Wellington Colton Elmore avoids a bevy of Kapaun defenders on this play. (Photos by Eric Rinehart)

By Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington football team got run over by the machine that is Kapaun, which is looking for a Class 4A state championship.

Kapaun defeated Wellington 64-0 in a thorough beatdown. Hard to say which game was worse, the regular-season loss to Andale or tonight’s game against Kapaun. But the Crusaders can take solace in the fact that both teams are No. 1 and quite possibly will be 3A and 4A state champions at the end of November.

In the past two weeks in the playoffs, Kapaun has outscored its two opponents 126-o, 189-0 if you count the El Dorado game. Kapaun were Wichita City League champions and beat every team by double digits except for Wichita Northwest, which just got eliminated in Class 6A to Derby Friday night.

Offensive lineman Boston Bernd is providing protection vs. Kapaun.

Wamego is next. Good luck, Red Raiders.

Wellington would beat this same team 20-19 a year ago, but this year was a different story. Kapaun was bigger and better this season. At no point was this game in doubt.

The Blue Crusaders opened with a 10-play 65-yard drive and scored from the 3 on a Ken Huff touchdown plunge.

Huff, who ran for 270 yards and four touchdowns against Andover Central, would accumulate 194 yards and three touchdowns against Wellington.

By the 9:51 mark of the first quarter, Kapaun was in front 14-0. Cal Purvis added a 6-yard touchdown on Kapaun’s third drive and the Blue Crusaders were up 21-0 before Wellington got its first first down.

Wellington defenders have this Kapaun back wrapped up on this play.

That came on a huge Colton Elmore-to-Jackson Curry 35-yard pass to get Wellington into enemy territory at the Kapaun 43. But that drive ended in an interception.

Kapaun then took the ball from its own 20 and slowly methodically drove the length of the field, eventually scoring on a Purvis 22-yard touchdown sweep. During that drive, one of Wellington’s primary defenders, Fisher Elder, would leave the game with an injury and did not return.

Kapaun would add touchdowns of 10 and 5 yards and was leading at the half 43-0. Kapaun back Wyatt Sullenger would get open to start the second half on a 47-yard rush. That made it 50-0 and started a running clock. The Blue Crusaders added two more touchdowns to finish off Wellington.

Wellington Jackson Curry tackles Ken Huff. 

Wellington finishes the year at 8-3, which many would argue was an overachievement considering the number of players it lost to graduation last year. But the Crusaders continued not to miss a beat in Jeremiah Meek’s fourth year as coach.

The Crusaders opened with their first win over Wichita Collegiate in seven years. They then secured a four-game winning streak that included two victories over quarterfinalists Labette County and Augusta. The Crusaders’ playoff victories over Ark City and Rose Hill were considered their best games of the season.

Wellington will have some huge holes to fill, including the loss of 14 seniors. But they had the same issue last year at the end of the season.

The Wellington football program should continue to maintain excellence with some very good returning starters.