By CHRIS WILSON
Colorado went “wild” in Saturday night’s cat fight at the McKay Events Center.
The Colorado Wildcats notched two victories in one night against the Utah Catzz, extending Utah’s losing streak to four games.
Game one of Saturday’s double-header was a replay of the last nine seconds of a game played between the same two teams on April 26.
Referees suspended play after an attempted field goal by the Catzz resulted in offsetting penalties.
Utah had a chance to beat the undefeated Wildcats with the 41-yard field goal attempt. But, trying to avoid the low-hanging scoreboard, kicker Doug Beach missed wide right. The Wildcats took over on downs and ran out the clock for the 29-27 victory.
Game two started with regular Utah starter Paul Shoemaker on the bench. The Catzz record low 14-point scoring output in last week’s loss to the Louisiana Bayou Beast prompted head coach Gordon Hudson to start back-up quarterback Joe Borich.
The Catzz stayed within striking distance at the half down only 29-10, although the half-time statistics told a completely different story. The Catzz managed only 9 total yards at the half compared to the Wildcats 137-yard first-half performance.
The Catzz have experienced an unusual number of injuries this year that has contributed to the lack of production. Nine starters missed Saturday night’s contest.
“It’s unbelievable,” Hudson said. “Every game I’ve lost somebody to a major injury. At the beginning of the year I picked out the best 30 guys that I though could play and out of those 30, I picked 22 that were the best. Now I’m down to going to 40 or 50 deep for who I’m trying to find.”
Shoemaker returned in the second half and started out cold, throwing a few near interceptions and bouncing the ball off the turf on short incompletions. After the slow start, Shoemaker was able to hit receiver Greg Hooks in the endzone for two fourth quarter scores.
Despite the scores, Utah finished the game with only 52 yards of total offense — a mere length of the field.
The 4-0 Wildcats decimated Utah’s defense, virtually scoring at will. Wildcats’ quarterback Jason Torres threw for 143 yards on 10 completions and three touchdowns. Running back Darnell Brooks steamrolled the Utah defensive line for 55 yards and one rushing touchdown. The Wildcats won the game 43-36.
“We just put ourselves in bad situations,” Borich said. “A couple of times in the first half we moved the ball real well and then we’d get a penalty to move the ball back. We’ve just got to stop putting ourselves into bad situations and then good things will happen.”
The Catzz next game is Saturday on the road against the 0-4 Minnesota Monsters. The Catzz next home game is June 27 against the Honolulu Hurricanes.
