in the first half, tossing one touchdown pass of 35 yards to sophomore Justin Neff; the passing was supported by a solid ground game led by junior Hunter Weaver who ended the night 161 yards on 34 carries and one touchdown.

Neff was all over the field, adding a 2-yard touchdown run and a 79-yard kickoff return for a score. Sophomore Bryce Mansfield spelled Weaver in the final period and carried 8 times for 22 yards. Bitner finished 4-6 passing with one touchdown and one interception.

The win reversed a last minute loss to Williamsport a year ago when the Millionaires scored late to pull out a 24-21 victory.

Game highlights for the Wildcats included a 4-for-5 extra point effort from sophomore Kathryn Myers who made her final four tries to help secure the victory. And coach Nines called on the 6-7 370 pound senior Wyatt Sanders to punch in a score from two yards out in the second period.

Coach Nines had promised his team it was time for some fun and they certainly had some Friday night. Next up is a trip to Shamokin next Friday night, the Indians winning their opener 7-0 over Line Mountain.

FOOTBALL

August 29, 2014 1 2 3 4 TOTAL
CENTRAL MOUNTAIN 6 21 7 0 34
WILLIAMSPORT 6 7 14  6  33

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