Wildcat Football Takes Down Paola, Look to Chanute
- Updated: September 18, 2026
Last Friday the Wildcats went on the road to Paola and took over, showing they are going to be a problem to the rest of the Frontier League.
Louisburg rallied behind a strong run defense against an explosive offense in Paola. The Wildcats improved their record to 2-0 with a dominant 35-13 win.
“I felt like it was pretty evident that we had a lot of competitors on the field. Our energy was high the whole game,” head coach Drew Harding said. “They made some plays, we made some plays. It felt like we stayed pretty level-headed and continued to compete and that’s always something you want to see.”
Although the Wildcats played very well week 1, they made improvements in week 2. “We did a much better job playing to our concept,” Harding said. “Against Tonganoxie at times our heads were spinning a little bit, and we were doing things out of character for us. This week we put a big emphasis on playing to our concept and we played faster.”
Momentum shifted early in the first quarter after an interception by Briggs White. After that, Louisburg never looked back.
Not too long after the interception, Max Amren aired it out to Braxton Eastland for a 50 yard touchdown putting the Wildcats up 7-0. The Panthers put together a strong drive, tying the game 7-7.
The Panthers and Wildcats went back and forth with punts until late second quarter when Cole Heinrich made a huge special teams play for the Wildcats returning a punt 64 yards for a touchdown putting the Wildcats up 14-7 going into half time.
Louisburg forced a quick punt after halftime, then put together an impressive drive led by Tate McGreer establishing the run game in the third quarter. Mcgreer capped off the drive with a two yard touchdown that put the Wildcats up 21-7 early in the third. With a minute left in the third, John Guetterman had a great one-handed interception that set the Wildcats up in good field position.
Early in the fourth the Wildcats used the momentum from Guetterman’s interception to extend the lead to 21 where Bryce Thompson found the endzone with a one yard rushing touchdown making the score 28-7. Paola tacked on a touchdown making the score 28-13. Louisburg closed the game out by marching down the field and scoring the final touchdown scored by Guetterman.
“Bryce had a huge impact. He ended up with 18 tackles. He was flying all over the field. Bryce has done a really good job of reading his keys and playing fast,” Harding said. “John played some really good football and made big plays on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Max did a really good job playing quarterback, being able to run the ball and throw the ball. Braxton had a big time catch for us. Tate was running the football well. Cole Heinrich was able to make plays on special teams for us. Our offensive and defensive lines did a really good job of controlling the game for us. We just had a lot of people.”
Despite the Wildcat’s success last week, the team is looking forward and is preparing for this week’s game.
“We have to do a good job this week of turning the page. Last week was great, but we are on to a new week and we have a good opponent coming up this Friday. We will need to do a good job of preparing this week for Chanute,” said Harding.
Louisburg faces a tough opponent this Friday as they face Chanute. The Wildcats are looking to win this year after last year’s playoff loss, in which the Wildcats lost 29-28 to the Blue Comets.
“Chanute always does a good job of getting their skill players space,” said Harding. “They have some really good athletes and so we will have to limit their opportunities for big plays. Defensively they do a good job of reading their keys and then flying to the football.”
The Wildcats are not only preparing with practice, but are also preparing by watching film. The Wildcats watch film has a group but are also assigned to watch film outside of practices.
“I think having a good week of preparation leads to confidence going into Friday night,” Harding said. “We will have to do a good job of film preparation as well as have a good week of preparation to have confidence and play fast on Friday.”
The Wildcats offensive and defensive lineman have been a big part of the Wildcats success. Their offense has collected a total of 257 rushing yards and 176 passing yards behind the offensive line. The Wildcats defense has only allowed a total of 20 points in their two games.
“I always think games are won and lost up front in the trenches,” Harding said. “Our defensive and offensive lines have to play well in order for us to perform well on Friday night.”
-Bo Ballard, Payton Crooks
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