by Paul Moseley

The West Seattle Wildcats took on the Highline Pirates at SWAC saturday evening to close out the regular season. The Pirates took home a 20-14 win in a game that kept the crowd in it to the final seconds.

Highline struck first in the second quarter. After several back and forth possessions, Highline Quarterback Kyle Tief connected with receiver AG Sailiai for a 40 yard touchdown pass that put the Pirates up 7-0. On West Seattle’s next possession, the Wildcats got into the game with beautiful drive. They kicked the drive off with a 20 yard screen pass from Quarterback Carter Golgart to John Ursino, then handed it to Rico Saeteurn for another first down run. A few plays later, Golgart connected again with Ursino for a 25 yard touchdown and it was 7-7 with 5:13 left in the half.

The Pirates answered back with 43 seconds left in the half. It was Tief to Sailiai again for a 30 yard reception and Highline went into half-time with a 14-7 lead.

In the third quarter, both teams traded possessions - getting some momentum but losing opportunities to penalties and turnovers. Finally, with 2 minutes left in the game, Highline had a first down near the West Seattle 10 yard line. Opting to run instead of taking a knee and running out the clock, Pirate running back Malik White got the call and ran the ball in from 10 yards making it 20-7.

The Wildcats took the kick off and went to work. Golgart did some of his best work of the season as he moved the ball down the field through the air. He finished with a strike to Andrew Burggraff for a TD, making the score 20-14 with 54 seconds left.

On the ensuing kick-off, Highline recovered the onside kick, and decided again to run the ball again instead of running out the clock. On their second play from scrimmage, the Wildcat defense stripped the ball from the Highline runner and took possession with about 30 seconds remaining. The Wildcats were unable to convert on two long passes and Highline intercepted with no time left on the clock.

Final Score Highline 20, West Seattle 14.