The Kirbyville Wildcats were hoping to get back on the winning side as they hosted the district leading East Chambers Buccaneers last Friday night. But it was not to be as the Buccaneers remained undefeated and beat Kirbyville 34-17.
The game opened well for the Wildcats as they forced a fumble on the opening kickoff and recovered it to begin on offense at the Bucs 35 yard line. The Wildcats drove deeper into the Bucs end of the field and looked to score on a pass from quarterback Braydon Mahathay to Chase Young, but a penalty wiped out the score and the Wildcats settled for a 34-yard field goal by Francisco Ibarra.
The Bucs quickly answered on their first possession scoring on a 12-yard run and a PAT kick, taking a 7-3 lead.
Two punts by Kirbyville and one by the Bucs provided the Bucs with a short field as they began a drive at the Wildcats 39. The Bucs scored on a 33-yard run and extended their lead to 14-3.
Kirbyville drove into the Bucs territory as the first half was nearing an end and they had a chance to score. But the Bucs intercepted a pass in their own end zone to turn back the scoring threat. The first half ended with East Chambers leading 14-3.
Kirbyville took the second half kickoff and drove 58 yards with Taylon Alfred scoring on a 5-yard run. Ibarra added the PAT kick and the Wildcats had drawn to within four points of the Bucs, 14-10.
East Chambers responded on their first possession of the half scoring on another long run of 42 yards and raised their lead to 21-10.
The two teams traded fumbles on their next possessions, but the Bucs broke away one more time on a long run scoring from 55 yards to make the score 28-10.
In the fourth quarter the Wildcats had one final scoring drive, which culminated with Mahathay scoring on a 15-yard run. The Bucs had one final answer scoring on an 18-yard quarterback draw and the final score of the game was 34-17 in favor of the Buccaneers.
Kirbyville will travel to Anahuac for another tough game against the Panthers who are locked into third place in the district standings. It could shape up that the winner of the final game of the season when Buna goes to Kirbyville could decide the final playoff spot from the district.
