McPherson Downs Augusta; Advances to 4A Quarterfinals

McPHERSON, Kan. – After a bit of a slow start on Friday night, the fireworks started in the second quarter for the McPherson Bullpups as they picked up a 40-23 win over Augusta in the 4A Regional Playoff at Brubaker Family Stadium.

McPherson beat Augusta 42-6 in the season opener on September 4th on the same field, holding the Orioles to just five yards of total offense. An improved Augusta team made things difficult for the Bullpup defense at times as they had 220 yards by halftime.

Augusta had the ball first and they were forced to punt, but the Bullpups stalled on their opening drive and punted as well. Sparked by a 17-yard fake punt run by Daltin Apel and a 38-yard run by Jett Highfill on a 1st-and-25 play, Augusta was rolling on their second drive. Later, a 22-yard wide receiver reverse pass from Marqus Kelly to quarterback Mason Skov down to the McPherson five set up a two-yard touchdown run for Highfill to put the Orioles up 6-0 after a missed extra point.

McPherson took over late in the first quarter and just 30 seconds into the second, they scored on a one-yard run from Dane Becker to go up 7-6. 13 seconds later, Colt Chapman had a 30-yard pick-six. Up 13-6, the Bullpups tried for a two-point conversion to get a two possession lead, but the pass failed. The Bullpup defense made another stop and on the ensuing possession, Carter Bengtson scored on a 40-yard run to put McPherson up 20-6.

Augusta would not go away. On their next possession, it took just one play to answer with a 73-yard touchdown pass from Skov to Max Payne to cut the lead to 20-13. However, McPherson answered quick as well on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Bengtson to Kinnick Anderson on a 3rd-and-17 play. Bengtson went over 2,000 yards passing on the season on that touchdown.

Leading 27-13, the Bullpups had the ball with a chance to score again before half, but a Bengtson pass was intercepted by Apel with 1:05 remaining and the Orioles got a 22-yard field goal from Dominic Curter-Cortez to cut the lead to 27-16 at halftime.

McPherson got the ball to start the second half and used 7:51 of the third quarter, finishing with a 12-yard pass from Bengtson to Anderson to take a 34-16 lead. That was the score after three quarters. After recovering a McPherson fumble, Augusta scored on a 16-yard pass from Skov to Payne to cut the lead to 34-23 with 5:12 remaining.

Augusta made a stop on the Bullpups again, but on the first play of their next drive, Ashton Malm made an acrobatic one-handed interception and returned it 37 yards for a score to extend the McPherson lead to 40-23. One more stop from the Bullpup defense led McPherson into victory formation and a 17-point win in the end.

Bengtson had another outstanding game at quarterback for McPherson, throwing for 191 yards and two scores on 15-20 passing and running for another touchdown and 114 yards. Anderson caught two passes for 82 yards, both for touchdowns. McPherson racked up 412 yards on offense. As noted, Augusta had 220 yards in the first half, but they were held to just 89 in the second half for 309 total.

McPherson is now 9-1 on the season, while Augusta finished at 6-4. The Bullpups are on to the 4A State Quarterfinals and will face 8-2 Wellington at Brubaker Family Stadium on Friday night.

Score by Quarters