Wildcats can’t take the Steele heat

BRAWLEY — Despite a valiant effort in the final minutes of the game, the late rally wasn’t enough for the Brawley Union High School football team as they fell to Steele Canyon 24-20 in its first game of the season on Friday night.

Finding themselves down by 10, with less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Imperial Valley League defending champions were led by junior quarterback Casey Kline, who guided the team down the field with primarily the run option in order to get the Wildcats near the end zone.

With just over three minutes left to play, Kline connected with senior wide receiver Branden Gutierrez for a 27-yard touchdown to get themselves within four points. The Cougars blocked the ensuing extra point.

The Cougars must’ve thought they had closed the game out when they converted on a fourth down in Wildcat territory, but a fumble at the end of the play gave the Wildcats 80 seconds to try and steal the win.

Once again, Kline would find Gutierrez near the sideline to get the Wildcats near midfield with less than 30 seconds left, but on the next play, a pass from Kline to the left side of the field was intercepted by junior safety Alexander Atherton to seal the win for the visiting Cougars.

“I’m very proud of how we performed. We’re a young team, we got a lot of juniors and sophomores starting for us and they played outstanding, they played their hearts out,” said Wildcats head coach Jon Self. “They kept competing all night. They’re going to be a tough group once they get it figured out.”

The young Wildcats struggled early to stop the Cougars’ running game, which allowed the Cougars to take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

When it seemed as though the Cougars could cruise to a win, the Wildcats were able to get back into the game on the following series, first, a kickoff return gave Brawley great field position at midfield and Kline, along with junior running back Michael Moreno, led the team in the rushing attack.

After Kline successfully converted on fourth down with a 4-yard run to the right side of the field, on the ensuing play, the Wildcats opted for the play action and allowed Kline to connect with the wide open Gutierrez for a touchdown that got the Wildcats back into the game.

In the first offensive drive of the second half, Kline set up the Wildcats thanks to a 33-yard run in which he broke a series of tackles to get the Wildcats to the Cougars’ 30-yard line, where the Wildcats capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run by Moreno.

“I think we’re better than what we thought we’re going to be. We went down early, but fought back and that’s what you want to see,” Kline said. “We just have to come out with more intensity, we can’t come out flat, we need to come out firing like we did in the second quarter and the third.”

After the Wildcats tied the game, Steele Canyon once again relied heavily on its rushing attack. After a big kickoff return, the Cougars capped the drive with a quarterback sneak inside the 1-yard line to retake the lead.

In the fourth quarter, the Cougars were able, with their running game, to manage the clock effectively and capped a five minute offense with a 33-yard field goal to take a 10 point lead with 5:51 left in the game. Although the Wildcats were able to make the Cougars nervous, Steele Canyon was able to get the win.

Self said after the game that for this year, the offense will have a few more facets adding more passing into the run option. Once the team is able to iron out some details, he feels he has a very good team to try to defend its IVL crown.

“They fought back, they never gave up and that’s Brawley tradition: Never back down. Never quit,” Self said.

The Wildcats have a challenging schedule ahead of them. After their BYEweek, BUHS will play three consecutive games on the road against Yuma, Cibola and Gila Ridge before coming back to Warne Field on Sept. 29 when they host Morse High School.