Tigercats fall in first gridiron game

The LaCrosse-Washtucna/Kahlotus Tigercats hosted Wilbur-Creston on Friday night in Washtucna in the first non-league game of the season.

The Tigercats suffered a 58-16 loss to WC, who went out on an early run against the LWK on Sept. 6.

The Tigercats trailed the entire game after the Wildcats scored their first touchdown two minutes into the first quarter.

The Tigercats struggled to prevent pass coverage down field; with six of the WC touchdowns being converted off of pass plays.

Head coach Justin Ziebell took the helm for the Tigercats team this season, and with the first game loss behind the team, he is moving forward to have the team focus on fundamentals. The team battled to contain the Wildcats and found more success in stopping the running game then when the Wildcats went to the air.

The Tigercats faced multiple penalties in the first half, providing the Wildcats with first down opportunities and pushing the Tigercats further down field on second down plays.

“Penalties, missed assignments and blocks; all the little mistakes starting piling on,” Ziebell said. “We started playing with emotion more than brains.”

The Tigercats were not able to gain momentum against WC until the final seconds of the first half with an interception by Joey Guske. The Tigercats came back out of the locker room at halftime with a score of 50-0, but ignored the score in order to put up a valiant second half effort.

The third quarter belonged to the Tigercats who controlled the tempo of play.

The entire second half was played in a running clock format due to the 40-point rule for teams.

The Tigercats put up the first points of the game with a three-yard quarterback keeper from Guske. Stephen Erickson tacked on an extra two points for the Tigercats with completion of the conversion attempt.

The Tigercats held WC scoreless in the third quarter and found their way back to the end zone with 5:12 left on the clock.

Erickson tacked on six points for the team with a 34-yard run and Bo Rice put up the extra two points for the Tigercats, bringing the score to 50-16 at the completion of the third quarter.

The team held WC out of the end zone until the final minutes of the game when the Wildcats scored off of a six-yard run.

With the completion of the two-point conversion, the score moved to 58-16 in favor of the Wildcats during the season opening game.

Ziebell said the team has remained positive amidst the final score, and as a team they are choosing to focus on the elements to improve on instead of simply looking at the final score.

“It shows that our guys have a lot of heart and with a little bit more work, on our (coaches) end too, we’ll be a little bit more competitive,” Ziebell said.

“It was a humbling experience all around,” Ziebell added.

In his first year as head coach, Ziebell is working on perfecting his coaching skills as much as he is working with the athletes to master their individual positions on the field.

The team is in a rebuilding year, with only five starting athletes returning from last year, but Ziebell believes with focus and going back to basics, the Tigercats will continually improve throughout the season.

The Tigercats move on to face Soap Lake on the road on Friday for another non-league match up.

Ziebell said the team is focusing on reducing mental mistakes and playing solid on both ends of the field.

Overall, Ziebell said the focus is being smarter with blocking and learning to read the ball.

The LWK Tigercats take the field in Soap Lake at 7 p.m. in the second non-league game for the team this season.