The Taft High Wildcats played the McFarland Cougars for our 2018 Homecoming game. The Wildcats, unfortunately, lost 12-13, but after reviewing the film on the overturned touchdown, it’s blatant that we were robbed. On the Wildcats’ final drive with under two minutes to go, quarterback Nick Vargas scrambled in the pocket to avoid being sacked and threw a touchdown pass to receiver Brett Walls. This would have put us ahead, but they called it an illegal pass claiming he had crossed the line of scrimmage. The film showed Vargas throwing the ball on the 13-yard line and the line of scrimmage was the 11-yard line. The Cougars, shortly after, got the ball and ran out the clock by kneeing the ball play after play.

Both teams’ defenses held the score to 0-0 up until the final seconds of the first half. The Cougars managed to score off a quick pass with 30 seconds left before the second quarter came to an end. This was later answered early in the fourth quarter with a Wildcat touchdown. Quarterback Jackson Van Roekel threw a short pass to Austin Massey to put some points on the board. They, unfortunately, didn’t make the PAT and the score was McFarland 7, Wildcats 6. The Cougars scored three minutes later, after stripping the ball from our running back, and running it all the way into our end zone. This gave them a seven-point lead until Jordan Miranda broke multiple tackles and slipped his way into the Cougars’ end zone. They would stop our two-point conversion attempt putting us down by only one point (12-13). This would lead to the defense stopping them on the following drive and us getting the ball back with a couple minutes to play. Then, the unfortunate missed call, would happen and we would lose the game, but the Wildcats held their heads high knowing they played a great game. Their next game was October 12, at Cesar E. Chavez High School.