MELISSA — Allen Demonquez threw five touchdowns and connected for 263 yards passing en route to a Paris Wildcats 72-31 romping over the Melissa Cardinals Friday night. He led a high-powered offense that overcame a three-point deficit early on to rally for 44 unanswered points in the first half, and quickly rendered the Melissa defense ineffective.

Wideout Jalon Pipkins became Demonquez’s favorite target of the night catching four touchdown passes early on, making multiple leaping grabs over defenders who seemingly had no answer for the All-State track star.

“When you’ve got good players, that makes it easy. Our quarterback has developed himself into a passer as well as a runner,” Coach Steve Hohenberger said. “One of the things we’ve challenged him to do is stay in the pocket longer, and he did that so I’m really proud.”

With the Wildcats putting the pedal to the metal in the first half, it appeared the coaches agreed to let the clock continue running without stoppage during the second half. Melissa’s quarterback Tate Whittington led an exhausted Cardinals offense out onto the field and turned the ball over on downs to begin the half. It gave an opportunity to one last strike from Demonquez to Pipkin, a 56-yard strike that served as a sort of nightcap.

“Melissa, they’ve had some injuries but they play hard. They came out and took advantage of our lack of discipline – listen, I didn’t know if the first quarter was ever going to get over,” Hohenberger said. “We’re just fortunate to pull out the win.”

While Paris executed their offensive might excellently, they did rack up a number of penalties that gave the Cardinals some chances. But, ultimately, the 23rd ranked Wildcats proved too much. The Wildcats return home on the back of their big win to play Tyler Chapel Hill next week.

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Thom Fain