The Whitewater Wildcats made a valiant fourth quarter comeback against undefeated Thomas County Central, but the Yellow Jackets held off Whitewater to pull out a 35-28 victory.

Whitewater was down 35-14 in the fourth quarter, but fullback Collin Wooddy scored on a 1-yard run and, following an onside kick that Whitewater recovered, David Byrd hooked up with Jack Grove on a 29-yard touchdown pass that made it 35-28.

The Wildcats tried another onside kick with 2:45 remaining, but the Yellow Jackets recovered to essentially end Whitewater’s season.

“I’m as proud of this bunch of kids as I’ve ever been proud of any group of kids I’ve coached,” Whitewater coach Amos McCreary said. “These kids hadn’t had any quit in them all year. They just kept playing as hard as they could.”

Whitewater’s other touchdowns came on a Byrd-to-Tyler Morgan 25-yard pass in the first quarter and a 20-yard run by Josh Clemons in the third quarter.

The Wildcats moved the ball against Thomas County Central’s defense — they finished with 276 yards of total offense — but turnovers wrecked Whitewater’s chances of pulling off an upset; two of the three turnovers Whitewater committed in the first half led to Thomas County Central touchdowns.

Another deciding factor was Thomas County Central’s run-heavy offense, which wore down Whitewater’s defense, piling up 306 yards of total offense, 262 of which came on the ground, and ate up the clock in the process.

Whitewater finished the season with a 9-3 record.