Wellington wins! Advances to 2nd round of playoffs for 1st time since 2018
Wellington preserves win. pic.twitter.com/KvCGQvoewO
— Tracy McCue – Sumner Newscow (@Cueballnewscow) October 28, 2023
By Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — For the first time since 2018, the Wellington Crusaders have advanced to the second round of the Class 4A playoffs with a 41-34 victory over Circle. Wellington will be hosting Coffeyville next Friday. Expect to have another heart attack.
It is rarely easy for Wellington. For the third time in four outings, Wellington won a game decided in the final minute. This time, instead of the Wellington offense pulling off the last-minute theatrics, it was the defense keeping Circle out of the end zone.
Maddox Black with 36-yard reception in the first half. (Photos by Katie Ford)
Looking back, the final four-play Circle sequence seems a bit improbable. After Wellington failed to complete a pass on fourth-and-go from the 9 in the end zone, Circle started at its own 9 with 7:35 to play. The Thunderbirds then proceeded to go the length of the field on a slow, winding march on an excruciating 18-play drive and got as close as the 1-yard line.
After Wellington was called for a face-mask penalty, speedy quarterback Conner Chadwell got to the 4 and was saved from getting a touchdown by safety Jalik Armstrong. There was 2:25 on the clock, but the Thunderbirds had no sense of urgency, knowing how Wellington’s offense has the propensity of getting downfield quickly in the final minute. So it decided to take time off the clock.
Running back Westin Rose, who did not play Wellington the first time around, was tackled at the 1 on first down. On the second down, Circle was called with an illegal shift backing it up to the 6 with 1:20 to play. Rose then got one yard and it was 3rd-and-5. Chadwell threw an incomplete pass to the right corner and all the marbles were on the line at 4th and 5 with 32 seconds to play.
After a timeout, Chadwell rolled to his right again and threw it to the visiting corner again. And this time the ball wasn’t close. Wellington took over on downs, and preserved the win.
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Nick Giefer scores from the 10 as Brody Weir helps the officials out by signaling a touchdown.
Folks, this isn’t normal. Rarely in Kansas High School football are fans treated to many single-digit games. The Crusaders have had five of them this season.
In the first quarter, it felt as if Wellington was going to finally get that dominating win. The Crusaders scored on its first four possessions and did so rather easily. Like last week, they were buoyed by a turnover in the kickoff return. After Nick Giefer scored from the 10 to give the Crusaders a 7-0 lead, Wellington recovered a fumble on the kickoff at the 26. One play later Dusty Bannister, who had five touchdowns, hit Carter Burnett on a 22-yard fade. Wellington was up 14-0 with 8:03 in the first quarter.
But Circle responded when Chadwell hit Nick Ahles on a 67-yard touchdown reception. That made it 14-7. This touchdown was significant in that it immediately changed the perplexion of the game and that Circle wasn’t going to get blown out.
The Crusaders added two more touchdowns when Bannister ran in from the two and then he hit Brody Weir on an 8-yard pass to make it 26-7 before the end of the first quarter.
But the second quarter went much slower for the Dukes. The Circle defense finally stopped Wellington on its fifth drive of the night and then pieced together a 70-yard drive that ended when Chadwell connected with Gavin Kildow on fourth down from the 6.
The Crusaders drove down to the 26 before the half but could not punch it in on an incomplete pass in the end zone.
Bannister is part of five touchdowns Friday night. He was one away from getting yet another school record.
Circle’s offense got its groove to start the second half, getting touchdowns on its first three possessions. Rose made a 5-yard touchdown to pull within a touchdown. The Crusaders got a much-needed score when Bannister scrambled in from the 10 to make it 34-20. Things were heating up.
Circle came back when Chadwell strolled in from the 25 on a corner sweep. On the next drive, Wellington used a double-reverse to get a first down on a Skyler Branam 4-yard fourth-down carry. Two plays later Bannister scored his fifth touchdown of the evening on a five-yard carry.
Chadwell connected with Ahles again, this time for 60 yards. He threw for 161 yards for the game, and 127 of them were on two plays.
Circle was down 41-34, but Wellington was looking to stay ahead in this game of tit-for-tat. Branam got a big kickoff return to the 37 and then two plays later made a sensational catch to the 2. But Wellington’s offense, which usually doesn’t self-destruct in the red zone did so with a false start penalty. That was followed by two failed running plays and a Bannister-to-Burnett 9-yard fade route incompletion on fourth down, leaving the Crusaders empty and setting up the excruciating final 7 minutes.
