Wellington was behind almost all night. Here is Wellington head coach Jeremiah Meeks and running back Malachi Rogers conferring in the first half with the Crusaders down 21-6. (Photos by Jaxson Irey).

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — An 18-yard walk-off field goal by Blaise Hoover was the difference in preventing Wellington from securing a huge upset and statement win over McPherson Friday night at Sellers Park.

Wellington erased a 31-12 third-quarter deficit with 20 consecutive points to take a 32-31 lead, only to see it end in heartbreak with a game-winning Bullpup field goal.

The loss drops Wellington to 3-3, but it solidifies that the Crusaders may be a good football team. Despite the loss, Wellington is currently No. 5 in the Class 4A-West standings out of 16 teams (see 4A standings here).

“Did I think this was going to be as tough of a game as it turned out to be?” asked Jace Pavlovich, McPherson’s head football coach, rhetorically. “Absolutely. Meeks lived in McPherson, and we talked a lot about football. I knew we were going to have our hands full coming in.”

Meeks, who was living in McPherson just four months ago, denied there was any extra incentive for him personally to win this particular game.

“I’m very happy with how the boys played,” Meeks said. “I just feel terrible for them that we didn’t get the win; they deserved to win as hard as we played.”

Senior receiver Montel Tate with the touchdown.

The Crusaders took their first and only lead when senior receiver Montel Tate ran a post route down the middle of the field through two McPherson defenders and nabbed the high-flying throw from quarterback Kenny Redford. He would scramble 55-yards for a touchdown to give Wellington a 32-31 advantage. The two-point conversion failed, and the Crusaders maintained a one-point lead with 3:01 to play.

PATs were a key problem for Wellington. The Crusaders missed three PATs. With those PATs, the Crusaders would have had 35 points and be victorious. McPherson had one less touchdown than Wellington and won. How many times can you say that in high school football?

On the final drive, McPherson started at the Wellington 33 with 67 yards to go. And the final drive started promising enough for the Crusaders when Brody Weir threw quarterback Hunter Alvord for a 13-yard loss. But on the next play, McPherson’s Tucker Pelner made a huge 22-yard reception to pick up the first down. From that point forward, the Bullpups dinked and dunked their way with short passes and runs to get to the 1-yard line with 18 seconds to play.

Brody Weir, on the offensive side, with a tight end reception.

Pavlovich elected to let the clock wind down to two seconds. The Bullpups then kicked the last-second field goal – a rare way to win in high school football.

If for anything else, Wellington proved Friday night that it can rise to the occasion late in the game. McPherson, leading 24-12 at the half, opened the second half with a ram-it-down-your-throat 10-play 62-yard drive ending with Jaytin Gumm scoring from the 2 to give the Bullpups a 31-12 lead with 8:10 in the third.

But on the next drive, Wellington got a nice return by Nick Giefer to its own 40, and senior running back Malachi Rogers got two huge runs to the McPherson 21 and 11. Wellington scored two plays later on a Redford 1-yard quarterback keeper to make it 31-19 McPherson.

After exchanging punts, Wellington started a drive from its own 20 and marched into enemy territory at the third quarter’s end. Wellington then benefited from two huge calls, including a roughing-the-passer call on third-and-long and pass interference on fourth down. Tate then scored his first touchdown on a 10-yard crossing route to pull the Crusaders within five 31-26.

Wellington then forced a three-and-out – setting up an exciting final five minutes of the game.

Jack Wright with the tackle of McPherson’s Jaytin Gumm.

“I was really proud of the boys for the fight,” Meeks said. “The best game we have played so far this season.”

In the early going, it sure didn’t seem like this would be a contest.

McPherson’s dominated the first quarter and much of the second with long drives resulting in touchdowns. Wellington went three-and-out on its first two possessions.

But things changed when Rogers, who had 156 yards in the game, put the Crusaders on the board with a 43-yard touchdown run at the 11:32 mark of the second quarter to make it 14-6.

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

McPherson responded with an Alvord to Pelnar 47-yard touchdown pass to give McPherson a 21-6 lead.

Wellington came right back with a Redford to Grady Norris 23-yard touchdown pass in the corner to keep the Crusaders within nine, 21-12. Rogers was stopped short on a PAT pass which was two points Wellington would need later in the game.

McPherson then drove the length of the field, and Hoover hit a 29-yarder before the half, his first of two field goals. McPherson led 24-12 at the half.

Wellington now hosts Circle in a huge battle as far as post-season positioning is concerned. Wellington is currently fifth out of 16 teams. A win keeps them in the upper echelon. But the Thunderbirds are 5-1. It going to be a tough test at home.

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Editor’s note: It was incorrectly stated that the Circle game was on the road in the original version of this story.

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