Wildcats doomed by Seymour’s big first half
Seymour quarterback Brayden Loyd threw for five touchdown passes in the first 24:10 of the contest to key the Panthers hot-start in a 46-28 win over Archer City.
Loyd went 16-of-24 for 240 yards with scoring tosses of 56, 52, 37, 26 and 9 yards to four separate receivers. David Charo was Loyd’s top-target, catching six passes for 83 yards and a score while Layton McAdams (2 rec., 65 yards, 2 TD), Brason Zeissel (2 rec., 36 yards, TD) and Isaac Wilden (1 rec., 26 yards, TD) all caught touchdown passes from Loyd.
Charo also added a 66yard pick-6 late in the first quarter to bolster the Panthers big advantage.
On the final play of the first half, Archer City junior quarterback Landon Smith lofted up a prayer to the end zone. Senior Kole Stovall got behind the defensive coverage on a beautiful pitch and catch to give the Wildcats positive momentum going into the locker room.
Out of the intermission, the Panthers responded with a quick strike of their own as Loyd hooked up with McAdams for a 56 yard strike on the opening play of the second half.
Despite trailing 40-14 just one play into the second half, Archer City fought back. The Wildcats’ defense – which did not record a stop in the opening half – limited the Panthers to two scoring drives in the second half to give the offense a chance to get back in the ball game.
“We’ve got a really good team waiting to bust out but we’re playing Archer City every week,” Wildcats head coach Bradan Ritchey said. “We’ve got to get out of our own way. You can take away the catastrophic first half, take away the pick six, but at the end of the day we lost by three touchdowns and we had three trips inside the 10 yard line with no touchdowns. We’ve got to toughen up mentally and finish those drives. Seymour is too good to make the mistakes we made tonight and expect to win.”
While the Wildcats felt as if they dominated play in the second half, three trips inside the 10 resulted in no points. Archer City almost moved the ball at-will between the 20s but inside the red zone, the Wildcats stalled.
Senior Kline Mayo finished off a drive midway through the third quarter with a bruising touchdown run to cut the deficit to 4021 at the 7:34 mark in the third quarter.
The Wildcats made it a two-score game midway through the third quarter. Smith dialed up senior Chance Warren for a 19yard strike with 5:51 to play to pull within 40-28.
Needing a stop, the Archer City defense forced Seymour into a fourth and 1 from the Wildcats’ 41-yard line. Charo took the direct snap and broke through the line before racing 41 yards to the endzone for what would ultimately be the final nail in the coffin with 3:29 remainng.
Smith threw for 402 yards and two scores while finishing off another drive with a rushing touchdown. His top two targets – Warren and Stovall – combined for 22 catches for 310 yards with Warren grabbing an impressive 13 grabs for 180 yards and a score.
Archer City hosts Electra on Fri., Oct. 6, for homecoming.
