It was a special night at Central Mountain High School on Saturday. The impressive senior class for the Wildcats were honored during their senior night.

Central Mountain welcomed Huntingdon and secured its 10th straight victory, 71-37, as the Wildcats continue their momentum heading into postseason play.

The Wildcats seemed to come out sluggish. They struggled to score and had a few sloppy

turnovers. Huntingdon played a pesky zone defense that forced Wildcat errors. Central Mountain did a good job on the defensive side of things however by making sure that Huntingdon was limited to 10 first-quarter points. At the end of a tight first quarter, Central Mountain held the advantage 13-10.

“We needed to increase our energy,” Central Mountain Head coach Tyler Bardo said. “The jitters are present on senior night, we needed to change our energy starting on

the defensive end and then that will carry over offensively.”

The second quarter was a little better for the Wildcats. Even though the offensive side of things weren’t quite clicking, the defense was steller. The Bearcat guards had a tough time finding space to shoot or get to the rim. If they did get to the rim, they found it to be a tough task to finish over the Wildcat defenders. The defensive effort only allowed six second quarter points for the

Bearcats. At the end of the first half, the Wildcats were up 25-16.

Central Mountain made sure that the frustrating offensive play would not last going into the third quarter. Huntingdon couldn’t keep up with the star power of the Wildcats. Senior Hayden Pardoe scored 10 points in the third quarter to put the Wildcats in a comfortable position heading into the fourth. Pardoe ended with a game-high 20 points.

Jack Hanna added 14 for the Wildcats and Essex Taylor scored 10. Hunter Hoy contributed eight.

Senior Jack Henney scored eight of the 10 Bearcat third quarter points. The lack of

production around Henney kept Huntingdon from making the game interesting going to the final quarter.

At the end of the third quarter the score was 45-26 Central Mountain. The fourth quarter saw Central Mountain continue their domination. Central Mountain accumulated 26 points in the quarter to leave no doubt in the game. The seniors for the Wildcats earned a standing ovation as they were subbed out midway through the quarter.

“They are a very selfless group,” Bardo said when asked about his senior class. “For anybody coming through our program, that’s who you inspire to be. As far as the way they communicate with each other, and they are a win-first group.”

The rout over Huntingdon will help give the Wildcats confidence as they near the postseason. Central Mountain is now 20-1 and the Bearcats fall to 7-14.

The Wildcats will be back in action at home on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. against Williamsport.

“I think for both teams it’s a great playoff preparation type game,” Bardo said. “We are looking forward to it, and we are looking to continue building towards the postseason.”