Wellington falls to Wichita Collegiate 35-7 in its season opener

September 12, 2021 Cueball

Montel Tate carries in the U.S. Flag as part of the pre-game ceremony. (Photo by Donita Clausen)

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington Crusader football team finally got on the field Saturday night. Yes, it was technically week #2 but it sure had that feel of a season opener.

Wichita Collegiate defeated Wellington 35-13 on a steamy summer night. The Crusaders made several mistakes, didn’t really establish themselves offensively, and could not contain the Spartan spread attack.

But there was Malachi Rogers who did not disappoint as Wellington’s new quarterback. The Crusaders were playing their first game compared to Collegiate playing its second. And if you want to deep dive on optimism here, the Crusaders did lose to this same team in 2020 56-3.

Wellington quarterback Malachi Rogers vs. Collegiate. (Photo by Donita Clausen)

Trouble is next week Wellington is hosting Andale. So it may be another week before we get to know what this team is truly like.

“Collegiate got a lot better this week compared to their first outing with Mulvane,” said Zane Aguilar, Wellington head football coach. “We did have some positives, but we had a lot of miscues. At the end of the day, I’ve got to do a better job getting them prepared.”

Wellington opened the game with a promising drive. It took the ball from its own 22 down to the Collegiate 18. But saw the drive end after a myriad of mistakes including a fumble (that Wellington recovered), a penalty, and then an incomplete pass to an open R.J. Clift in the end zone.

When Collegiate took over offensively for the first time, it quickly established that as fast as Wellington is this year, the Spartans are still a little faster. Collegiate’s Wesley Fair drove the Spartans downfield on a 10-play 78-yard drive capped by a 20-yard touchdown scramble by Conner Jones.

Wellington again moved the ball into enemy territory but that drive ended on an interception.

Dustin Schettler and Mehki Haskin-Ybarra defensively against Collegiate. (Photo by Donita Clausen)

Collegiate appeared as if it was going for another touchdown when Fair made a leap over a defender for a score. It was instead a personal foul and eventually left Collegiate in a second-and-34 position. It would get most of it back, but the Crusaders held them at the 5.

But Wellington couldn’t move the ball and Collegiate would eventually score anyway on a Fair 1-yard run. Collegiate added a Fair to Ashtun Villagomez 34-yard touchdown pass on a post route to make it 21-0 Spartans at the half.

Wellington had an auspicious second-half opening when a high-flying Wellington kick on the kick-off was recovered by Jakob Lira at the Collegiate 30. Two plays later Rogers took off on a 19-yard touchdown slant to make it 21-7.

Wellington defender Cope Henry with a huge tackle vs. Collegiate. (Photo by Donita Clausen)

But the Crusaders could not capitalize on its brief momentum. Jones scored from the 5 on its next drive to make it 28-7.

Early in the fourth, Fair would supply the dagger when he rambled 43 yards for a touchdown giving Collegiate a 35-7 lead.

The Crusaders did get a consolation touchdown with 7 seconds to play when Rogers hit Brody Weir, a freshman, for a 5-yard scoring pass.

G#1 Wichita Collegiate 35 Wellington 13
	1	2	3	4	F
W. Collegiate	7	14	7	7	35
Wellington	0	0	7	6	13
WC – 18 Jones run (PAT good)
WC – Fair 3 run (PAT good)
WC – Fair to Villagomez 34 pass (PAT good)
W- Rogers 19 run (PAT good)
WC – Jones 5 run (PAT good)
WC- Fair 43 run (PAT good)
W- Rogers to Brody Weir 5 pass (PAT no good).
Individual stats are not available at this time.