The Cleveland High School Wildcats epitomized determination Friday night during their second-round playoff game against New Albany at Parks Field at Mickey Sellers Stadium. On key plays on both sides of the ball, the team never “dropped the ball” and jubilance filled the air as a field goal soared through the uprights as time expired to give the Wildcats a well-deserved 24-21 win.

“These kids just kept fighting and fighting,” head coach Kelly Causey said. “We talked about focus. We talked about finishing.”

The Bulldogs drew first blood early in the first quarter with an aggressive, seemingly unstoppable running game by the duo of Josh Creekmore and Boston Newsome. Creekmore found the endzone on a run over 30 yards within the first three minutes of play to give New Albany an early 7-0 lead.

The Wildcats came out firing with its ground game and managed to get into field goal position for a 31-yard successful attempt by Taylor Summers. With over six minutes left to play in the first quarter the Bulldogs led 7-3.

On New Albany’s second possession, they turned to the running duo once more. After a 6-yard run by Newsome, Creekmore burst through a gap in the Wildcat defense and ran for 58 yards to set the Bulldogs up for another score. Despite a defensive stand and a forced fourth down, Newsome found a hole into the endzone to give New Albany a 14-3 lead with 2:32 left to play in the first quarter.

Neither team could put together a drive on the next couple possessions until CHS was able to find some life with less than six minutes to go in the first half.

Tyler Slaughter started the drive with an 11-yard run followed by a big 37-yard gain from team leader Eddie McCadney. The Wildcats were unable to gain a first down after a couple short yard attempts and settled for another Summers field goal, this one from over 40 yards out.

“I don’t know if we came out flat, but that’s the way it looked like to me,” Causey said. “We were fortunate enough to fight back.”

On the ensuing Bulldogs drive, the CHS defense stepped up big time when New Albany went for it on 4th and 1 on the Wildcats’ 43-yard line. With 3:26 left and 57 yards to go, CHS was looking to tie the game up before the half.

McCadney started the drive with a 9-yard run and CHS tried to catch the Bulldogs off-guard with a pass on second and inches. On the next four plays, McCadney picked up 21 yards on four running plays before being sacked for nine yards.

On 3rd and 17 on the 36-yard line with less than a minute to play, McCadney scrambled out of the pocket and found a wide open Marshall Boggs for 19 yards. With the first down and little time, McCadney attempted a pass but it went incomplete. He then did what he does best — tuck it under his arm and run. Seventeen yards later and the score was 14-12.

The Wildcats went for the 2-point conversion and McCadney gave a pump fake before walking in untouched. At halftime, the game was tied 14-14.

In the second half the Wildcats couldn’t muster anything on the first possession and then the Bulldogs came out firing away. New Albany controlled the clock and ran out over eight minutes of time on the heels of Creekmore and Newsome. On a 29-yard direct snap to Creekmore, the Bulldogs found the endzone to once again take the lead 21-14.

But, something was stirring up inside the Wildcat offense.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jason Young returned the ball to the 46-yard line. Slaughter began things with a 17-yard drive as fans in the stands began to roar.

Later, on a 2nd and 13, McCadney went to the air and found Raymond Gee for 29 yards to put the Wildcats on the 11-yard line. After a 4-yard run by McCadney, he looked once again to Gee, this time for a 7-yard score to tie the game at 21-21.

The fourth quarter was a time for both defenses to shine as neither could get anything cooking on offense. Then, the Bulldogs drove down the field. And drove some more. With less than three minutes to go in the game, New Albany set up for the go-ahead field goal, but the CHS defense had something else in mind.

A block.

Now, with 90 yards to go and little time on the clock, the Wildcats mixed up running and passing before McCadney connected with Boggs with less than a minute to play to put CHS in field goal position. As time expired, Summers’ third field goal of the evening sailed through the uprights.

Causey said of McCadney’s clutch throws, “Eddie did a great job of getting out from the pressure and making the plays. That’s just an athlete being an athlete.”

This was the second time this year the Wildcats beat the Bulldogs. They played in New Albany on Sept. 23 and CHS walked away with a 31-13 win.

The Wildcats, now 10-3 in Causey’s first year as head coach, advance to the third round of the playoffs. They will play Amory, also 10-3, on Friday. The location of the game was unknown as of press time.