By Brandon Olson
The Wasatch Wildcats went out in style against the Metropolitan Wolverines in their last regular-season home game Saturday night, destroying their Colorado neighbors 59-6.
The Wildcats” defense held the Wolverines to just 13 total offensive yards, two first downs and forced five turnovers, two of which were picked up and run for Wildcat touchdowns.
“We have a heck of a defense,” Wasatch quarterbacks coach Steve Clements said. “We”ve got guys that go 100 percent all the time, every play, and we”re gonna bring it for 60 minutes. That is not the first time we”ve shut down an offense.”
Wildcats wide receiver Darek Giles said it was the one of the few times everyone on the team worked together during a game.
“It was fun,” Giles said. “We finally focused as a team. It was a total team effort. We focused this week on really playing a full game. Our D-line was making the right plays, the right reads at the right time, enabling the quarterback to throw bad balls.”
The only Wolverine touchdown came in the second quarter when Vonne Jones picked off a Stan Parrish pass and ran 75 yards for the score, high-stepping into the endzone.
While the Wildcats” defense dismantled the Wolverines” offensive strategy, the offense threw it into overdrive as Parrish threw for 231 yards and five touchdowns, finding wide receiver Darek Giles three times in the endzone.
“Stan made some checks at the line of scrimmage, called some audibles,” Clements said. “Receivers made some good adjustments on their routes on the plays. It was just an all-around great effort. Defense, offense, everything was clicking and it would”ve been tough for anybody to beat us tonight.”
Parrish said the offensive line gave him the room he needed and plenty of time to find open receivers down field. He said his receivers adjusted well to the Wolverines” defense, making changes when necessary.
“We”ve been trying to pick up the intensity in our passing game a little bit,” he said. “The receivers worked hard. They switched covers on us a couple times and guys still made good reads on the covers.”
Giles said the Wildcats will be hard for any team to beat if their offense plays the way they did Saturday night.
“We had a lot of time,” Giles said. “Our line stepped up and gave our quarterback, Stan, a lot of time, and he made good plays. If we run our offense the way we should run our offense, with timing, no one can stop us.”
The Wildcats finish up the regular season on the road before jumping into the playoffs. They face off against the Colorado Springs Flames next Saturday and the Nebraska Storm on July 31.
“We”ve got two games until the playoffs,” Parrish said. “The next one is a big one for us. I feel like were really doing good. Our offense is starting to click. Our defense has been stellar all year. I think we”re looking very strong.”
