The Cuba High School football team traveled to Herculaneum on Sept. 26 to take on the 2-2 Black Cats. The Wildcats couldn’t pick up a second win of the season and fell 50-20 to Herculaneum to bring its record to 1-4 on the season.

Cuba was competitive early and trailed just 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. But Herculaneum took control of the game in the second quarter, rattling off 30 straight points to take a 44-7 halftime lead over the Wildcats.

The Wildcats were led offensively by Ethan Noltkamper, who ran for a stellar 155 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries to continue his strong season. Cuba quarterback Jesse Shireman completed just one pass, but it was an eight-yard touchdown strike to AJ Flores.

The Wildcats’ defense was repeatedly in the Black Cat’s backfield, and picked up 11 tackles for loss on the night. Damion Ferguson, Noah Halbert, Zane Brown and AJ Flores each made two tackles for loss. Cuba’s defense was led by Paco Leos who racked up 10 tackles and a tackle for loss. Noltkamper added nine tackles and a tackle for loss to stabilize the Wildcats’ back line of defense.

Cuba will travel to Festus on Oct. 3 to play St. Pius X, which is coming off a convincing 28-6 victory over St. James this past Friday.