MEDINA, OH – Saturday night in Medina the WPA Wildcatz survived an hour and a half battle with Mother Nature and a contest with the Ohio Raiders and emerged victorious 26-21 in PAFL action.
WPA got on the board early in the contest as they connected on a 58 yard pass on the games first play from scrimmage. Following the first penalty of the game the Wildcatz would push into the endzone a play later as QB Corey McWilliams tossed his first of three touchdown passes on the night to Bruce Thornton from 19 yards out. The WPA extra point attempt following the score would be blocked by Levi Wells to keep the score at 6-0.
On their second drive of the game the Wildcatz utilized the short field they were given at the Raiders 27 moments after forcing a Ray Catley fumble to score quickly as they used jut four offensive plays to run their advantage to 12-0 on a 3 yard touchdown run by Martel Palmer.
An Ohio Raiders punt put the football just shy of midfield for the next WPA possession and saw the visitors third possession end just as the previous two beforehand, with a touchdown when McWilliams connected on a back of the endzone toss to Deshawn Coleman of 15 yards. Unlike the two previous scores the Wildcatz connected on their extra point and led 19-0 with 1:48 remaining in the opening quarter of play.
Ohio’s first score of the game came with 2:56 to go before the halftime break as halfback AJ Cephus jaunted in from 2 yards away and saw teammate Josh Brebant connect on an extra point to cut the WPA lead to 19-7. The Raiders would have another opportunity to score before the stoppage but were unable to when Brebant missed on a 55 yard field goal attempt.
Following a nearly hour and a half weather delay both teams returned to the field at Kenneth Dukes Stadium and would do battle in the second half under running clock rules.
After an Ohio Raiders punt on a three and out on the first possession of the second half the Wildcatz put another score on the board and pushed their lead to 26-7 as McWilliams connected again to Thornton, this time for a 97 yard scamper with 9:30 to go in the games penultimate stanza.
Quarterback Brandon Hanna’s first scoring toss of the ballgame to wideout Corn Strickland, a 19 yard hookup pulled the lead back to to a 13 point lead with 1:13 in the period and a two-point conversion pass to AJ Cephus as the quarter expired made the game an 11 point affair at 26-15 heading into the last 15 minutes.
Western PA was able to move the football and chew up nearly eight minutes of game time on their following drive but was forced to turn the ball over at the Ohio 23 with 7:15 to go after a penalty and a defensive stand.
Through a driving rain the Raiders offense notched the final score of the game, a 30 yard touchdown pass again to a wide open Strickland with 4:30 to go that made it a 26-21 ballgame after a blocked extra point by WPA seconds later.
A pair of first downs by WPA and a lack of timeouts helped the contest to a quick resolution as the Wildcatz emerged the victors in their first ever meeting with the Raiders and the first of two this season as the two squads will hook up again on July 7th in Pennsylvania.
Ohio sees their record drop to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in PAFL play while the Wildcatz improve to 3-1 in league play. WPA will welcome Tier-2’s Iron City Legends to New Kensington, PA next week while the Raiders will play host to the NEO Predators at 7pm in Medina.
Scoring:
1st- 13:09 Thornton 19 yard pass from McWilliams (XP blocked 6-0 WPA)
1st- 9:42 Palmer 3 yard run (XP missed 12-0 WPA)
1st- 1:48 Coleman 15 yard pass from McWilliams (Xp good 19-0 WPA)
2nd- 2:56 Cephus 2 yard run (XP good 19-7 WPA)
3rd- 9:30 Thornton 97 yard pass from McWilliams (XP good 26-7 WPA)
3rd- 1:13 Strickland 19 yard pass from Hanna (2 pt pass to Cephus 26-15 WPA)
4th- 4:30 Strickland 30 yard pass from Hanna (XP blocked 26-21 WPA)
Content provided by Michael Hirn
Pic by Amanda K Rundle
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