Young Rangers tripped up by pass-happy Wildcats
SHICKSHINNY — A young and inexperienced Northwest team knew it was going to take its lumps this year.
Friday night proved to be one of those examples as Athens somehow got out of its own way and threw the Rangers aside for a 49-20 victory.
Playing an aggressive style all night, the Wildcats tossed the ball all over the field — regardless of whether it was a checkdown back or a deep man — to the tune of 347 yards.
Northwest had its chances to make matters interesting in the second quarter. With the plan clearly to pass the ball all evening, as the Wildcats did with brothers Connor and Shea Davidson 33 times, Mason Bilby jumped in front of a pass and put the Rangers in Wildcat territory for the first time in six possessions.
The Wildcats were then called for unsportsmanlike conduct and offside in consecutive plays, giving the Rangers the ball at the Wildcats' 13-yard line. They unfortunately couldn't do anything with it, going four-and-out against a Wildcat defense that was packing the box all evening and forcing the Rangers to hurry up.
Connor Davidson proceeded to throw another interception to Noah Arnett, who jumped in front of a pass intended for Sean Peters and returned it 33 yards for the Rangers' first points.
Later on, they also recovered a muffed punt that bounced off the helmet of Connor Garrison, only to cough it up on the very next play.
"I wish we could have capitalized on the turnovers because it would have been a much different game at that point," Northwest coach Steve Nestorick said. "These are things we have to capitalize on, but there are going to be mistakes with this young team."
Giving the Wildcats a breath of fresh air came back to bite the Rangers.
Davidson didn't fret after his second interception, proceeding to cue Randy Newman and connect with James Friend for a 38-yard score on a post route.
After consecutive fumbles by both teams, Davidson decided to put an end to that by hitting Sean Peters on a 46-yard go route. Peters also had a 9-yard rushing touchdown to open the game's scoring as Davidson was hitting his stride with flat routes and wheel routes to his running backs.
"It was getting about getting Connor on target early, and we have some good wideouts and want to get the ball in their hands," Athens coach Shawn Bradley said. "They did a really good job both blocking and creating momentum a little bit."
Goal achieved as the Wildcats rushed out, literally, to a 22-0 lead with Eli Chapman getting a pair of first-quarter scores on the only touches he had for the game.
And, as the game was under mercy rule, the Wildcats continued to do what they do best — pass. This time, it was Shea Davidson who was making the throws, finishing with 124 yards and a 47-yard strike to Kade Rowe.
Despite all the good, the aggressiveness came back to hurt Athens with the refs keeping up with the Davidsons in tosses, in the amount of flags often seen at parades. The Wildcats were penalized 15 times for 150 yards.
"The penalties were a lot. We have to clean that up," Bradley said. "There is no excuse for that."
The Rangers didn't give in either, something Bradley gave credit to in particular with quarterback Mason Bilby, who took his fair share of hits.
But it was Shane Hempel who finished off the scoring with a 34-yard keeper on a wildcat look and 49-yard scamper to the left before following his blocks back up the middle with some nice maneuvering.
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