McPherson Pulls Away in 2nd Half in Win Over Buhler

McPHERSON, Kan. – The McPherson football team welcomed their rival Buhler to Brubaker Family Stadium on Friday night. The Bullpups got a huge game from senior running back Dane Becker and had several big plays go their way in a 32-13 victory.

Buhler’s defense forced McPherson into a turnover on downs on their first drive and the Crusaders made it all the way to the five-yard line of the Bullpups on their ensuing possession. However, on 2nd-and-goal at the five, Buhler quarterback Asher Zachary fumbled a fake handoff and Nolan Pearcy recovered for McPherson. The Bullpups went on a 95-yard drive from there that finished with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Carter Bengtson to Ashton Malm to put McPherson up 6-0.

In the second quarter, McPherson got a 32-yard screen pass from Bengtson to AJ Bullocks on 4th-and-7 all the way down to the Buhler two. Bengtson scored from two yards out to put the Bullpups up 12-0.

With all the momentum seeming to be on McPherson’s side, Buhler struck with a 54-yard pass from Zachary to Garrett Gleason. Two plays later, Landon Martinez was in the end zone on a one-yard touchdown run to put cut the Bullpup lead to 12-6. McPherson used the rest of the first half and finished it with a 29-yard field goal from Jaxon Hoover to go up 15-6 at halftime.

Buhler had the ball first in the second half and drove down the field, finishing off with a three-yard touchdown run by Asher McConnaughy, cutting McPherson’s lead to 15-13. Early in McPherson’s next possession, the Crusaders looked like they had Bengtson bottled up on 3rd-and-6, but he redirected his path and came up with a 57-yard run to set the Bullpups up inside Buhler territory. Dane Becker capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run as McPherson led 22-13 after three quarters.

McPherson controlled the rest of the game from that point. They got a six-yard touchdown run from Bengtson with 11:16 remaining to go up 29-13. Buhler fumbled the ensuing kickoff and McPherson was able to tack on a 32-yard field goal from Hoover with 6:54 remaining for the 32-13 final.

McPherson coach Jace Pavlovich challenged his offense to get the running game going after struggling last week at Great Bend. The Bullpups racked up 263 rushing yards for the night as Becker was the star with 198 yards on 34 carries and a score. Bengtson finished with 76 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns. McPherson finished with 427 total yards on offense as Bengtson went 17-22 for 164 yards and a touchdown passing as well. After struggling to get going early in the season, receiver Ashton Malm had nine catches for 81 yards and caught Bengtson’s lone touchdown pass. The Bullpup defense held Buhler to 219 total yards with 159 on the ground and 60 through the air, with 54 of those yards on one play.

The Bullpups have now won 11 of their last 13 games over Buhler. McPherson is 2-1 on the season and 2-0 in the AVCTL Division 3 standings. Buhler fell to 2-1 and 1-1 in league play.

Score by Quarters