WILDCATS LOSE TO STERLING IN SEASON OPENER

By Staff

     If you are going to find out what kind of football team you have, play the defending Class 1A state champions on opening night.

     Moundridge’s football team did just that, stepped into the challenge Friday and battled a physical Sterling squad well before eventually falling 21-53 in their season opener on the road.

     The Wildcats didn’t shy away from the fight and matched the Black Bears' energy early, punching in scores in each of the first two quarters while leaning on the powerful running of Tione Wilson. Wilson had a monster night, running for 214 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries. When Moundridge needed some yards, Wilson was delivering them.

     But Sterling looked every bit like the reigning champions they were, rolling up 461 yards rushing, controlling the line of scrimmage, and stacking scoring drives together in the second and fourth quarters to pull away for the win.

     “We battled up front to match their physicality before ultimately losing that matchup,” noted Wildcat head coach Tyler O’Connor. “Many of our young players played meaningful minutes, and we plan on that showing up in their development and improvement as we move forward.”

     Considering the opponent, the Wildcats still finished with 250 yards of total offense on 38 plays, were tagged on only two penalties, and had zero turnovers.

     Even with  Sterling’s ground game pounding away, the Moundridge defense put together strong numbers, with 15 players recording tackles in the game, including eight with five or more, led by Cooper Schmidt with nine, and the trio of Garet Wedel, Logan Greenwalt, and Logan Wulf each recording five.

     The Wildcats, now 0-1, will face Sedgwick on Friday in the season home opener. Sedgwick is also seeking its first win after getting rolled 71-0 by Inman. Moundridge will look to build on their rushing success and continue developing the young core that saw meaningful snaps in Week 1, as the story of the 2026 Wildcats is just getting started.

SCORING:

Moundridge lost 21-53.

Moundridge = 7-14-0-0 = 21; Sterling = 6-26-7-14 = 53.

TEAM STATS:

Moundridge: 1st Downs – 9; Rushing – 216; Passing – 34; Total Plays/Yards – 38/250; 3rd Downs – 2/9; 4th Downs – 0/2; Fumbles Lost – 0; Interceptions – 0; Penalties – 2/5.

Sterling: 1st Downs – 18; Rushing – 461; Passing – 0; Total Plays/Yards – 52/461; 3rd Downs – 6/8; 4th Downs – 0/0; Fumbles Lost – 0; Interceptions – 0; Penalties – 3/17.

MOUNDRIDGE INDIVIDUAL STATS:

Passing (att/comp/yds/td) = Alex Rose 1/5/34/0.

Rushing (att/yds/td) = Tione Wilson 21/214/3; Blayne Schriner 2/27/0; Alex Rose 6/27/0; Logan Greenwalt 3/2/0.

Receiving (att/yds/td) = Josh Koehn 1/34/0.

Defense = Cooper Schmidt – 9; Garet Wedel – 6; Logan Greenwalt – 6; Logan Wulf – 6; Josh Koehn – 5; Logan DenHartog – 5; Blayne Schriner – 5; Jaxson Shahan – 4; Tione Wilson – 4; Tramaine Wilson – 3; Graham DenHartog – 3; Rylan Unruh – 3; James Storer – 1; Raymond Kaufman – 1; Atley Lichti – 1.

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at macks.people.places@gmail.com)