Wildcats survive Clay Center to remain perfect on season

Missed opportunities, penalties and turnovers all hampered Louisburg on Friday in its home contest against Clay Center.

It is the type of things you see with a loss. Fortunately for the Wildcats, they battled through the adversity against what was an unfamiliar opponent. 

The Wildcats got a big second half from senior running back Ashton Moore, and the Louisburg defense rose to the occasion in a 23-15 victory over Clay Center. It marked a 3-0 start to the Wildcats’ season, although it wasn’t the prettiest.

“Obviously it is good to win, but we have to start playing more complete football games,” Louisburg coach Drew Harding said. “Without looking at the stats, I bet we had more than 400 yards of total offense and we only had 23 points. 

“We didn’t finish two drives that were inside the five and we weren’t good tacklers on defense. It was little things that we have to start correcting, but it was certainly good to get a win.”

Clay Center set the tone early as the Tigers scored on their opening drive and took a 7-0 lead. The Wildcats were ready to match that with a touchdown of their own.

Louisburg quarterback Alex Saad hit Myles Vohs in stride for an apparent 68-yard touchdown, but was called back due to a penalty. The Wildcats thought they had another score on the same drive on a 4th down from the 5-yard line.

Saad threw the ball toward Vohs again in the back of the endzone and one official originally called a touchdown, but was eventually overruled as an incomplete pass.

“It seemed like we were feeling them out to start the game instead of coming out and asserting ourselves,” Harding said. “Credit goes to Clay Center as they have some tough, physical kids. They were ready from the start and we didn’t quite match that intensity and thankfully we did as the game went on.”

The Wildcat offense would sputter until late in the first half. With a minute remaining, Harding put Moore in the backfield in what was his first real action offensively this season.

Moore responded with a 25-yard run on his first carry, which set a up 26-yard touchdown from Saad to Vohs, who dove for the pylon on the score. A Blaise Vohs extra point tied the game at halftime.

Myles Vohs finished the game with six catches, and led the Wildcats with 103 yards. Saad also had a big game through the air as he completed 15 of 23 passes for 169 yards.

Moore carried the ball 14 times, most of those coming in the second half, and finished with 135 yards on the ground. Louisburg senior Darby Van Eaton also had a strong day running the ball with more than 100 yards of total offense.

“I told Ashton during the game that he brought us some serious energy there and that is what we needed,” Harding said. “It gave us a spark for sure and he was huge out there for us. It was awesome to see him back there and his running style is fun to watch. Darby also ran the football well, so to have both of those guys being able to tote the rock is nice.”

Louisburg looked to add its lead to start the second half as the Wildcats drove the ball to the Clay Center 2-yard line, but fumbled that prevented another Wildcat score.

The Wildcat defense came through with another stop and got the ball back to its offense. Louisburg found the end zone this time as Saad found Lucas Swartz on a 7-yard touchdown pass. The Wildcats went for 2 points and got it on a Van Eaton run.

Clay Center tied the game at 15-all early in the fourth and Louisburg faced a 4th down and 5 at midfield with just over five minutes left in the game. Saad picked up a crucial first down on a 10-yard run to keep the drive alive.

The Wildcats finished their nearly 7-minute drive when Moore broke through several Clay Center tackles and scored on a 17-yard run with 1:52 left in the game. Wildcats went for 2 again, and Saad hit Moore on a swing pass for the conversion.

Louisburg’s defense came through again when Gage Feldkamp intercepted a Clay Center pass to stop the Tiger drive. Clay Center did get the ball back with 30 seconds left, but Brayden Yoder and Swartz combined for a sack on fourth down to seal the win.

Yoder had a strong defensive performance up front with 10 tackles, and also had 2.5 sacks on the night. Swartz had 1.5 sacks and six tackles, while senior Erik Lien had seven tackles.

Conlee Hovey and Miles Meek each recorded a half-a-sack.

“After that first drive, I thought we played good defensively football,” Harding said. “We were pretty assignment sound and I felt like we did a decent job of limiting their quarterback, which was one of our goals coming into the game. They have good athletes and they made it tough on us.”

Louisburg will try and make it four wins in a row this Friday as the Wildcats host Bonner Springs for homecoming. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

LOU 0 7 8 8 — 23

CC 7 0 0 8 — 15

SCORING SUMMARY 

First Quarter

CC: Eisaac Girton 1 run (kick good)

Second Quarter

L: Myles Vohs 26 pass from Alex Saad (Blaise Vohs kick)

Third Quarter

L: Lucas Swartz 7 pass from Saad (Darby Van Eaton run)

Fourth quarter

CC: Cole Pladson 9 run (Pladson run)

L: Ashton Moore 17 run (Saad pass to Moore)

STATISTICS 

RUSHING — Ashton Moore 14-135; Darby Van Eaton 26-86; Alex Saad 5-34

PASSING — Alex Saad 15-23-169

RECEIVING — Myles Vohs 6-103; Darby Van Eaton 4-26; Reid McCaskill 1-20; Conlee Hovey 1-8; Lucas Swartz 1-7; Ashton Moore 1-3; Josh Holtzen 1-2

TACKLES — Brayden Yoder 10, Erik Lien 7, Lucas Swartz 6, Ashton Moore 5, Russell Wiseman 4, Logan Henry 4, Conlee Hovey 4, Jimmy DeVary 3, Miles Meek 2, Rickey Giles 2, Myles Vohs 2, Gage Feldkamp 2, Blaise Vohs 1, Johnny Hendrickson 1, Tate McGreer 1