The Wildcats football team dropped a nonconference matchup against 4A opponent Amherst County Lancers on Friday Sept. 16 by a score of 49-7.

The game began with a scoreless ten minutes of play until the Lancers were able to break through with a touchdown with two minutes to go in the first quarter.

The Lancers’ running game broke free in the second quarter with multiple rushing touchdowns, to increase the Lancer lead to 35-0 at the half. The ‘Cats were able to slow up the Lancers’ offense in the third-quarter holding Amherst to just one third-quarter touchdown.

Amherst tacked on one more rushing touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter to bring the score to 49-0. The ‘Cats’ offense was able to get past the Lancers’ defense in the final minute of the game, when backup quarterback Dustin Mays hit wide receiver Kyle Irvine for a passing touchdown. It was too little too late for the ‘Cats, as the Lancer ground game had already done enough damage, finishing with 422 yards rushing and five touchdowns.

Although the ‘Cats struggled to succeed on both sides of the ball, junior wide receiver Kyle Irvine explained that the team did not give up, in the second half.

“We showed we had a lot of pride coming out in the second half and we didn’t give up even though we gave up 35 points in the first half,” said Irvine. “We showed we won’t give up and we’ll keep fighting.”

According to junior linebacker Layton Stevens, the Lancers are one of the toughest teams in the State, and the ‘Cats will have to move past this game and focus on next week’s matchup.

“That’s a team that’s out of our district, it’s 4A,” said Stevens. “There’s a good chance they’re going to states. They beat Salem, the defending state champions. So honestly, we did what we could do, and next week, we got to come out and pound Alleghany.”

The ‘Cats will take on Alleghany in their homecoming matchup on Sept. 23. The game will also be the ‘Cats’ first conference game of the season. The game’s kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.