Photo by Jamie McClintic The Alpena High Wildcat JV football team is seen on the field against the Petoskey Northmen on Thursday night.

The Alpena Wildcats JV football team put up another good fight against the Petoskey Northmen on Thursday evening, but unfortunately, they could not stop the Northmen from dominating the scoreboard.

Petoskey started the game with possession of the ball. A lot of back-and-forth bantering left the score at the end of quarter one, 0-0. Quarter two began with several holding penalties against Petoskey and an excellent long-range interception by Wildcat defensive back MacGregor McClintic, putting Alpena on the 40-yard line. Unfortunately, quarterback Jett Prevost was then pushed all the way back to the 10-yard line measuring too far for the Wildcats to score on their downs. Petoskey took possession of the ball but was stopped by defensive back Connor Kauffman with another momentous Wildcat interception. Running back Emerson Compeau then carried the ball to make several gains, but the opportunities for the Wildcats were just not presenting themselves.

Petoskey took over possession, working the ball down the field to the 10-yard line but not without being stopped by linebacker Scott Burns and Ethan Budd. An interesting twist occurred midgame after a powerful defensive push from Wildcat McClintic occurring on the 1-yard line. A touchdown was awarded for the Northmen, then revoked; however, they managed to eventually make way across their endzone with 44 seconds left of the half. The conversion was no good and quarter three started 6-0.

Josh LaCross led the second half kickoff but a few quick maneuvers by Petoskey landed another touchdown one minute into quarter three with the extra point. Alpena attempted to make progress but could not complete the pass plays. As Petoskey gained possession again, a fumble occurred and out of the rumble appeared Alpena’s Scott Burns with the ball. A good series of plays moved the Wildcats with a McClintic reception, and a Compeau carry but the yardage was just not enough. Quarter three ended with a ground shaking defensive tackle by Reid Hansen which opened the score for quarter four at 13-0.

Just when the Wildcats were about to pounce, the Northmen pulled off another touchdown within the first minute of the quarter putting a total of 20 on the board. The sun began to set over the Northmen’s field, and the Wildcats just did not have enough stamina to fight through the Northman’s line up. Several Wildcat injuries led to the Northmen gain of two additional touchdowns for a final score of 32-0.

Head Coach Jay Kuroswki followed up with his post-game thoughts, “We played a tough first half against a team of mostly sophomores and juniors, but during the second half the mistakes piled up, and we dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t climb out of. We have been missing some key players the past couple of weeks and lost another one for the season in the second half. We have a short week ahead to prepare for Gaylord; we look forward to playing strong on both sides of the ball in front of our home crowd on Wednesday night.”