MHS - Football / November 10, 2021 By Kasey McDowell
The Mulvane varsity football team hosted the McPherson Bullpups for the regional game of the 4A State tournament last Friday, November 5th, the second time the Cats faced the Bullpups this season. The Cats took down the Bullpups in the first game of the season back in October and were looking to repeat last Friday and extend their win streak to 8 games.
The Cats and the Bullpups punted back and forth to each other for the majority of the first quarter until Mason Ellis broke free for a 36-yard run down to the 6 yard line and then into the endzone 2 plays later for a 1-yard TD run at the 38 second mark in the first quarter (PAT blocked). The Cats defense forced another punt and Ellis broke free again on the next play for a 44-yard run to the 7 yard line. Mason punched it in for another 1-yard TD run at the 10:00 minute mark in the second quarter (PAT blocked). The Cats defense held McPherson the rest of the quarter and the Cats went into halftime up 12-0.
The third quarter was another defensive battle as both teams forced a couple punts and the Cats forced a turnover on downs when the Bullpups had a 4th and 1 at the 2:49 mark and Trent Moses had a 7-yard tackle for loss. The Cats marched down the field and found the enzone again at the 10:18 mark of the fourth quarter with an 11-yard TD pass from Mason Ellis to Ian Comer (2-pt conversion no good). The Cats were up 18-0. McPherson made a late 4th quarter surge, scoring a couple of touchdowns but the Cats were able to run victory formation at the end for the 18-16 win.
The Wildcats offense racked up 234 total yards with 55 passing and 179 rushing. On the ground, Ellis led the charge with 116 yards on 25 attempts and 2 touchdowns. Julien Myers finished with 63 yards on 14 attempts. Ellis finished with 55 yards passing with 7 out of 13 completed and 1 touchdown pass. Julien Myers led the Cats in receiving yards with 23 yards on 2 receptions. Ian Comer finished with 14 yards on 2 receptions with 1 touchdown completion. Hunter Seier finished with 12 yards on 2 receptions and Chase Dieker finished with 6 yards on 1 catch.
VAR 1 2 3 4 Final
MAC 0 0 0 16 16
MHS 6 6 0 6 18
The defense was led by Trent Moses who had a monster game, finishing with 10.5 tackles (8 solo - 5 assist) and 4 sacks and 6 tackles for loss. Trenton Davis finished with 9.0 tackles (7-4). Hunter Seier finished with 8.0 tackles (7-2) and had 1 interception. Keaton Herd finished with 3.0 tackles (1-4), Julien Myers finished with 3.0 tackles (3-2), and Zach Lanzrath finished with 3.0 tackles (0-6).
Defense Cont: Mason Ellis 2.0 (2-0), Ethan Irvine 2.0 (1-2), Kaiden Abasolo 1.5 (0-3), Mason Cooper 1.0 (1-0), Josh Phillips 1.0 (0-2), Ethan Mendez 0.5 (0-1), Ian Comer 0.5 (0-1).
Complete game stats can be found here.
This is the 6th time the Cats have been regional champs in the program's history and the first for head coach Daniel Myers (four regional championships under Coach Dave Fennewald and 1 under Coach Ed Bowen). The first was in 1985 when the Wildcats defeated Clay Center in the regional game but fell to Norton in the sub-state game. The second was in 2007 when the Cats defeated Wamego but fell to Ulysses in the sectional game. In 2012, Mulvane defeated Maize South and Buhler for the regional and sectional championships, but fell to Holton in the sub-state game. Mulvane upset McPherson for the regional championship in 2014 but fell to Topeka Hayden in the sectional game. The Cats defeated Augusta for the regional championship in 2016 but fell to Buhler in the sectional game.
The Cats will face Buhler in the sectional game of 4A state at Buhler on Friday, November 12th at 7:00 PM. Live stats for Friday's game can be found here.
