Wildcats Beat Up on Cross Town Rival Huskies

The Edmonton Wildcats posted their first win of the season with a convincing 30 -19 win over their cross town rival Edmonton Huskies in front of a very vocal crowd of 900 enthusiastic fans at Clarke Stadium on Saturday night.

The team was fired up and it showed on the field as the Wildcats jumped out to an early 3 -0 lead midway through the first quarter with a 42-yard Ryan Smith field goal, 1 of 3 on the night. The Huskies answered back with a field goal of their own early in the 2nd quarter with a 33-yard kick to tie the contest at 3. Midway through the second quarter rookie QB Jordan Olson tossed a 10-yard TD strike to Andrew Johnson, putting the Wildcats on top 10-3. A missed field goal by Ryan Smith, resulting in a single point, rounded out the scoring in the first half as the Wildcats went into the locker room up 11 -3.

Third quarter saw the Huskies take advantage of a forced fumble early in the quarter, marching the ball down the field, and capping it off with a Ben Gorniak 27-yard strike to Anthony Barrett to cut the Cats lead to 11-10. Not to be out done, the Cats put a drive of their own together finishing it off with a Jordan Olson strike to Andrew Johnson, his second on the night to pull ahead 17-10. Kicker Ryan Smith added a field goal late in the quarter to up the score to 20-10.

Running back Taylor Souster who was 25 for 213 yards in the game opened up the scoring in the 4th quarter with a 22-yard scamper to pay dirt to increase the lead to 27-10. The Cats gave up a 2 point Safety to the Huskies, cutting the lead to 27-12. Ryan Smith added his third field goal on the night of 30yds to round out the Wildcats scoring at 30-12. The Huskies scored a late TD by Zack Wilkie to finish off the scoring at 30-19, but it was too little to late as the Wildcats handed the Huskies their 5th straight loss of the season. The Wildcats are now 1-4 and currently tied with The Regina Thunder for 4th place in the conference heading into next weekend’s tilt with the Hilltops in Saskatoon.

The Wildcats posted 462 yards of net offense with Jordan Olson completing 10 of 23 attempts for 122 yards. Taylor Souster had a breakout game and rushed 25 times for 213 yards and a TD, while Receiver/QB Andrew Johnson rushed 7 times for 35 yards and a TD plus 1 catch of 10 yards for his second TD. The Huskies had 380 yards of net offense with Ben Gorniak completing 12 of 28 for 169yds and 1 TD. The Huskies running game posted 192 yds with Skyler Sargent carrying 16 times for 117yds. Receiver Anthony Barrett caught 6 pass for 91yards and 1 TD.

Zack Brown led the defense posting 12 defensive points, while Ryan Doram and Kurtis Fischer each posted 10 points a piece. Defensively for the Huskies, Chance Hanson led the way with 20 defensive points, while Brandt Kolybaba posted 16 points.

Next game sees the Wildcats head next door to take on the Saskatoon Hilltops at the Gordie Howe Bowl in Saskatoon on Sunday September 25th at 1:00pm.