Friday night was a learning experience for the Alpena High football team as the Wildcats struggled in a 43-14 loss to Traverse City West.

One of the premier teams in the Big North Conference, West had their way with the Wildcats for much of the night.

“It is definitely one of those learning experiences as far as where we want to be as a program. We seen tonight that we have a ways to go, but the kids have to understand that we can’t quit, can’t throw in the towel, we just have to continue coming out, working had and get ready for the next game,” Alpena coach Aaron Sims said.

After one quarter of play, the game had all the makings of one that could come down to the wire as both teams were held scoreless.

The Wildcats (2-3, 0-2 Big North) had problems moving the ball offensively in the opening quarter and it was a trend that continued for most of the night. Both teams exchanged possessions, but Alpena’s Barrett Jones came up with the biggest play of the quarter as he intercepted a pass from Titans quarterback Jacob Pawloski who was under pressure and took it deep into West territory.

Alpena was unable to take advantage of the great field position and momentum as penalties backed them up and they were forced to punt.

“They were just bringing it to us more than we were bringing it to them and that’s something we have to work on in practice and get after each other a little more,” Sims said. “There’s something there, whether it’s we’re not competitive enough or physical enough at practice. We have to come after guys and we didn’t do that tonight and that’s something we have to fix.”

It didn’t take the Titans long to open the scoring as they needed just four plays to go 88 yards, scoring 40 seconds into the second quarter as Pawloski scrambled in from 15 yards out. The Titans went for two and converted as Pawloski threw a jump ball in the corner of the end zone to his big 6-7 tight end Ryan Hayes.

West held the Wildcats on their next possession and again, the Titans needed just four plays to find pay dirt as Erik LaBonte ripped off a 55-yard touchdown run to put West up by two scores.

The Titans were able to find the end zone one more time before the half ended as Andrew Campbell capped off an 11-play, 52 yard drive with a 16-yard touchdown run. West again went for two and for the second time in the quarter, Pawloski hit Hayes in the corner for the conversion, giving the Titans a 22-0 halftime lead.

“I just told the kids to come out and play one play at a time with a fanatical effort and that’s all we’re asking for them to do. We talked about a couple adjustments, but nothing major. We just wanted to clean up some of the little things that we weren’t doing,” Sims said.

West continued the dominance by scoring on the first play from scrimmage to start the second half on a 65-yard touchdown that Campbell had stripped from him by Alex Arch right before he crossed the goal line, but the ball was recovered in the end zone by Robert Howell for the touchdown.

The Titans scored on more time before the third quarter ended as Pawloski hooked up with his other tight end Jared Farkas from 20 yards out to put West up 37-0.

Alpena finally got on the board just under three minutes into the fourth quarter as Arch powered his way in from a yard out. Arch got his second score of the game with 1:35 remaining in the game as he found the end zone from 34-yards out.

West put the finishing touches on a convincing win as Josh Dean took a handoff on the next play from scrimmage 74 yards for a touchdown.

The Titans finished the game with 427 yards rushing and Pawloski added 73 yards through the air. Campbell finished with 165 yards on nine carries.

Alpena’s offense was held in check and had little room to run most of the night as the team finished with just over 200 yards of total offense. Arch continued his solid play with 85 yards rushing on the night to go with his two scores.

The Wildcats will be home again Friday when they host Bay City John Glenn.

“It’s the same story. You’re not going to see anything new next week. We are going to run the same offense and same defense. We just need to do the small things a lot better,” Sims said.

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.