Wildcats fall in Road Opener at Kearney Catholic
The St. Paul Wildcat Football team kicked off the 2025 campaign on Friday in Kearney as they kicked off the year against the Kearney Catholic Stars.
The Stars won the toss and elected to receive. The opening kickoff went the Cats way as the Stars stepped out of bounds at the 4 and the Wildcats forced a 3 and out defensively. The opening possession for the Cats was promising they were able to find some success running up the field. The Cats ended up stalling their opening possession after a string of penalties.
The Stars under veteran Head Coach Rashawn Harvey settled in and struck first as Senior Letreyu May was able to break off a Wildcat defender for a 60 yard pass completion to make it 6-0 following the missed PAT. The Stars found paydirt one more time before the quarter was over as Hunter Key scored with no time left on a 1 yard draw to make it 13-0 Stars at the End of 1.
The Stars on the ensuing drive forced a St. Paul turnover as a Read Option fell apart with a fumble recovered by Zane Slack for a 47 yard return to make it 20-0.
The Stars tacked on a 28 yard field goal by May to extend the lead to 23 with 3:19 to go in the first half. Kearney Catholic wasn't done there with :33 left in the first half the Stars chucked the ball into the endzone for Cole Berg to make the catch to round out the first half score at 30-0.
The 3rd quarter was scoreless as St. Paul was able to make adjustments to the Kearney Catholic offense but was unable to find any success themselves offensively.
On the first play of the 4th quarter Kearney Catholic scored their final points of the game on an 11 yard run to give them a running clock at 37-0. That only lasted about 3 minutes as the Cats found the endzone twice one from Zandyn Weller as he scored on a simple pass play that turned into a 79 yard completion from Alex Meinecke to make it 37-7. The Cats werent done there as late in the contest Mason Majerus busted a 32 yard run and was brought down at the 5. On the next play, St. Paul ran the same handoff and Majerus finished the scoring off at 37-14.
The Cats fall to 0-1 while the Stars kick off the year at 1-0.
Zandyn Weller earns Runza MVP with his Touchdown as well as a big hit in the 2nd quarter to force an incompletion.
St. Paul hits Wildcat Field for the first time next Friday as they welcome the Raymond Central Mustangs. Theyre 1-0 after a 42-7 victory over Fillmore Central.