Story By John Mann

GUNTERSVILLE - The 2025 football season has officially begun for the Guntersville Wildcats, who hosted Geraldine on Thursday night for a jamboree matchup, grabbing a 21-7 win over the Bulldogs.

“It feels great, we’ve waited a whole year for this,” senior quarterback Street Smith said. “It’s a jamboree game but it’s a good way for us to get back out here and I can’t wait for Friday night when we can really get things going. I think we proved a lot tonight, we had plenty of expectations coming in but I think we showed that we’re bringing a good team this year. We’re focused on ourselves right now and if we can just play Guntersville football I think we’ll have it.”

The Wildcats starting lineup were on the field for the first half of the game, wasting no time putting in a touchdown on their opening drive. In goal range on the inside ten yard line Smith did a quick run for a five yard gain, followed by a pass to senior receiver Dadrien Waller for the touchdown.

Up 7-0 the Wildcats forced a fumble on the Bulldog’s opening play followed by senior Camp Green getting a stop on third down to force a punt. Inside Geraldine territory Smith would again find Waller to save their drive on third down, with Smith carrying in an eleven-yard touchdown to give the Wildcats an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

“I’m very pleased with the first half,” Wildcats head coach Lance Reese said. “I thought we had a good balance, we ran and we threw the ball effectively. The offensive line was doing a good job, and Geraldine is known for having a very physical offense so I’m also proud of how our defense stepped up. You look at the success Geraldine had last year and there’s a reason for it so I’m glad we met them up front.”

Senior Jack Lenior would cut the Bulldogs next drive short with an interception on a deep throw near the twenty-yard line, ending the first quarter with the ball in Wildcat hands. Smith and Waller would connect again to open the second quarter, but it would be Green who drove in the next touchdown, rushing straight up the middle on three straight plays starting from the inside twenty-two. A successful point after kick from senior Brandon Manganaris followed and the Wildcats were up 21-0 with just shy of nine minutes left in the half.

“Camp is a guy that would have already been playing more last year, we just happened to have two outstanding running backs,” Reese said. “We have a lot of confidence in him and I thought Garrett Christie also did a really good job running the ball. Of course having Street back is a big help; he gives the offense a lot of confidence in themselves and did a great job finding the right receivers.”

Another interception, this time by sophomore Westin Hammond, cut the Bulldogs offense short again, but even after driving their way across midfield and making it as far down as the inside nineteen the Wildcats were forced to take a field goal shot. Manganaris lined up and took the thirty-six yard kick, but it was called no good and the half came to a close.

“The good thing about getting those interceptions is that we were forcing them to throw the ball in the first place,” Reese said. “Geraldine really loves to run the ball and when we get them to where they feel they need to throw we can take real advantage of it.”

The JV and backup players took over things for the second half of the game, and the Wildcat defense was able to force a punt on the opening drive thanks to a third down stop by sophomore Ryan Houk. The rest of the quarter fell into a stalemate but finally came to a close with Geraldine in possession after an interception by AJ Carter. 

The Bulldogs were able to grab their only touchdown of the night, again thanks to Carter, who broke out a twenty-eight yard scoring run on the Wildcats to make it a 21-7 game. The Wildcats were able to hold on to control of the game, running out the clock on a Bulldog offensive run that ended at the inside twenty-four yard line.

The Wildcats will kick things off in earnest as they host Southside on Friday night, one of only four regular season home games for the Wildcats this season.

“Depth is a concern for us this year so we’ll really study the film of the second half to try and see which guys can step up if we need them on Friday night,” Reese said. “We’ve still got a lot to improve on so we’ll spend tomorrow working to correct some mistakes. Southside has a new coach and didn’t play a jamboree so there’s a lot of uncertainty with them, we need to make sure we come out and play our best football.”

The Wildcats will face off against Southside at home on August 22. Kick off is set for 7 pm.