Wildcats kickoff

When the Wildcats finished their preseason game against East Ridge at the bad end of a 35-21 score, Coach Tim Shifflet didn’t mind. Last season, Winter Park’s football team started the same way and went 11-1.

“None of that matters,” Shifflet said. He’s thinking about the real season. And that starts Friday night in Lake Mary.

“They’re a physical team,” Shifflet said of his team’s first official opponent. And he’s expecting a fight.

How prepared the Wildcats will be remains to be seen, with some key players missing from last year’s lineup. Marching around the field during practice Monday, he pressed the defense to jump off the ball to stop a Rams offense that has been building for the past several seasons.

Last year the Wildcats had little trouble containing opponents on the field, holding teams to an average of two TDs per game. Only in their one loss of the season, after an undefeated run through the regular season, did they finally give up more than four touchdowns.

But it’ll take a lot of team building to live up to last season’s success, Shifflet said. And it’ll take time that the Wildcats might not have. What they have is star power on both ends of the field. Senior D’vario Montgomery was the Wildcats’ most prolific receiver last year with 1,100 yards and 13 touchdowns, and he returns for his final season. On the other side of the ball, defensive end James Washington helped turn the Wildcats into a brick wall last season.

Montgomery said he’s expecting a challenge out of the gate against the Rams.

“It’ll be a well-matched game,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to come out and compete.”

What that will depend on is the team finding a way to come together after losing some key players, namely quarterback Sam Richardson, who had led them to two straight postseason appearances.

“Obviously we miss him,” Shifflet said about his departed quarterback, who led the Wildcats to an average of five touchdowns per game in 2010.

Marching out onto the field Aug. 25, the Wildcats didn’t have a permanent starter behind center. Now they’re hoping they do, with Orlando Freedom High transfer Asiantii Woulard, who takes the ball for the first time as an untested quarterback.

Though he didn’t play in the preseason jamboree game, he’s been taking reps on the practice field, made a strong showing at camps in the summer time and is set to make his debut on Sept. 2.

On the other end of a hopefully strong passing game, Montgomery is hoping that his new teammate will be able to connect.

“He throws the ball well,” Montgomery said. “All in all, we’ll do alright.”

The Wildcats will travel a lot this season, with three of their first five games happening in enemy territory. Two of their first three are against their closest rivals, Boone and Edgewater.

Ask a few players who they’re thinking about this season, and those teams rarely come outside the same sentence.

“Boone and Edgewater, they’re both big games,” Montgomery said. “They’ll bring it.”

For the past two seasons, the Wildcats leveraged a strong defense and an increasingly potent passing game to blow away the Braves and the Eagles, making for some early grudge matches to get the season going. Right after the Lake Mary game, the Wildcats will face their two closest rivals in back-to-back weeks.

What Montgomery and Washington both agree on is that they’ll be ready to play by then.

“Give us one more game,” Montgomery said. “We’ll realize what we have and become an impact team.”

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Wildcat football home schedule: Sept. 16 against Boone, Oct. 13 against Evans, Nov. 4 against Timber Creek, Nov. 11 against Ocoee. All games start at 7:30 p.m.