The crowd was bustling, dressed in assortments of animal print, as they gathered to cheer the Mustangs on during their homecoming game last Friday. The night kicked off with a rendition of Metea’s ‘fight song’ played by the marching band and sung by the junior varsity and varsity cheerleading teams. The Wildcats went into the game with a 5-0 season record, making them a challenging opponent. The Mustangs fell to their offensive and defensive pressure, losing 31-0. “Our issue was offensively being able to handle them up,” head coach John Parpet said. “There is a reason they are ranked number one defense in our area. They are good.”

The first quarter of play consisted of a lot of back and forth play, neither team scoring any points. The Wildcats found the endzone in the sixth minute, but the play was flagged for offensive holding and was called back. Neither team was able to find the endzone by the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Wildcats let their strong offense shine through. Metea’s defense made some strong tackles, but the Wildcats pushed through and scored with three minutes left of play and a successful kick that left a new score of 7-0. With seconds left before the first half ended, a pass interference was flagged and simultaneously junior tackle Ramon Arteaga was injured and assisted off field. This allowed the Wildcats to make a clean field goal just before the clock ran down with a final first half score of 10-0.

During halftime, the marching band performed ”Still Breathing” by Green Day, “A Million Dreams” from the Greatest Showman, “Happy Together” by The Turtles, and “I Can See for Miles” by The Who. The band’s last season performance even got a standing ovation. The dance and varsity cheer team also produced performances between halves. Halftime allowed for both teams to reconvene for the next deciding half of the game.

“I would have liked a little more of a response offensively up front,” Parpet said. “Defensively, they just battled and ran out of gas.”

Going into the second half, the Wildcats found holes in the Mustang’s defense and were able to infiltrate into the endzone about halfway through the third quarter, leading 17-0. A few minutes later the Wildcats snuck into Mustang territory to rack up another touchdown for the Wildcats. The third quarter ended with a score of 24-0.

The Wildcats did not hold back going into the final quarter of play with a catch by their sophomore wide receiver Carter Stare into the endzone solidifying the final score of the game, 31-0.

“We are definitely going to work on our offensive line and [become] stronger upfront because that is what killed us tonight,” junior wide receiver and cornerback Christian Smith said. “We are just going to piece it all back together and regain the momentum that we had before.”

The boys’ will travel to their next game against Naperville North this Friday.