The Montgomery County Wildcats had a chance to improve to 2-0 for the first time in five years with a win over the California Pintos on Friday at Jim Blacklock Field. 

But the Moniteau County school had ideas as it cruised to a 33-6 win over the Wildcats to pick up its first win of the season.

MCHS dropped to 1-1 with the Week 2 loss to the Pintos and will look to bounce back with a Week 3 game on Sept. 11 at North Callaway. It will be the Wildcats’ Eastern Missouri Conference season opener.

California stormed to a 14-0 lead and never trailed the rest of the game. A week ago, the Pintos lost 46-14 to Logan-Rogersville in their home opener. They will play Hallsville in their home opener next week.

The Wildcats played their first two games at home. Last week, they cruised to a 36-6 victory over Hermann to win their second straight home opener.

With the loss to California on Friday, it’s the fifth year in a row MCHS lost a Week 2 game. The last time the Wildcats started off at 2-0 was in 2021, when they went on to finish with a 6-4 record.

MCHS played Monroe City in Week 2 in each of the last four years before replacing it with California.

Friday's game was moved to 7:30 p.m. due to the extreme heat conditions.

Lafe McCurdy provided the Wildcats’ only points in the game with a five-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds left in the second quarter that cut the Pintos’ lead to 14-6. McCurdy now has three touchdowns on the season. He scored two in the Wildcats’ win over Hermann last week.

California, which won only one game last season, snapped MCHS’ seven-game home winning streak. Max Dunnaway scored two touchdowns and Kolby Less, Koleman Fredrickson and Kason Fredrickson each scored a touchdown for the Pintos.

Now, the Wildcats will look to get back on the winning track against North Callaway, which dropped to 1-1 following a 35-28 loss to Macon in its home opener on Friday. 

MCHS will play its next three games on the road. The Wildcats’ next home game will be against Mark Twain on Oct. 2.