Wildcats Quarterback Blaike Jones is pursued by a group of Raiders as he sprints for extra yardage. Jones finished the night with 121 yards rushing and 284 yards passing with three touchdowns. (Democrat photo/Mark Randall)

Call it the curse of Nettleton, if you will.

Last year it was two disputed touchdown plays and a missed field goal that sailed just wide of the goal post with one second remaining on the clock to sink the Cats.

This year, despite gaining 494 yards of total offense, it was costly turnovers as the Wildcats couldn't seem to hold on to the ball in a losing 41-35 effort to the rival Raiders.

"Turnovers killed us," said Wildcats head coach Greg White. "And we had some lapses on defense. We've got to do a better job of hanging on to the football."

Trumann jumped out to an early 14-0 lead on two touchdown runs by Zac Thompson.

Nettleton quarterback Blake Johnson cut the lead to 14-7, but the Wildcats pulled ahead 21-7 when Blaike Jones connected on a 50 yard pass to Dustin Miller.

The Raiders took advantage of a number of Trumann miscues, though, recovering the ball on the Trumann one and scoring to make it 21-13 following the blocked PAT.

Anthony Sotherland later returned a fumble by Zac Thompson 63 yards for the touchdown with 33 seconds remaining in the half, but Nettleton failed on the two-point conversion attempt to make it 21-19.

The Raiders would take the lead in the second half starting with a 43 yard kickoff return by Kyle Schmidt that brought it to the Wildcats 44 yard line. Johnson then got the Raiders closer with a 29 yard pass to Josh Alkire. Finally, Chris Vance ran it in from the 11 yard line for the touchdown to take a 27-21 lead.

Trumann answered with a 50 yard touchdown reception by Tommy Harris to put the Wildcats back on top 28-27. But it wasn't to last.

The Raiders came back to re-take a 33-28 lead on a 5-yard touchdown run by Sotherland which was helped by a conversion on fourth and seven at the Trumann 21.

Nettleton widened their lead to 41-28 after a bad punt attempt by Trumann gave the ball to the Raiders on the Trumann one once more.

Trumann closed the gap again to 41-35 late in the fourth quarter on a 20 yard pass from Jones to Harris. They then forced the Raiders to punt on their next possession for one more shot on offense.

Jones led the team downfield and got to the Nettleton 34, but the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs with 1:26 left to play.

Jones finished the night 13 of 23 for 284 yards and 3 touchdowns passing while carrying the ball 15 times for 121 yards.

Thompson, coming off a 152 yard performance against Rivercrest, had 14 carries for 60 yards and two touchdowns. Harris had six carries for 26 yards and four catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Miller caught two passes for 65 yards and a TD.

Kicker Luis Guttierez was 5 for 5 on extra points.

White said fumbles and lapses in defense and on special teams let the game get away.

"We had almost 500 yards on offense," White said. "We can move the ball. If you score 35 points with five turnovers, you're supposed to win the game. But we didn't.

"I think our defense let us down a little bit. They rested a little bit. When we ended up scoring again and they had to play defense again, they stopped Nettleton. I know they can do it."

Terrance Harris had 12 tackles on the night followed by Q Dale Chappel with 10 and Zac Thompson contributing eight.

White said it could have been a different game had the team not fumbled and managed to score again when they were up 21-7.

"I think the game would have been over," White said. "Teams can come back from a deficit. But when you're down that bad, I think they might have folded up a little bit. But, we did fumble.

"And you have to give them credit. That's the sign of a good team. They didn't let down. I knew they were better than they played against Jonesboro. When it came time to make plays, the made them and we didn't. They converted two big fourth down passes. We've got to step up. We have got to have somebody who can make a play."

The Wildcats travel to Paragould this week for another non-conference game and both teams will be looking to come back after tough losses.

Paragould lost 21-19 to Pocahontas.

White said he plans to make some changes on defense and work on special teams.

"We're not covering our punts and kickoff returns," White said. "We're going to have to work on that.

"I don't think we'll do much with the offense. We have everything prepared. I think we may have to get some different looks defensively. Obviously, Nettleton saw what we were doing defensively. We have to do a better job mixing it up. And we're going to preach holding on to the ball. You can't preach that enough. It was hot and humid last week and you really can't fault them as much as people want to fault them because they were fighting for extra yards and trying to make the best play they could. A lot of times when you do that you have one arm on the ball instead of two. But turnovers will kill you. And that's what happened."

But as far as he is concerned, their worst game of the season is over. And since it was a non-conference game, White said the Wildcats can regroup and still go on and win the conference.

"I want them to think that was our worst game of the year," White said. "These are all non-conference games. It's for wins and losses. These games will hurt your pride. Sure, you want to be 3-0. But there is way too much football season left. Conference play hasn't even started yet. If we can do that and get better each week, we can come back from this and make a run for the state championship."