After a rough season full of losses, the Mount Baker Wild football team persevered to the end to earn a 13-6 victory over the visiting Westsyde Wildcats on Saturday.
Jerrod Hagel and Philip Heinicke scored the touchdowns for the Wild, as the team reached the end zone once in each half.
Even though the Wild won, the Wildcats scored first off off a Mount Baker fumble, which knocked the wind out of the hometown team.
But the boys refused to get down on themselves and went back out onto the field with something to prove, according to defensive co-ordinator Steve Zsillei.
While the offence was able to do some damage in the end zone, it was the defence that won the game, as the boys shut down everything the Wildcats threw at them,
“The defence was outstanding, again,” said Zsillei, who was stepping into the top spot to cover the absence of head coach Steve Lightfoot, who couldn’t make it to the game because of work commitments.
Heinicke ran for an 83-yard running play to score for the Wild, but the team failed to convert the extra two points.
“In the second half, we just kept pouring it on,” added Zsillei. “Definitely our best game ever in the sense that we didn’t die. We didn’t get gassed.”
Hagel put the Wild in the lead in the third quarter, punching the ball into the end zone from the one-yard line.
Zsillei knew his team struggled with making blocks on kick attempts, but decided to go for the single point, and Heinicke made no mistake blasting it between the uprights.
