Wildcats champs again

WAELDER — Clinching a district title was just one of the goals the Waelder Wildcats had for this season. Being able to clinch it during homecoming made the situation even sweeter. Winning a title while also taking down your rival in one swoop? Well that would just be icing on an already delicious cake.

Tuesday night the Wildcats hosted the Moulton Bobkats in a District 30-1A finale, with Waelder hoping to take at least a share of the district title.

They did just that with a turnaround in the third quarter as they outscored Moulton 21-7 to take an insurmountable lead, finishing the game with a 56-35 win.

“It was homecoming for us so our fans were her and they supported us well,” Wildcats’ head coach Brandon Howard said. “I think our players fed off that and got extra energy from our fans.”

Before the Waelder crowd began to roar though, the Wildcats and the Bobkats traded baskets in the first quarter, changing leads with every made shot. On the offensive end, the Wildcats weren’t able to get much going, scoring just seven points in the first, but then they added 12 in the second with scores coming in from Aaron Wilson, Steven Ewing and Justin Schilhab, ending the half with a 20-17 lead.

Then the third quarter hit and the Wildcats began their run.

Carlos Reyes found Ewing who got a bucket early in the third. Wilson then grabbed a steal and finished with an easy shot on the fast break. Moulton scored a basket and then had another possession before Wilson again got a steal and finished with another two pointer. With 5:24 left Wilson for the third time scored on a fast break to put Waelder up 28-19 before Moulton’s coach had to call a timeout.

“We just hit shots,” Howard said of the third quarter breakthrough. “We got the same looks, we just hit them this time.”

After the timeout, Moulton finally ended the 8-2 run on a put back to cut the lead to 28-21 midway through the quarter. Waelder would end the frame, however, on a 10-3 run, with scores coming in from Schilhab, Ewing, Tracy Moore and Alex Ontiveros.

“I think it was a good team effort,” Howard mentioned. “Everybody played well tonight.”

In games past, the Wildcats were known for their fast-paced, up-and-down-the-court kind of offense. However in Tuesday’s game, Waelder played more of a half-court game, bringing the ball up slowly and running plays.

“I guess it was by design tonight and we felt that slowing it down at times would be good for us,” Howard explained. 

Even then, the Wildcats still found ways to push the ball up the court. When asked, Howard implied that different scenarios called for different play calling, hence the mix between slowing it down and a faster-paced offense.

Nonetheless, up 17 the Wildcats continued to increase their lead with baskets coming in from Wilson, Ewing and Moore. Ewing would end the night as the points leader, scoring 18 while Wilson came away with 17.

With less than two minutes to go, Howard called in his bench to end the game, much to the delight of the fans as crowd-favorite Jordan Perez walked on the court. With 1:24 left in the game, freshman Alex Reyna found Perez opened who nailed the three pointer on his first attempt, giving the Wildcats the 56-31 lead. Moulton added four more late to cut the lead, ending the game 56-35 in favor of Waelder.

The win moved Waelder to 13-1, tied with Dime Box on top of District 30-1A. Both teams are named district co-champions. Meanwhile, Moulton end their season with a 5-9 district record, tied for fifth with Fayetteville.

With nine freshmen on the roster including two starters, the Wildcats get to claim yet another district title. Howard said that his kids “bought in to the system and it showed.”

“We were very young this year,” he noted, “we have a lot to build with and continue to grow as a team.”

Defense has always been vital for the Wildcats. As Howard said a year ago, defense wins championships. Though the team isn’t necessarily where they need to be, the head coach did give props to his kids.

“Defensively we’re working hard, that’s all I can say,” Howard said. “It’s never going to be where we need to be because we could always get better on the defensive end so they work hard for me on defense and that’s all I can ask for right now.”

After tiebreaking procedures at the district meeting, Howard announced that the Wildcats will be coming out the district as the second seed. They will take High Island on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at Sealy High, with tipoff set at 5:30 p.m.

According to the Brenham Banner-Press, Burton (8-6) will take on La Marque PLA (8-6) to determine the third seed out of District 30-1A.