McPHERSON, Kan. – For the second straight week, McPherson scored on their first play from scrimmage on offense, setting the tone in a 49-7 win over El Dorado in the opening game of the 4A playoff bracket on Friday night.
After forcing El Dorado to punt on their opening drive, the Bullpups took over at the Wildcat 42-yard line. Carter Bengtson connected with Ashton Malm on a 42-yard touchdown pass over the middle and McPherson had a 7-0 lead just over two and a half minutes into the game. They would extend that lead out to 21-0 by the end of the first quarter with an eight-yard touchdown run from Brody Milleson and a nine-yard score from Dane Becker.
The Bullpups scored again just over two minutes into the second quarter when Bengtson found Kinnick Anderson on a wheel route for a 53-yard touchdown to go up 28-0. Midway through the second Bengtson connected with Izyck Puhalla on a 16-yard touchdown pass to put McPherson up 35-0 and with 40 seconds left in the first half, Bengston found Becker for a 15-yard score to put the Bullpups up 42-0 at halftime.
Halftime came and so did the rain. Bengtson checked out of the game after going 13-15 for 283 yards and four touchdowns along with just his fourth interception of the season. He gave way to Isaac Nelson, who went 2-2 for 22 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to Malm to put McPherson up 49-0 after three quarters. With a running clock from that point on, El Dorado put one score up in the fourth quarter, a one-yard run from Hunter Conrad to cap the game at 49-7.
Bengtson was the main standout in the game as his 283 passing yards put him over 1,900 for the season. Malm was superb as well, though, registering his fourth 100-plus yard receiving game of the season with six catches for 104 yards and two scores. Anderson finished with three catches for 81 yards and the touchdown. McPherson totaled 476 yards with 305 through the air and 171 on the ground. The Bullpup defense held El Dorado to 84 total yards.
McPherson moved to 8-1 on the season with the win. They will now face Augusta for the second time this season as the Orioles won their 4A playoff opener over Rose Hill 35-24. The Bullpups and Orioles will play this coming Friday night at Brubaker Family Stadium. Augusta is 6-3 and a much-improved team from the first matchup in week one when the Bullpups won 42-6.
Score by Quarters
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | ||
| El Dorado | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | |
| McPherson | 21 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 49 |
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter: McPherson: Malm 42 pass from Bengtson (Sawatzky kick) (9:28) (McPherson 7-0)
1st Quarter: McPherson: Milleson 8 run (Sawatzky kick) (5:17) (McPherson 14-0)
1st Quarter: McPherson: Becker 9 run (Sawatzky kick) (0:06) (McPherson 21-0)
2nd Quarter: McPherson: Anderson 53 pass from Bengtson (Sawatzky kick) (9:59) (McPherson 28-0)
2nd Quarter: McPherson: Puhalla 16 pass from Bengtson (Sawatzky kick) (6:51) (McPherson 35-0)
2nd Quarter: McPherson: Becker 15 pass from Bengtson (Sawatzky kick) (0:40) (McPherson 42-0)
3rd Quarter: McPherson: Malm 14 pass from Nelson (Sawatzky kick) (4:48) (McPherson 49-0)
4th Quarter: El Dorado: Conrad 1 run (Klein kick) (6:55) (McPherson 49-7)
Final Stats
El Dorado
Rushing: Conrad 17-49, TD; Klein 1-4; Beggs 1-3; Wescott 4-0; Demel 4-(-5)
Passing: Demel 7-15-33
Receiving: Conrad 1-14; Soper 3-14; Lechtenberg 1-6; Klein 2-(-1)
Kicking: Klein 1-1 XP
McPherson
Rushing: Milleson 10-76, TD; Becker 7-64, TD; Ordonez 4-19; Sowers 2-17; Bengtson 1-(-5)
Passing: Bengtson 13-15-283, 4 TD, INT; Nelson 2-2-22, TD
Receiving: Malm 6-104, 2 TD; Anderson 3-81, TD; Becker 2-35, TD; Puhalla 1-16, TD
Kicking: Sawatzky 7-7 XP
