by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — In the end, as far as playoff positioning is concerned it didn’t matter. Wellington still secured the No. 2 seed in the Class 4A West. This was more about pride, and Mulvane extending its winning streak over Wellington to 12 games. Mulvane came into Sellers Park and defeated Wellington 14-13 in a wild contest that wasn’t decided until the final minute.

The Crusaders won the three-way tiebreaker between them, Goddard and Mulvane based on tie-breaking points. It ended up with 58 points, Goddard 48, and Mulvane 32. What had everyone confused, including yours truly, was that head-to-head did not factor into the tiebreaker. Yes, Mulvane won the tiebreaker over Wellington if it was just those two teams. But because Goddard was also involved, and never played either team, points determined the tiebreak. As a result, Wellington hosts Rose Hill in a rematch next Friday.

On the football field, though, the curse of the Cats remained as Mulvane continues to have a stranglehold on a streak that has lasted as long as 2006. But this game most certainly was Wellington’s best effort yet to make things right. The Crusaders were sitting with a second-and-1 at their own 32 with 1:41 to play trailing by one. Wellington had no timeouts but had an open field to work with. The Crusaders, however, went with three pass plays, all near misses and Wellington turned the ball over with time to spare.

Wellington head coach Zane Aguilar said he felt it was the best option. A running play would not have stopped the clock, and there was no time to spare. 

It was a rough night for quarterback Michael Ledbetter, who went 6-of-24. He and his favorite receiving target De’Andre Washington could never quite connect Friday night. Although Silas Popplewell pulled down a touchdown in the first quarter, he and Ledbetter were having issues as well. As a result, Wellington missed some wide-open opportunities. On the other end, Wellington defense kept Tab Creekmore busy scrambling for his life. His stats were not great either, going 9-of-19, but he was able to get two long passes of 40 and 31 yards for touchdowns. That was your ball game.

Wellington struck first in the first quarter after Washington intercepted the ball in the first quarter. Six plays later Ledbetter hit Popplewell on a 15-yard middle of the field streamer for a touchdown.

It would be a long while after that before the Crusaders would score again. In the second quarter, in perhaps the key moment of the game, Wellington had pinned Mulvane deep and the defense held tough causing the kicker to punt out of his end zone. A short kick would have resulted in Wellington in business at the Mulvane 30. Instead it was a muffed punt and Mulvane was back in business offensively.

The Wildcats then happened to piece together their two best offensive passes of the night including a stunning one-handed grab by senior runningback/receiver/everything Cole Diffinbaugh for a 40-yard touchdown pass reception. Just like that the game was tied.

Five minutes later, Mulvane would score again when Creekmore rolled out to the flat and hit receiver Jacob Walker for a 30-yard touchdown throw, his only catch of the night. The Crusaders were down 14-7 at the half, only the second time of the season the Dukes went into intermission with a deficit.

Like the first half, Wellington would get a second score, when Grey Hatfield scored from the 2 at the 6:28 in the third. Mulvane would then block the PAT kick. It was a lacked point that would loom over the Crusaders for the rest of the game.

Wellington would never score again, but it had its opportunities. Early in the fourth quarter, Wellington drove all the way inside the 10. But Ledbetter was sacked on third down and fumbled the ball on the way down. Wellington’s defense held Mulvane tough throughout the latter stages of the game. After forcing Mulvane to punt, Wellington went backwards and ended up turning the ball over on its own 20.

Mulvane would go nowhere and turned the ball over on downs with 1:54 to play.

Ledbetter would get two throws to Washington to move the Crusaders to the 32. But opportunities and time eventually ran out on the Dukes.

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