By Amy Thrash, Sports Reporter • amy@southerntorch.com

GADSDEN, Ala. — The Fort Payne Wildcats fell to the Gadsden Titans, 45-20 on Thursday night.

The Gadsden Titans put their first points on the board with 10:34 remaining in the first quarter to give them the early 7-0 lead. The Titans punched another one in with 2:53 remaining in the first, to take the 14-0 advantage. 

To start the second quarter, Fort Paynes’ Ashton Brown scored on a  34-yard touchdown to cut the lead in half, 14-7 with 11:40 left in the first half. Darwin Camp dashed into the endzone with another Fort Payne touchdown to tie the game, 14-14 with 8:41 remaining in the second. The Gadsden Titans answered back with a touchdown making the score 21-14 with 8:03 left in the first half. Gadsden added points on the board with a safety to make the score 23-14 at the half.

With 9:14 remaining in the third quarter, the Titans found their way into the endzone to make the score 30-14.

In the fourth quarter the Titans padded their lead to 45-14 with two more touchdowns. With .53 remaining in the game Kaden Dubose scored the last touchdown of the night for Fort Payne, to make the final score 45-20.

“We played a very good and balanced Gadsden City team. Our team played hard and the game was 22 -14 late in the first half. I made a bad call and cost us a safety to make it 23-14 at halftime. That seemed to change the momentum of the game,” stated Fort Payne Head Coach Chris Elmore. “Our players will improve after playing a quality opponent and we look forward to starting region play next friday at Arab.”

The Wildcats had 277 passing and 204  rushing yards for a combined total of 481 yards.

The Fort Payne Wildcats will travel to Arab to take on the Knights on Friday.