Wildcats Win Last Home Game for Wrobel
Culver-Stockton Wildcats beat the Clarke Pride 38-21. This secured the Wildcats for 4th place in the North Division. The Wildcats played this game in honor of freshman QB Antoni Wrobel who tragically lost his life in a motor accident earlier in the week. Wrobel was loved by his peers and his brothers of the ATO Fraternity.
The Wildcats honored Wrobel by a moment of silence before the game, flying the Polish flag in the run down, many players wore t-shirts with Wrobel’s number and name on it, and finally the first offensive play was named after Wrobel. The Wildcats also honored many seniors as well with senior day.
The Game
Clarke won the coin toss and couldn’t make progress on the first drive. The Wildcats would open their drive with the play named after Wrobel as a pass play to Kyle Dixon would result in a 64 yard touchdown. Clarke would march down the field but miss a field goal. Then Culver would extend with a 61 yard pass to Dixon. The cats start 14-0 and keep rolling.
Clarke would put together a good drive. Freshman QB Carson Estrada would get his team to the 3 yard lline. Culver’s Zeshaun Adams would force a fumble. Robert Jones would recover and return the ball for a 97 yd touchdown. This play would shatter a 62 year school record. The original record was set in 1962 by Byron Brown at 95 yds.
After a couple possessions. Estrada would throw an interception Fraley would return it 20 yards. Culver would settle for a field goal. Ethan Boulanger would kick 23 yd to make the game 24-0. The Wildcats would gain possession later at their one yard line. Cobb would get tackled in the endzone for a safety putting Clarke on the board for the first time. The half would end 24-2 Culver-Stockton up.
2nd Half
Culver would receive the kickoff in the second half and immediately march down the field. Day would throw an 11 yard pass to Eli Edmonds to extend the lead. Two possessions later Clarke would fumble to give Culver the ball. A 25 yard pass to Hunter Hester would end the 3rd as the cats go up 38-2.
The 4th Quarter would be pure chaos. I was on color commentary for the game. And I still can’t believe what I saw. Clarke would march down the field in there second possession of the quarter and score off a 6 yd pass from Estrada to Roland Hazard JR. Then the Pride would attempt a onside kick. And receive the ball on Culver’s 43. They would march down and Estrada would rush to score. The Pride would try another onside kick.
They recovered it again. Estrada would give a 6 yard pass to Guerrero to make the score 38-21. The Pride would try the ONSIDE KICK AGAIN. And they recover the ball. However an offsides would negate the kick. The Pride would try onside again. The Wildcats would get the ball and hold off the Pride to close out the game and end the season with 3 victories.
Post Game
The Wildcats end the season 3-8, 3-3 in the North Division. They secure 4th place in the division bellow #2 Grand View, Graceland, and Peru State. Clarke will finish the season 1-10, 0-6 in the North Division securing them in last place.
After the game I got to talk to Coach Sally about what this win means really deep down. “It’s awesome to be there after a tough week and have our guys come out and perform very well” He continued “They did everything for each other. When you start getting a program that’s built off of that, you put yourself in good position going forward.”
Wide Receiver Kyle Dixon became the 4th receiver to pass 1,000 yards receiving in a season.
The Wildcats faced a lot of adversity as they started the season facing all four nationally ranked teams that represent the Heart of America. Next year the schedule will change as they will face different south teams.
