After picking up their first Eight-player Football win in week one, the Harlem Wildcats were on their home field for their Northern C Conference opener.

The Wildcats welcomed the Chester/Joplin-Inverness Hawks to town Friday night for the Conference tilt.

The Hawks started fast, scoring early and often in a 64-0 win over the Wildcats. Harlem had no answer for the Hawks attack on either side of the ball. To their credit the Wildcat players, played every down hard until the very end. The coaching staff coached the kids up until the final horn sounded.

While the score is not what anyone wants to see, there were some positives and the team did some positive things during the contest that they can build upon.

Head Coach Ken Bigby knows where to start, “We will be going against a very tough Chinook squad (Friday night) and we have a lot of work to do. We need to get back to our fundamentals. Tackling needs to get better and we still have to work on our conditioning.”

Due to various circumstances the Wildcats have yet to field a full squad, “Our numbers are getting better, so we will have more depth at our positions,” said Bigby.

Bigby was impressed with his team, “Our team didn’t quit and I am very proud of them. We are still a young team, but we are getting better each week. I have faith in our boys and we will continue to fight and get better.”

Bigby points out one area the team was solid at, “Special teams are still going well for us. Our Offense will start clicking, but we need to keep plugging along. On Defense we will continue to keep working and gang tackling. I am looking forward to this weekend as are the boys.”

Junior Amari Stanley had 11 yards on 9 returns in the contest and carried the ball nine times for 32 yards. Senior Cody Weigand had three carries for two yards. Senior Darrius Longknife toted the ball four times for nine yards while senior Mikkel Rider had four carries for no yards. The Wildcat passing attack completed one of six attempts for 24 yards. Longknife was one for four passing for 24 yards.