McPHERSON, Kan. – A defensive battle and a program-history making day for star Bullpup receiver Ashton Malm gave McPherson a bounce-back victory over rival Buhler 21-15, ending their regular season with a 5-3 record.
McPherson entered on a two-game losing streak, losing in blowout fashion to Mulvane and Augusta, putting them in a postseason bind of possibly being on the road to begin the playoffs. Buhler entered 5-2 on the season, already clinching a share of the AVCTL-3 title, thanks to a stellar run offense.
Buhler started the game with the football, but a botched pitch forced a fumble on their second play from scrimmage, which was recovered by McPherson’s Jayren Stutzman. The Bullpups drove down to score on a 4th & goal play at the one-yard line as Dane Becker crossed the goal line, making it 7-0 McPherson. Following a lengthy kick return by Buhler, they stormed back to tie the game on a 10-yard TD run by Jacob Miller.
The 7-7 tie would end up being the score at the end of the first quarter and halftime. Both teams had multiple opportunities to score, but fell short to keep the game deadlocked. After some key defensive stops, McPherson finally broke the stalemate on an 80-yard pass from QB Carter Bengtson to sophomore WR Brody Hoffman, who juggled, but caught, the pass to score his first receiving touchdown at the varsity level.
McPherson’s defense stayed hot against Buhler, forcing another punt to set them up on offense. The Bullpups would score on a 45-yard touchdown pass to Ashton Malm, making Malm the fifth receiver in program history to record at least 1,000 receiving yards in a season. He also holds the fourth-most receiving yards in a season with 1,021. The touchdown catch was also Malm’s 12th of the season, tying for third-most in a season in school history.
Buhler was able to respond, trying to mount the 21-7 comeback. The Crusaders got the ball back with less than three minutes left, driving 80 yards in around 90 seconds to cut the deficit 21-13 following a missed PAT. McPherson recovered the ensuing onside kick, needing a first down to win as Buhler had just two timeouts left.
The Bullpups were able to use the clock, but had 4th & 1 at the Buhler 49-yard line with eight seconds left. Instead of running a normal play or punting the ball, Bengtson took the snap and ran 51 yards in the opposite direction to cross the back of the end zone for a safety, but he was able to do so while wasting all eight seconds to end the game with a 21-15 Bullpup win.
McPherson outgained Buhler 275-207. Bengtson finished with 203 passing yards, but ended with (-8) rushing yards following the game-ending safety. Becker led all Bullpup rushers with 71 yards on 16 carries. Hoffman led McPherson with 88 yards on two catches, including a touchdown.
The Bullpups will host the first round of playoffs as they earned the No. 7 seed. The No. 10 seed is to be determined as Ulysses played Guymon (OK) on Saturday, leaving the Nos. 10-13 seeds as a toss-up. No matter the opponent, McPherson will play at home on Friday, Oct. 31 at 7:00 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
Buhler: 7 0 0 8
McPherson: 7 0 7 7
- 7:44 1Q – McPherson: 1-yard TD run by Dane Becker, Hoover PAT Good (7-0 McPherson)
- 4:12 1Q – Buhler: 10-yard TD run by Jacob Miller, Wells PAT Good (7-7)
- 4:35 3Q – McPherson: 80-yard TD pass by Carter Bengtson to Brody Hoffman, Hoover PAT Good (14-7 McPherson)
- 8:04 4Q – McPherson: 45-yard TD pass by Carter Bengtson to Ashton Malm, Hoover PAT Good (21-7 McPherson)
- 1:14 4Q – Buhler: 1-yard TD run by Ben Clouse, Wells PAT Missed (21-13 McPherson)
- 0:00 4Q – Buhler: Team Safety (21-15 McPherson)
STATS
Passing (Yards-TD-INT)
- McPherson: Bengtson 203-2-0
- Buhler: Zachary 126-0-0
Rushing (Attempts-Yards-TD)
- McPherson: Becker 17-71-1, Milleson 3-7-0, Crane 1-2-0, Bengtson 11-(-8)-0; Team: 32-72-1
- Buhler: Clouse 17-43-1, Miller 7-29-1, Harmony 2-5-0, Zachary 10-4-0, Martinez 1-0-0; Team: 37-81-2
Receiving (Catches-Yards-TD)
- McPherson: Hoffman 2-88-1, Malm 3-78-1, Chapman 3-15-0, Becker 1-10-0, Ingels 1-8-0, Winter 1-3-0, Puhalla 1-1-0; Team: 12-203-2
- Buhler: Martinez 5-66-0, Miller 1-26-0, Seidl 1-14-0, Harmony 1-13-0, Clouse 1-7-0; Team: 9-126-0
HIGHLIGHTS
Defense was the story of the Bullpups win over Buhler, winning 21-15 to end the regular season 5-3.
As promised, here were some of the highlights from @McPhersonHSFB‘s Senior Night dub. pic.twitter.com/6IdRFemUlm
— Lane Gillespie (@LaneGillPxP) October 25, 2025
