The Wildcats are 6-0 following a 83-57 rout of the Austintown Fitch Falcons on Friday night at the Struthers Fieldhouse.

Wildcats coach Michael Wernicki liked the outcome after not being able to have practice earlier in the week because of Christmas.

“I was pleased with our effort,” he said. “The kids are playing hard and that’s the only thing that I ask. Our effort was good, and tonight was a night where we wore them down a bit. That was the difference in the game.”

Both teams battled back and forth early, which led to Struthers and Fitch being deadlocked at 13 midway through the first quarter.

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes The Wildcats' Brandon Washington shoots a 3-pointer in front of the Struthers student section during the second half.

The last time Fitch held a lead in the game was late in the first quarter at 15-14.

After having a 20-19 advantage, Struthers went on a 7-0 run to carry a 27-19 lead after the first 8 minutes of play. Trey Metzka drilled a pair of 3-pointers for Struthers to start the second quarter to induce a Fitch timeout with the Wildcats leading 33-19.

Falcons (3-3) coach Brian Beany felt that Struthers’ early attack changed the game.

“You can kinda tell that mentally, for us, it started to drop a little bit,” he said. “Then when we started to drop mentally, we stop executing what we wanted to do. When you stop executing, good teams like that will make you pay, and they made us pay.”

Metzka had five of the Wildcats’ 11 made three-pointers for a game-high 24 points and was one of four Struthers players in double-figures. He felt teamwork was the key to their victory.

“I think that we were just finding our rhythm, playing together and moving the ball well,” Metzka, a junior, said. “When we share it like that, everybody can step into their shots.

“It was good that my teammates were finding me, so all the credit goes to them as far as that goes. It was just fun, when we get into our flow, I think we’re really good together.”

Wernicki has seen improvement out of Metzka during the early phases of the season.

“He shot the ball well, and he’s really turned the corner effort wise from last year,” Wernicki said, “and that’s been the difference for him as to why he’s playing better.”

Brandon Washington followed behind Metzka with 14 points, with Aidan Slocum adding 13, and Carson Ryan chipping in with 10.

Todd Simons had a team-high 17 points for Fitch, with Kris Brown and Devin Sherwood each scoring nine points .

Although they’re undefeated, Struthers (6-0) has some tough competition in the near future with games against conference rivals Polaybody forgets the start that you had,” he said. “I don’t take it for granted, but I also know that if we don’t continue to get better, then we’re not going to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Metzka feels that his team can go far.

“I think the sky is the limit for us as long as we keep playing and doing what we do,” he said. “Don’t worry about everybody else, keep all the noise out, just keep our cool with our team, and I think we can succeed.”