Wildcats Loose Nail Biter to the Hilltops

The Edmonton Wildcats came out on the short end of the stick as the Hilltops squeaked by in a defensive battle that saw both teams only muster up 17 points between them at the Gordie Howe Bowl in Saskatoon with the Hilltops prevailing 10-7 in front of approximately 1000 home town fans. The defenses were cooking and so was the temperature as it hit 32c in the Bowl with no shade to be had.

There was a sense of confidence in the locker room as the Wildcats made their way to the field to take on the conference leading Hilltops. The Wildcats opened there first series with an impressive drive taking the ball from there 30 yd line all the way down to the Hilltops 25 before turning it over to the Hilltops on a fumble recovery. The Hilltops proceeded to drive down to the 35 yd line, but the Wildcat defense came up big ending in a 42yd missed field goal by the Hilltops. The Wildcats missed on a 34yd field goal of their own early in the second quarter, but the Hilltops opened the scoring late in the quarter with a Chase Bradshaw Quarterback keeper, scampering in from 19yds out to go up 7-0 and their only major on the afternoon. The Wildcats answered right back on the next series with a Jordan Olson toss to Andrew Johnson of 25yds in the end zone to tie the contest at 7 going in to the locker room. The third quarter saw no scoring as the defenses continued to battle hard. The Hilltops scored their only other points early in the 4th quarter with a 21yd field goal to put the Toppers up 10-7. The Wildcat fought back valiantly and had an opportunity to tie the game with a 40 yd field goal and seconds left, but the kick came up short and the Hilltops squeaked away with a 10-7 victory.

The Wildcats posted 352 yds of net offense with Jordan Olson completing 19 of 29 attempts for 186 yds and 2 interceptions. Taylor Souster had a solid game, rushing 23 times for 100 yds, while Receiver/QB Andrew Johnson caught 7 for 73 yds and Tylor Henry snagged 4 for 35yds, with Adam Seniuk picking up 2 for 34yds. The Hilltops had 289yds of net offense with Chase Bradshaw completing only 6 of 24 for 151yds and 2 interceptions. The Hilltops running game posted 151yds with Regan Schuler carrying 19 times for 73yds. Receiver Jace Muggli caught 2 pass for 62yds while John Trumpy had 1 for 36yds.

Keaton Hoddinott and Ronald Mawamba led the defense posting 12 defensive points each, while Kevin Hanson posted 10 points. Defensively for the Hilltops Ben Cressman led the way with 20 defensive points, while Dylan Kemp posted 16 points.

Next game sees the Wildcats as visitors in a rematch with their cross town rival Huskies at Clarke Stadium on Saturday Oct 1st 7:00pm.

All Edmonton Wildcat practices are at Rundle Park and the players take to the field at around 7:30 pm nightly.

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Stuart Gibson
Edmonton Wildcats Media Coordinator
media@edmontonwildcats.com
Phone (780) 718-3447
www.edmontonwildcats.com