Madill turned the ball over six times and Marietta cashed four directly into touchdowns while snagging a 40-0 win in the Wildcats’ season opener last week.
Wildcat head coach Wade Couch saw improvement for his young squad from a season ago, but the miscues proved way too much to overcome in the 2026 lid lifter.
They’ll be at home for the first time Friday but the opposition won’t get any easier when they face an explosive Dickson club that has scored 55 points in each of its first two games in wins over Coalgate and Pauls Valley.
In Friday’s opener, Madill hadtwoscoringopportunities deep in Marietta territory but turned the ball over on one and saw time run out on them on the final drive late in the fourth quarter.
“It was a difficult evening,” Couch said. “We were just too sloppy taking care of the football. Three fumbles and three interceptions are just a recipe for disaster. And Marietta capitalized on most of those. We got down to the 17-yard line on a nice drive late in the game but just ran out of time. There were a lot of youthful mistakes that we can hopefully get corrected this week.”
Madill looked like it was going to thwart the Indians on the first offensive series after Marietta had driven the length of the field.
Facing fourth-and-two at the 17, a miscue in assignment allowed the Indians to get free for the first down andtouchdown.TheWildcats then couldn’t cover a fumble on their initial offensive play and Marietta punched it into the end zone just three plays later for a 14-0 lead.
The Indians tacked on a couple of second quarter scores for a 28-point edge at intermission.
“We had run one offensive play and were down 14-0,” Couch said. “That was kind of a microcosm of the way things went most of the night. I thought we got better defensively as the game went along. Most of the things that went wrong were all correctable mistakes. The kids played their guts out but most of them are still learning on the fly and are not as sharp as they need to be. I have confidence we will get there though. We just have to keep our heads up and keep working.”
Rodrigo Cruces led that defensive charge for the Wildcats with 14 tackles as well as forcing a fumble and recovering another. Alex Garcia chipped in 12 stops and Juan Narvaez ended with eight tackles along an active defensive front.
Despite the turnovers, freshman Marquis Ibarra wastheteam’sleadingrusher and showed some promising flashes directing the offensive charge. Steven Moreno andCruceschippedinseveral nice runs as well.
“Our defensive line was active and where we wanted them to be,” Couch said. “We had a lot of guys around the ball most of the time. We just couldn’t make the tackle. A lot of them are going to steadily get better with more experience. I thought Marquis ran exceptionally well in the second half. He had a couple of nice, long runs on third downs. We just didn’t throw the ball well and have to improve in that area.
“Dickson this week is very good offensively. They are physical. Their quarterback is accurate, elusive and not afraid of contact. I was really impressed with them on film against Pauls Valley. They have some very talented skill guys around him as well. On defense they aren’t fancy but they rally to the ball and tackle well.”