by Tanner Ford, wellington.cc

There was a big crowd on hand for Wellington’s homecoming game vs Wichita Collegiate, but there was not much to cheer about for the Crusaders as they struggled to get anything going against the Wichita Collegiate Spartans. The Crusader defense played tough in the first quarter and only allowed one touchdown to end the quarter 7-0. The second quarter was a touchdown party for the Spartans as they scored six touchdowns to go up 48-0 going into halftime. 

The halftime festivities included performances from the WHS Crusader Marching Band and the Crimson Dancers. Of course the main event was the crowning of the Duchess of Wellington High School. The candidates were Jordyn Brown, Heidi Gulick, Kasiah Richmond, Jensen Lynnes, and Emma Stover, with Heidi Gulick being crowned as Duchess. Congratulations to Heidi! 

The second half of the football game began with a running clock and the Crusaders still struggled to move the ball while Collegiate was playing stall ball to end the game. There wouldn’t be another touchdown scored until the fourth quarter when Wellington scored a pair of touchdowns on a Malachi Rogers rushing touchdown and a Cope Henry receiving touchdown. You have to give credit to this Crusader football team for playing until the very end holding Collegiate scoreless in the second half. 

The Iron Dukes had a rough night only generating 38 passing yards and 144 rushing yards, with a majority of those rushing yards coming in the second half. Wichita Collegiate could not be stopped as they racked up 313 total yards (274 yards in the first half). 

Wellington will look to rebound as they travel to Labette County on September 23rd.

Stats:

Passing

#12 Dusty Bannister 6/14 38 yds, 2 ints

Rushing:

#2 Malachi Rogers 129 yds 13 att, TD

#12 Dusty Bannister 9 yds, 3 att

#10 Skyler Branam -4 yds, 2 att

#25 Nick Giefer 10 yds, 5 att

Receiving:

#10 Skyler Branam 6 yds, 2 rec

#3 Montel Tate -5 yds, 1 rec

#2 Malachi Rogers 6 yds, 1 rec

#15 Cope Henry 31 yds, 2 rec, TD

Defense:

PAT’s/FG’s

#4 Jack Wright 2/2 PAT’s

Punting:

#2 Malachi Rogers 3 for 55 yds

Punt Returns

Kick Returns

#25 Nick Giefer 5 yds, 1 att

#10 Skyler Branam 29 yds, 2 att

#44 Parker Thornton 3 yds, 1 att

#20 Riley Nichols  14 yds, 1 att

VARSITY FOOTBALL V. WICHITA COLLEGIATE 091622