SWEETWATER - The Sweetwater Wildcats have had a difficult season in 5-AA so far. To McMinn Central’s suprise, the Wildcats gave one of their best per­fomances in an upset bid against the top team in the district. Tyler Watson netted 20 points to lead Swetwater, but the Chargers proved too much, and salted away SHS by the final of 71-50.

It was no small task to ask the Wildcats to perform at such a high level. The Chargers can run with anyone in the state, but this Wildcat team has proven this season that even through tough times, they can still rise to the occasion.

Perhaps the Chargers were looking ahead, or maybe Sweetwater was just tired of being an afterthought in 5-AA. Either way, Central got all they could handle Friday night, and then some. The Chargers got a pair of 3-point baskets from Tim Webb, along with buckets from Bradley Ward and Denzel Boyd, to lead 10-1.

From there, however, the Wildcats took advantage of Central’s sluggish defense, eventually pulling even at 19 two minutes into the second period. Boyd sparked the offense to life with six points and Ward added six points as Central jumped in front, 37-25, at the half.

Sweetwater sliced that deficit with six unanswered points to start the third quarter. The Chargers responded with a 9-0 run, including a 3-pointer from Max Miller,  opening a 13-point gap and led, 51-37, after three periods. Webb and Skylar Farrar opened the final stanza with 3-pointers as the Chargers continued to pull away.

Webb paced the offense with 22 points, while Ward added 11, Blake Cook and Boyd 10 each. Seth Battle scored nine for the Wildcats. Jordan Davis netВ­ted eight, while Brandon Clark finished with seven. Matt Spencer ended his night with six.

Jack Slayton of the Daily Post Athenian contibuted to this story.