The West Wildcatters were this year's South Zone and district champions.
First row, left: Seth Mikeska, Carter East, Eddie White, Austin Dies, CJ Jones, Christopher Saphos, Eric Garza,Hunter Schwerdtfeger; Second row left: Kyle Rogers, Ian Marcontell, Ty Martinez, Ryan Richie, Dalvin Sterling, Bryan Cruz, Austin Cruz; Third row, left: Coleman Dennis, Jacob Joubert, Charles Simmons, Ryan Deshotel, Ronnie Fraser, Andreus Faltesek, Marcel Dunford; fourth row, left: Abdul Sneed, Coach Virgil Mikeska, Coach Bryan Lloyd, Daniel De La Garza
The Pearland Junior High West seventh-grade A Wildcatters defeated the Bonnette Bobcats to close out an undefeated season with a 7-0-1 record.
The Wildcatters, coached by Virgil Mikeska and Bryan Lloyd, won the Bay Area League 7A District title. This is the second time West 7A has gone undefeated. Members of the previous team to do it are now freshman in high school.
Here's Mikeska's recap of the season:
GAME SUMMARIES
Game 1: West 32, Laporte Bullpups 0
Seven different players would get positive rushing yards in the home opener. Charles Simmons would lead the Wildcatters with 78 yds and 2 TDs. He also scored on a 64 yard TD pass from Ty Martinez on the first play of the season. Marcel Dunford added a 35 yd TD. Seth Mikeska kicked a PAT. The defense played a spectacular game and recorded their first shut out of the year. Ronnie Fraser led the defense with 6.5 tackles (2 were sacks) and a fumble recovery for a TD. Simmons had 5.5 tackles and Mikeska had 4. The Wildcatter defense held Laporte to 7 yards total offense. Other key players on the defense were Austin Dies, Chris Saphos, Abdul Sneed, Ryan Deshotel and Daniel DelaGarza.
Game 2: West 34, Fairmont 0
This game was played in the pouring rain. West scored on the first play of the game for the second week in a row. Ty Martinez would hit Simmons again for a 58 yard TD pass. Malik Mitchell led the Wildcatters with 97 yards rushing and 2 TDs. Simmons added 2 rushing TDs and Andreus Faltesek would kick 2 PATs. Jacob Joubert added 20 yards rushing. Kyle Rogers had 3 catches for 34 yards and Eric Garza made an outstanding catch for 18 yards. The defense had another outstanding game holding the Vikings to 49 total yards offense. Defensive standouts were Martinez with 3.5 tackles and fumble recovery, Simmons with 3 tackles and an INT, Deshotel 3 tackles, Eric Garza caused a fumble and Carter East with an INT.
Game 3: West 20, Friendswood 8
Both teams came in to this game averaging over 30 points a game. All the scoring in this game would happen in the first half. Friendswood capitalized on our early turnover by scoring on a trick play. West would regroup quickly and answer with 20 unanswered points in the first half. Blocked punts by Fraser and Deshotel would set up two of the TDs. Simmons had 81 yds rushing and two TDs and Martinez would add 41 yds on the ground. Deshotel rushed for 42 yds and a TD. Faltesek had had 18 yards receiving, Simmons had 21 and Dehsotel had 10. Faltesek kicked a PAT. Our defense held Friendswood to 114 yards total offense. Other defensive players are Chris Saphos, Rogers, Garza, Mikeska, Dennis Coleman and Austin Dies.
Game 4 West 34 McAdams 20
This battle of two undefeated teams was played in the pouring rain and mud. McAdams was averaging close to 30 points a game on offense and had not been scored on YET! The offensive consisting of Ryan Richie, Eddie White, Dennis Coleman, Deshotel, Fraser, Dalvin Sterling, Mikeska, Hunter Schwerdtfeger, Ian Marcontel, Bryan Cruz and CJ Jones dominated the tough Gator defense. The Wildcatters would score 5 TDs and gain over 330 yards in total offense. Simmons would rush for 4 TDs and gain 224 yards on the ground. Martinez added 69 yards. Deshotel had a rushing TD. Faltesek kicked 2 PATs. Our defense started out slow in the first half and came on strong in the second half. We gave up 142 yards total offense. The defense was led by Simmons with 6 tackles and an INT. Faltesek had 5 tackles. Abdul Sneed, Chris Saphos, Daniel DelaGarza and Sterling helped control the line of scrimmage.
