The gridiron Wildcats were able to keep up with the Western Division leading Loggers for a half in Libby Friday before eventually falling, 54-14.

The Cats trailed 14-7 late in the second quarter before a Logger touchdown gave Libby a 21-7 halftime advantage.

The Loggers pushed their lead to 28-7 early in the third quarter, but the Cats responded with a touchdown of their own to cut the Libby lead to 28-14. It was as close as the Wildcats would come as Libby rolled off 26 straight points to pull away.

“They have enough athletes that if you make mistakes, they can score on you in a hurry,” Wildcat head coach Jaxon Schweikert said. “We were also having to move kids around because of injuries again, so it was a bit of a chain reaction.”

Down a number of players due to injury, the Cats put up a good fight, but wore down as the game entered its final stages.

“Our kids played really hard, but we just have so many kids out with injuries that it is hard to execute a game plan. We didn’t have much depth available and our starters wore down,” Schweikert said. “Luckily, we should have quite a few of them back for the Browning game this week. We have to get healthy before we can start taking steps forward. The injury bug has just had a epic impact on us this year. More so than any year since I have been here.”

Taylor Bryan and Brad Nieves scored the Wildcat touchdowns in the loss, both on passes from Mason Peters. Bryan finished with 38 yards while Nieves had 58.

Peters finished 17 for 31 passing for 182 yards and two touchdowns and was intercepted once.

The Cats will be at home Friday as they celebrate Homecoming against Browning. The Indians have one win and two losses coming into the contest, which starts at 7 p.m.