The Wellington defensive line will be a thing to watch in 2023. 

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — At Crusader Club on Monday, Wellington High School football coach Jeremiah Meeks made a statement that summed up everything.

He stated: 

“Other than that playoff game, we had a great season. The boys just picked an inopportune time to play a bad game.”

Two weeks ago, Wellington most certainly played a bad game when it lost to Winfield in overtime 31-28. The Crusaders were a No. 4 seed battling a one-win Winfield team at No. 13. 

Winfield, the next week, laid an egg against Andover Central, dominated by Wamego on Friday. Make no mistake. Wellington’s season was probably not going to go much further anyway. 

But in our annual year-end “state of the WHS football” analysis, we can say the arrow is definitely pointing up.

2022 Crusader football team. (Click to enlarge)

The season behind

Wellington finished 2022 with a 5-4 record- a three-game improvement from the previous year. It opened with its customary 63-14 loss to Andale. It was dominated by Wichita Collegiate 48-14 in a complete second-quarter meltdown on homecoming night. 

But the third loss against McPherson was, without a doubt, Wellington’s best game and might have been a preview of things to come. 

The Crusaders, heavy underdogs, fell behind 21-6 and 31-12 yet came back to score three big touchdowns and take a 32-31 lead with about 3 minutes to play. Wellington could not stop the Bullpups on the final drive, and a walk off 18-yard field goal that Meeks claims was no good gave the Bullpups a 32-31 victory at the horn.

Wellington was behind McPherson 21-6 before making a comeback. (Photos by Jaxson Irey).

The Bullpups have not lost since throttling Circle 49-28 this past weekend. They play Wamego for the Class 4A-West Championship. On the other side, Wellington picked up a couple more wins. The Crusaders defeated Circle 45-35 the next week in Wellington’s biggest victory of the season. Circle, a much-improved program, lost just three games this year.

All told, the Crusaders would easily beat three AV-CTL DIV foes, Clearwater, El Dorado, and Rose Hill, establishing itself as the third-best team in the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. IV. All three of these teams were ones Wellington struggled with in years past.

But then came Winfield, a play-in game that can be put up in Wellington history lore as one of the all-time aggravating losses. 

“I have had the playoff blues ever since,” Meeks told the Crusader Club group 10 days later. “Whatever could have gone wrong in that game did.” 

The game doesn’t need to be dissected (you can read about it here if you are into being tortured). 

“I think what people didn’t realize is how banged up we were at the end of the season,” Meeks said. “Also, for whatever reason, our kids were making mistakes we hadn’t seen in a while.” 

The Crusaders lost their starting quarterback Dusty Bannister to an injury during practice after week #3. Running back Malachi Rogers got hurt at the end of the Rose Hill football game and was not himself vs. Winfield. Key defenders Nick Giefer and Jakob Lira were out with injuries at the end of the year. Mekhi Haskins-Ybarra did return but could never quite recover to full strength from a shoulder injury from the summer off-season. 

But that’s football. Injuries accumulate, usually at the most inopportune time.

Rogers with the 43-yard touchdown run in the second quarter vs. McPherson.

Statistically, Wellington made remarkable progress. In 2022, Wellington finished with 1,622 rushing to 1,367 passing for 2,989 total yards (see yearly stats here). This was a significant improvement from 2021 when Wellington had 1,298 yards rushing and 829 yards passing for 2,127 yards. The Crusaders ended up amassing 862 more yards this season than last.

Rogers, Wellington’s go-to back, rushed for 1,315 yards in 2022. That placed him seventh in the all-time WHS single-season rushing list and seventh in the career rushing list at Wellington High School.

It has been 18 years since Wellington last had a rusher accumulate that many yards. John Heath rushed for 1,680 yards in 2004. It would have been interesting to see how Rogers would have placed on the all-time rushing list had he not transferred into the school district as a junior or didn’t play quarterback his junior year.

Passing-wise, Dusty Bannister, a sophomore, was on a roll getting 432 yards in his first three games for a 144-yard per-game average. He then got hurt in a freak accident, breaking a finger between two helmets during a Tuesday practice. He would miss the rest of the season. 

Kenny Redford, a junior, did a good job stepping in, throwing for 885 yards for a 110.6-a-game average. 

Receiving-wise, Wellington had a plethora of catchers, with senior Cope Henry leading the way with 375 yards. 

Defensively, Wellington was significantly improved. Sophomore Carter Burnett terrorized opponents with 65 tackles, 18 solos, and 4.5 sacks. His fellow defensive end Brody Weir, also a sophomore, had 11.5 sacks and after week 7 was near the top across the state in sacks made. He ended up with 49 tackles. Rogers was also a leader with 64 tackles including 28 solos. 

An interesting comparison, Wellington went from 12.5 sacks in 2021 to 23 sacks in 2022. 

Defensive end Carter Burnett gets a fumble early in a contest vs. Rose Hill. 

The season ahead

Now comes the tough part… getting better. 

The Crusaders will undoubtedly be losing some significant talent. Rogers is at the top of the list. Other starters include Haskin-Ybarra, Montel Tate, Jack Wright, Henry, Lira, Eric Rasmussen and Dalton Bishop. These seniors put in a lot. Many faced injuries all year. 

But there is no denying Wellington is bringing back… a lot. 

The offensive line could be back in full force.

“I was starting two freshmen on the line,” Meeks said. “If we can put 10 to 15 pounds on each one of them during the offseason, we could be up to 230 to 240 pounds across the board …” 

He then paused. 

“And then we could be as big as our opponents… And then we could really run the football.” 

Meeks said the team would undoubtedly miss Rogers. But he hopes to run a committee of three or four backs throughout the season in 2023 to share the load. 

Jeremiah Meeks

“We were so thin at running back, and it was obvious to come playoff time Rogers wasn’t running as well as he had been,” Meeks said. 

Passing-wise, Wellington will return both of its quarterbacks. Will there be a quarterback controversy? 

“I’ll let that play out on its own,” Meeks said. 

The receiving corp will miss Henry, but there is a lot returning. Keep your eye on Skylar Branam and Grady Norris. 

Defensively, Wellington’s front should be one of the best in the state. Burnett and Weir on both sides. Cayson Ramirez, a freshman, and Jamar Armstrong, a sophomore, should be harder to block in the middle. 

“The great thing about sophomores is they become juniors,” Meeks said. “That is a significant year for growth and maturity.” 

The secondary will be a work in progress, but Meeks hopes to have enough success to help that group develop on the backside. 

Meeks said the most significant weakness for Wellington in 2022 was depth. And it took its toll down the stretch. Losing Nick Giefer, a sophomore linebacker, was a huge blow to Wellington’s defensive attack. 

He said many of this year’s freshmen will be playing as sophomores and bringing more depth to the team. He is confident a few boys are walking the hall who could contribute greatly to the team. 

Offensive lineman Greer Buchanan vs. Winfield.

“The Winfield game was tough, but I was very impressed with how the kids came back on Monday and wanted to do this and do that – all wanting to get better,” Meeks said. 

Meeks said he is a big proponent of having multi-sport athletes. 

“As long as they aren’t cutting weight in wrestling,” he laughed. 

But who knows what the off-season will be like? Wellington has not always been the best off-season team, losing players to who-knows-what. 

But Meeks made a promise at Crusader Club. 

“I don’t have any intention coming to you at the same time next year talking about how we are out of the playoffs,” he said. “The next few years will be fun.” 

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