The Cuba and Steelville Wildcats dropped a close back-and-forth game to Perryville 27-20 on senior night and its regular season finale Oct. 23 at Wildcat Pride Field.

The Wildcats finished the regular season with a 4-5 record heading into district play. The Black and Gold doubled its win total of two games from the previous season and have a chance to add to it in postseason play. 

Cuba came into the final week of the regular season seeded-second in the Class 3 District 5 standings, but dropped two spots in the final rankings and finished fourth, despite losses from two of the other teams that finished ahead of them. Strafford, who also posts a 4-5 record is seeded second, but has 30.06 points in the standings compared to Cuba’s 28.75 points.

Despite having a 2-7 record including seven straight losses and 25.22 points in the standings, St. James jumped Cuba and is seeded third, because the Tigers defeated the Wildcats in their Sept. 4 head-to-head match up.

  The Wildcats will host the fifth-seeded Buffalo Bison on Friday, Oct. 30 for its first district home game since Nov. 1, 2024, when the team lost 33-26 to St. James.

Buffalo finished its regular season on a five-game losing streak, but boasts a high powered offense. The Bison scored at least 54 points in each of its three victories. The winner of Cuba’s game versus Buffalo will take on number one-seeded Mountain Grove on Nov. 6 in the District semifinals.

Cuba head coach Kaleb Cason implored the Wildcat faithful to show up in full force for the district game on Friday.

“I’d love to see the stands as full as they have ever been,” Cason said.

He added that his team has improved all season and expects that trend to continue into next week.

“We’ve gotten better every single week this football season. We want to get better from tonight and play better next week than we did this week, and play better week 11 than we did in week 10, and just continue to get better every single week.”

Noltkamper achieves historic milestone

During the second quarter versus Perryville, Cuba senior running back Ethan Noltkamper surpassed 1,000 rushing yards on the season with a 21-yard carry. Noltkamper came into the game with 918 yards on the season and finished with 128 rushing yards, bringing his total to 1,046 yards with a chance to add to that number in district play.

Although Cuba football records were not officially kept by previous coaches, it appears  that Noltkamper is just the third Wildcat to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in a season during the last 15 years, following Nick Lemmons in 2016 and Nick Kruse in 2011. Noltkamper ran for 942 yards his junior season despite missing one game due to injury and another because the Wildcats’ homecoming game was canceled.

Cason spoke following the Perryville game about Noltkamper’s positive impact on the program.

“Ethan’s (Noltkamper) an awesome dude, awesome leader. I hope that all the new guys we have out on the team just learn how he fights,” Cason said.

“He fights harder than anyone on every play, every single time. That’s why he gets it done. His size doesn’t matter. He has all those accolades because of how hard he fights. And I hope, if anything, he passes that down to the younger guys.”

Oct. 23 vs. Perryville

Emotions were high at Wildcat Pride Field on senior night against the Perryville Pirates as Cuba and Steelville seniors Seth Adderly, Zane Brown, Damion Ferguson, AJ Flores, Judah Folz, Ethan Noltkamper, Blake Pinnell, Jesse Shireman, Will Bailey, Max Harmon and Chase Pitts were honored along with their families prior to the game. Cuba’s seniors members of the band, drill team and cross country team were also recognized.

The start to the game couldn’t have been scripted better for Cuba. After winning the coin toss and choosing to defer, Steelville sophomore Trey Gambill recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff on a bouncing kick from Ferguson. Cuba then reached the endzone on a four-yard rushing touchdown from Carter Medows and led 6-0 after the extra point attempt was no good.

Perryville quickly marched right down the field, scoring a touchdown from sophomore Josh Gremaud less than a minute later to take a 7-6 lead after they knocked down their extra point attempt. It would be a sign of things to come, as Gremaud served as the Wildcats’ kryptonite, repeatedly wreaking havoc on the ground and as a receiver.

The Pirates then reached the endzone again on a Gremaud score and took a 14-6 lead early in the second quarter.

Cuba responded with a strong drive at the end of the half, powered by Noltkamper. The speedy senior took a carry for 21 yards to bring the Wildcats into the red zone. Noltkamper then ran a 15 yard dash across the goal line and after the two-point conversion was no good, Cuba trailed 14-12 heading into halftime.

After stopping the Wildcats to start the second half, Perryville scored a rushing touchdown to take a 21-12 lead.

Cuba quickly answered by going deep into its playbook. After predominantly running the ball for the majority of the season and the game, Cason dialed up a play-action pass at midfield and Shireman found a streaking Medows down the field for a 50-yard touchdown. Shireman then hit AJ Flores in the left side of the end zone for the two-point conversion and Cuba trailed 21-20 with 3:22 remaining in the third quarter.

Perryville would quickly stifle the Wildcats momentum by scoring another touchdown two minutes later. After missing the extra point attempt, Perryville led 27-20 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats had one last chance to tie or take the lead halfway through the fourth quarter. Cuba drove the ball into the red zone, but couldn’t convert multiple opportunities within the 10 yard line as the game ended with a 27-20 Perryville victory.

Cuba’s duo of Noltkamper and Medows led the way for the Wildcats. Noltkamper took 26 carries for 128 yards, caught a pass for 13 yards and scored a rushing touchdown. Medows had 76 rushing yards, 50 receiving yards and had rushing and receiving touchdowns. AJ Flores ran the ball seven times for 27 yards. Shireman completed both of his pass attempts for 63 yards and a touchdown.

The Wildcats defense forced three fumbles throughout the evening. Nolkamper also had a team-high nine tackles and recovered a fumble. Sophomore linebacker Nicholas Gipson had eight tackles and forced a fumble from a Perryville wide receiver on a hustle play down the field. Gambill and Judah Folz each recovered fumbles for the Wildcats.

Steelville senior Will Bailey continued his steady play with seven tackles and a tackle for loss. Ferguson had four tackles and a tackle for loss and Pitts had three tackles and a tackle for loss. Statistics weren’t provided for Perryville.