Louisburg Football Falls Against Ottawa, Win against Warsaw (MO)
- Updated: November 4, 2026
The Louisburg Wildcats managed to right the ship last week after falling to Ottawa two weeks previously.
The Wildcats fell to the Ottawa Cyclones 22-20 in a close game that came down to just two points. Louisburg fought hard throughout the game but came up short in the end. The loss dropped the Wildcats to 5-2 on the season after starting the year 5-0.
The Wildcats’ offense started strong with a reverse pass on the first play of the game. Senior wide receiver Cole Heinrich threw to junior wide receiver Braxton Eastland for a 37-yard gain. A few plays later, after converting a fourth down, the Wildcats faced fourth-and-goal. Senior quarterback Max Amren found Eastland over the middle for a touchdown, giving Louisburg a 7-0 lead. The Wildcats quickly stopped Ottawa’s offense, but the Cyclones scored later in the half. Louisburg blocked the extra point, keeping the score at 7-6 heading into halftime.
The Wildcats continued to struggle offensively coming out of halftime as Ottawa scored to take the lead. Louisburg had trouble moving the ball until running back Tate McGreer found the end zone for a touchdown. The Wildcats attempted a two-point conversion but failed, leaving the score at 14-13.
To start the fourth quarter, Louisburg went three-and-out, setting up another Ottawa touchdown and a successful two-point conversion.
The Cyclones extended their lead to 22-13 early in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats needed a big play to gain momentum, and Heinrich delivered another pass to Eastland, this time for a 73-yard touchdown. The score cut Ottawa’s lead to 22-20 and gave Louisburg a chance to come back. Despite having a few more opportunities to take the lead, the Wildcats fell short, losing 22-20.
“We need to regroup and get back to playing Louisburg football,” Harding said.
Despite the loss to Ottawa, the Wildcats had some bright spots early in the game. Louisburg started fast, converted two fourth downs, scored on its opening drive, and forced a quick defensive stop. Those early plays showed what the Wildcats can do when they execute their game plan.
“We started out fast just like we wanted to,” Harding said.
This week, the Wildcats have focused on improving the little things during practice. Harding emphasized ball security, hand placement, tackling, and maintaining good leverage. The team is also working on bringing more energy and a better attitude to practice and games.
Following two straight losses, Harding wants his players to understand that the season is far from over. He said the team still has the talent to win and needs to put everything together again.
“On practice Monday we made sure the players knew that the sky isn’t falling and the season isn’t over,” Harding said.
The Louisburg Wildcat football team got back in the win column last Friday night against the Missouri Warsaw Wildcats, defeating Warsaw 42-7.
Warsaw started off quickly getting down to the one yard line where junior quarterback Brett Howe ran it in for a one yard rushing touchdown. Louisburg responded on the first play with a touchdown but was unfortunately called back, a few plays later junior John Guetterman, back to receive the snap, ran it in for a 48 yard touchdown.
Warsaw started the next possession out strong, but the next attempt is intercepted by junior safety Mathias Wright. After the football changed hands twice, senior running back Tate McGreer runs for a 78 yard rushing touchdown. To end the first half, Amren threw to Guetterman for a 23 yard touchdown pass.
Louisburg received the kick to start the second half. Driving down field to the five yard line,again , Amren found Guetterman on the slant for his second receiving touchdown. A strong defensive performance continued before Amren threw his third touchdown pass of the game to junior wide receiver Braxton Eastland for a 33 yard touchdown pass. The last score of the game would come on a McGreer 16 yard rushing touchdown.
“Yeah we certainly didn’t start exactly how we wanted,” Harding said. “After that though we responded with a good kickoff return and then had an explosive play on offense to swing the momentum. I don’t think anyone was panicking once they scored. I thought we did a good job just focusing on the next play and executing.”
The Wildcats had lost their two previous games against Eudora and Ottawa, which was prevalent in practice. Having great practices is what has led Louisburg to its wins this season so after two losses a great week of practice was of high importance.
“I thought we had much better physicality in practice and much better speed with which we practiced. Obviously those things are key come Friday night,” said Harding.
With a win against Warsaw the Louisburg Wildcats earned the number two seed in the playoffs and face Bonner Springs first round on October 30th at Wildcat Stadium. Despite winning against the Braves earlier in the season the team is focused and ready to play.
“Throughout the year teams change. We have to do a good job of identifying different tendencies of Bonner compared to earlier in the year,” said coach Harding.
The Wildcats have had a great season so far but still with some missing pieces. In each game the Wildcats have made some costly mistakes, which they hope to improve on in this first round of the playoffs against Bonner.
“I think we are still striving to play a complete game. We have had good moments and bad moments this year. I think we are still looking to play that complete game in all three phases and so hopefully we take steps towards that this week,” said Harding.
The Wildcats hope to continue to keep playing football throughout November no matter how great the wins are. To continue winning through the playoffs the Wildcats will face tough teams but they come prepared with some hard wins against great teams.
“Being playoffs, it’s all of nothing. It doesn’t matter if you win by 1 or win by 100 the only goal is to advance and play another week. We want to play football in November and we can’t do that unless we come out and get it done on Friday night,” said Harding.
– Braxton Eastland, Payton Crooks
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