Wildkittens quarterback Jimmy Creecy gets hauled down by a Nettleton defender after gaining ground during a 22-0 home loss on Sept. 11 at Wildcats Field. (Democrat photo/Mark Randall)

In the after game huddle following the Wildkittens 22-0 loss to Nettleton, head coach Nick Richardson didn't do any yelling.

He just got straight to the point.

"We got whipped," Richardson said. "That's just the way it is. We weren't very tough tonight. We have got to have somebody who wants to play ball. We have got to start delivering blows instead of taking them."

The Wildkittens (0-2) battled the junior Raiders to a scoreless first quarter then fell behind 8-0 in the second period when Steven Wofford scored on a 25 yard run. The Raiders ran it in for the two-point conversion.

Nettleton extended their lead to 16-0 with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Quarterback Keegan McDaniel connected with an 18 yard pass to Winsley Henry for the touchdown then found E.J. Whitaker in the end zone for the two-point conversion.

McDaniel finished the Wildkittens off with a 33 yard touchdown run, but the extra point was blocked to make it 22-0.

The Wildkittens offense struggled all night to get anything going, despite a decent performance by Jimmy Creecy who was 5 for 13 passing for 49 yards while rushing for another 22 yards. Taylor McPherson had three catches on the night for 28 yards and 32 yards on the ground and Zack Buckner had one reception for 23 yards.

Richardson said the game plan called for more passing this year, but their receivers just couldn't hang on to the ball.

"Creecy passed the ball pretty well," Richardson said. "Our guys just dropped pass after pass all night. We just can't do that. We have got to be able to catch the ball."

The Kittens also lost a number of their key starters to injury including Creecy, who played most of the game hurt, McPherson and Luke Faulkner.

"We had an eighth grade quarterback, an eighth grade tailback and an eighth grade guard and middle linebacker," Richardson said. "When your big time players go out, that hurts."

Defensively, Richardson said containment was better, but their ends forgot they had to tackle.

"Our defense was only okay," Richardson said. "We're not flying to the football the way I'd like. And our ends need to tackle. We also got burned deep on a pass. Stuff like that kills you."

The Wildkittens will play a conference game this week at home against Gosnell.

"Gosnell will be tough," Richardson said. "They try and run the football. They do a lot of motion stuff and fooling the guards and trickery in the backfield. So we have to do a good job defensively this weekend.

Richardson said he is going to mix things up a little during practice this week.

"We're trying to get Hunter Creecy in the backfield a little more," Richardson said. "He's an eight grader, but he can really run the ball pretty good. And we're going to do a couple of things with (Quinton) Buchanan, moving him maybe to the line because our line is lacking a little without Faulkner. And we'll be working on catching the football.

"Our conference doesn't get any easier. This is our first conference game. Starting out 0-2 isn't really any good. But it doesn't mean anything as far as conference. So we need to try and start out on a good foot here."