Special teams step up to capture 28-20 Wildkats victory on Senior Night
This article is brought to you by Freedom Financial.
Typically, football teams rely upon their offense to win games. After all, they have the ball. But against McCutcheon High School on Oct. 11, the Kokomo Wildkats counted on their special teams to secure a 28-20 win at home.
In what is now a preview of what fans might see in the opening round of the sectional two weeks from now, the Kats struck early and often in the first quarter. The scoring opened with a four-yard scamper by Brixton Morris with 9:05 on the clock. A good PAT made the score 7-0. But that wasn't enough for Kokomo.
The defense held on McCutcheon's next possession, forcing the Mavericks to settle for a field goal with six minutes remaining.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Kats' special teams made their mark. Junior Baris Moore caught the ball at the 5-yard line and had nothing but green grass in front of him. He sprinted past defenders with ease, leaving just the kicker to challenge him at the McCutcheon 30-yard line. Moore deftly avoided the last line of defense to complete the 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
The score remained 14-3 until midway through the second quarter when Kokomo struck again. A 17-play drive ate up nearly half of the period, culminating in a one-yard dive from sophomore quarterback Hagen Smith to make the score 21-3.
It was the highlight of Smith's otherwise rough evening. The young playmaker was stymied offensively, managing more completions to McCutcheon than to his teammates. He finished with one pass completed on six attempts for -2 yards. And of the five passes not caught by Kokomo players, two were intercepted by the Mavericks.
Fortunately, Kokomo's ground game was strong. Morris had 141 yards rushing on 23 attempts, including a 41-yard sprint. Senior Keemarion Pollard added 55 yards rushing.
McCutcheon remained within striking distance by scoring twice in the second quarter. The Mavericks hit paydirt with a nine-yard completion at the 6:55 mark, and later managed a 32-yard field goal with 4:51 left to play.
The second half began with Kokomo holding a 21-13 lead, and the score remained that way through the third quarter and well into the fourth. But things were beginning to look dicey for the Kats.
The offense couldn't break free, and it appeared as if the game might get handed away. Smith nearly delivered his third interception of the evening with about six minutes to play. Fortunately for the Kats, two McCutcheon defenders went for an interception at the same time, causing the ball to fall to the ground incomplete.
Now facing a short-field punt, Kokomo kicked the ball within 10 yards of the goal, and a McCutcheon receiver signaled for a fair catch. But he forgot to actually catch the ball. It bounced from his hands and rolled into the endzone where a sea of red and blue hungrily converged.
When the whistle blew, senior Buddy Love had recovered the ball for a touchdown and effectively put the game out of reach at 28-13.
McCutcheon did mount a final successful scoring drive, finding the endzone with two minutes remaining on a highlight-worthy, 67-yard touchdown pass. But the onside kick attempt following the score was recovered by Kokomo, which ran out the clock for the win.
The 4-3 Wildkats travel to Harrison High School tonight to face the 5-3 Raiders. The game will be streamed live by FastPlay Sports at https://m.fastplaysports.com/ with the broadcast beginning at 6:30 p.m.
See additional photos from this contest, including photos of the dance team and a fan gallery, courtesy of Goad Sports Media, on the Lantern’s Facebook page or group.