Game 5 West 33, Berry Miller Bobcats 18
This game was closer than the final score. Field was extremely wet from the rain over the weekend. Marcontel, Austin Cruz, Sterling, Richie, Jones, DelaGarza, Dennis, Deshotel, Fraser and White played another solid game on the offensive line. Simmons had another big day rushing for 148 yards and 3 TDs. Martinez added a 37 yard TD pass to Deshotel. Faltesek kicked two PATs. Defense came up big again after a slow start. 17 different Wildcatters had a tackle on defense. Defensive leaders were: Faltesek with 3 tackles, Deshotel with 2 tackles and helped Martinez with a safety, Sneed caused a fumble that DelaGarza recovered, Garza had 2.5 tackles and Schwerdtfeger and Carter East each had 2 tackles. Miller had 131 yards total offense against the mighty Wildcatter Defense.
Game 6: West 14 East Roughnecks 0
East came into the game with one of the best defenses in the whole district. They had only given up 45 points all year. They held us to our lowest yardage of the season (147). The East defense controlled our running game for most of the game but one big drive and a timely TD pass would help us defeat out across the street rival. Ty Martinez scored the games first TD on a 1 yard run. Martinez hit Faletesek for a 35 yard TD pass to seal the victor for the Wildcatters. Not to be outdone by the stout Roughneck defense, the Wildcatters defense would shut out the Roughnecks and hold them to just 21 yards total offense. Defensive leaders were: Martinez with 5.5 tackles, Simmons had 3.5 tackles and an INT, Fraser caused a fumble and had 2.5 tackles and Dalvin Sterling would recover a fumble. This win sealed the South Zone Championship for the Wildcatters.
Game 7: West 6 South Diamondbacks 6
For the third time this season, the game was played in extremely muddy conditions. The Diamondbacks came out ready to play. Their defense shut down the West offense except for one drive. They came out playing hardnosed and inspired football. Faletesek led the offense with 79 yards rushing and Seth Mikeska scored his first TD of the year for our only score. South tied the game on the ensuing kickoff after our TD. Our defense answered the call again holding the D-backs to 76 total yards on offense. Eric Garza would be the defensive star pulling in 3 INTs on the day. Other players helping with the tough Wildcatter defense were Martinez with 7 tackles, Mikeska with 5.5 tackles, Simmons 5 tackles, Deshotel 3 tackles and Dennis 2.5 tackles.
Game 8, District Championship: West 6, Bonnette Bobcats 0
This was a rematch from our first scrimmage of the year. This was a tough defensive battle. Bonnette had only given up 49 points for the season and we had only given up 52 points. Our defense set the tone on the first play with Dennis Coleman recovering a fumble caused by Martinez. Bonnette’s tough defense started off strong stopping us in four downs. West would force them to punt and on our next possession we would give up the ball on a turnover. Defense would come through again holding the Bobcats and forcing another punt. West mounted a nice 7 play drive but was stopped on downs. Abdul Sneed would deliver a bone crushing hit and cause a fumble that Ronnie Fraser scooped up and rambled 25 yards before having the ball stripped. The game would continue to be a game of short possessions. Kyle Rogers made a game saving tackle on a Bonnette run around the left end late in the fourth quarter. With 2:00 minutes left in the game, the Bobcats defense thought they had a safety but the Wildcatters were ruled that their forward momentum had been stopped at their own one yard line. Facing a third and 20, Martinez broke off the right tackle and would go the distance for the game winning 99 yard TD run. We were just trying to get some room to punt and the next thing you see is Ty running through a huge opening.
Eric Garza would intercept the next play to seal the victory and the district championship.
Our defense was great for us all year!
The Wildcatters defense held opponents to around 70 yards per game and only gave up 6.5 points a game, while scoring 22.75 points a game. Coach Lloyd did an unbelievable job getting the lineman ready for battle every game!
This season, the Wildcatters had 8 out of the 24 players on the team score.