The football team opened the season with a loss to Harker Heights, 52-35 at home Friday night.
The Timberwolves started off strong with a touchdown less than two minutes into the first quarter. By the end of the second quarter, Cedar Park led 14-3.
The Knights quickly responded with a kick return touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter, shifting the momentum in their favor. They followed that up with three more unanswered touchdowns, before junior receiver Brayden Jahns scored to end the second quarter with the Knights leading 31-21. The T-Wolves were outscored 28-7 in the second quarter but scored more points than the Knights throughout the rest of the game.
“It was during crunch time,” Jahns said. “We needed a score, so I made sure I got to the end zone.”
Harker Heights scored again in the third quarter and opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown after picking off junior quarterback David Cooper and returning the ball 25 yards to set up the scoring opportunity. The Timberwolves immediately returned the ball to the 49-yard line off of the kickoff, then Cooper threw a 34-yard pass to Jahns, setting up senior receiver Brendan Baker’s eventual touchdown reception two plays later in an attempt to narrow the scoring deficit.
Cedar Park scored one more touchdown in garbage time before the game ended.
Notable performances included Baker, who ended the night with 62 receiving yards and one touchdown and senior receiver Jamal Porter who had 22 yards and a touchdown. Cooper threw for 98 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 28 yards and one touchdown with three interceptions.
“[There were] a lot of good things but also some bad things that we could work on,” Cooper said. “Our offense is going to keep on working and so is our defense. We’re going to be a different team next week.”
The loss brought the Timberwolves’ record to 0-1 to start the season. Coach Michael Quintero, or Coach Q, said that he was impressed with the defensive and offensive lines but feels that the team can work on consistency.
“We just have to keep moving forward,” Coach Q said. “We’re not hanging our hat on this one loss. We’ve got to attack each day.”