Twenty minutes before its home game against Monroe City on Sept. 6 at Jim Blacklock Field, the Montgomery County football team continued a long tradition.

The team celebrated Mother’s Night in which players, coaches and cheerleaders of the football team are recognized with their mothers. It’s a tradition that started by John Klekamp when he took over the MCHS football program in 2010.

“It’s a neat thing that we do,” Klekamp said. “I hope that long after I’m not the coach here that somebody continues that tradition because I think it’s a great one.”

But Monroe City spoiled the Wildcats’ Mother’s Night, cruising to a 58-18 win to pick up their first victory of the season and keep MCHS winless at 0-2.

“We went on a little bit of a streak of winning on Mother’s Night,” Klekamp said. “This is our first loss on Mother’s Night in a while.”

MCHS started its season on Aug. 30 with a 26-6 loss to Hermann at home. After the loss to Monroe City, the Wildcats are off to an 0-2 start for the second time in three years.

The Wildcats will have another attempt to get their first win of the season at 7 p.m. on Sept. 13, when they travel to North Callaway to take on the Thunderbirds in their Eastern Missouri Conference opener. North Callaway is 2-0.

MCHS will play its next three games on the road. Klekamp said in order to be successful in those three games, his team has to improve offensively and defensively.

“For us, what we need to work on is getting better,” the MCHS coach said. “We got to be better on both sides. We have to be more consistent in our play. We have to figure out how to play physical football again. We did not play physical football tonight (against Monroe City). Week one against Hermann, we played physical football. Against Monroe City, we got into a situation where we were physically outmatched with the type of play that they played against us.”

The Wildcats have two home games remaining. Their next home game will be on Oct. 4 against Mark Twain.

The Panthers, who improved to 1-1, scored all of their points in the first half. Monroe City led 36-6 at halftime. Quincy Mayfield scored three touchdowns, Marty Smyser had two TDs and Jayden Holland, Cole Hays and Dylan Ross each scored a touchdown for the visitors.

“I think we took some steps backwards defensively tonight,” Klekamp said. “We played a good defensive game against Hermann, but we were definitely outmatched tonight defensively against their offense. They took it to us from the very get-go. We didn’t do a very good job on defending them and that starts in practice. We have to do a better job at practice. I have to do a better job at practicing preparing our guys.”

Monroe City, which finished with winning seasons in each of the last eight years, defeated the Wildcats for the third straight year. The Panthers outscored MCHS 148-65 in those three meetings.

“Last year, I felt like we played them really well,” Klekamp said. “I think that’s probably part of the motivation to play us this year for them. Last year, we lost by two scores, but we gave up four defensive touchdowns. So had we cut those in half, it’s basically an even game. We did a much better job competing against them and playing defense against them last year. In many ways, we played better defensively against them the first two years than we did tonight.”

Seniors Jacob Hogue and Trenton Birkner and sophomore Lafe McCurdy each scored a touchdown to lead the Wildcats.

Hogue caught a 74-yard touchdown pass from Adrian Combs with 4:14 left in the first quarter to cut Monroe City’s lead to 20-6. Birkner scored an 11-yard touchdown reception with 6:24 to go in the second and McCurdy scored a 45-yard touchdown catch with 12 seconds remaining in the third.

Klekamp said he was pleased to see Birkner scoring his first touchdown of his high school football career.

“I think he has grown as an individual,” Klekamp said. “I’m proud of him. I had an opportunity to coach his father when he was a player here. Now, I’m coaching Trenton. Trenton has grown up and has done a really good job for us. He takes responsibility when he’s wrong and not all of the kids can do that. He does that and he works hard.”

Originally, the Wildcats scheduled to have Mother’s Night before their season-opening game against Hermann, but the ceremony was moved to the following week due to rainy conditions.

Players, coaches and cheerleaders wrote letters to their mothers to show their appreciation to them. Klekamp said his mother, Dee, has been a very important figure in his life.

“This is the 16th year in a row that I have written a letter to my mom,” Klekamp said. “I tried to find something every year that’s different that I can share with her and tell her how much I appreciate everything she has done for me in my life.”