Wildcats fall in season-opener

River Falls fell Friday night to Menomonie, 28-6, but there were plenty of bright spots for the Wildcats.

First-year Wildcats head coach Ryan Scherz is looking for his team to contend in the Mississippi Valley Conference, and they started the season with a couple tough non-conference tests. Menomonie is expected again to be strong, and the Wildcats will make their home debut Friday night against rival Hudson. Conference play gets underway against Tomah in a home game Sept. 3.

Menomonie scored on two drives to open the game, but the Wildcats fought back, with a combination of running plays and strikes from quarterback Vito Massa. In the second quarter, Massa connected on a 17-yard pass play to Ethan Campbell who was sprinting into the end zone and snared the catch.

Menomonie picked up two touchdowns in the second half, as the Wildcats' drives stalled.

Massa connected on 10-22 passes for 202 yards, and he had plenty of targets. Campbell caught three passes for 48 yards. Cade Myszewski caught two passes for 73 yards, while Cole Evanold and Jordan Karras also had two catches. Nate Weick caught one pass.

Evanold did most of the heavy lifting out of the backfield,

Photo by John McLoone.