ROSE HILL, Kan. – The McPherson High School varsity football team shrugged off an early 18-7 deficit against Rose Hill Friday, Oct. 4 to defeat the Rockets 35-26 in their first road win of the season.
The Bullpups came into the game with adversity, starting the game without multiple star players on both sides of the ball due to injury, leaving multiple positions thin. The team did not falter, despite a Rose Hill homecoming crowd and enduring 90 degree heat for over three hours of game time.
After leading 7-0 early, Rose Hill put 18 straight points on the Bullpups following multiple turnovers and drive-stopping defensive efforts. With frustration boiling on the visiting sideline, the team looked to the next play rather than pointing blame on mistakes. Starting running back Catch Delaney helped give the team a spark with a 34-yard TD run towards the middle of the 2nd quarter to trim the deficit to five points. The Bullpups drove down to try to take a halftime lead, but fell just short putting them in the locker room down 18-13 at the half.
After halftime, McPherson sparked one of their biggest runs all season long, scoring 21 unanswered points. It started in the 3rd quarter when they took the lead on a three-yard touchdown pass from Carter Allen to Izyck Puhalla to take a 21-18 lead. The Pups continued on in the 4th after touchdown passes from Allen to receivers Bishop Brown and Ashton Malm. Rose Hill would score with nearly two minutes remaining, but the score was out of reach, giving McPherson their third win of the season 35-26.
McPherson’s offense finished with a season-high 416 yards (196 passing, 220 rushing). Their defense allowed 313 total yards, but held the rushing attack to a mind-boggling -22 yards, thanks to six QB sacks (five of them by Chase Koehn) and a total of 10 tackles-for-loss. The defense also forced four turnovers (three interceptions, one fumble recovery).
The team is now 3-2 on the season. They are still tied with Buhler for the top spot in the AVCTL Div. 3 standings and are now 8th in 4A West regional standings.
Senior Night for the Bullpups will be Fri., Oct. 11 for their final home game of the regular season, but they will face the 4-1 Mulvane Wildcats, whose lone loss was in week one against Buhler.
Catch every Bullpup game on 98.9/1540 KMCP and on the Ad Astra Radio mobile app.
FINAL STATS
Passing:
- Carter Allen: 17/28, 196 yds., 3 TD
Rushing:
- Catch Delaney: 14 att., 115 yds., 1 TD
- Brock Richardson: 10 att., 55 yds.
- Dane Becker: 6 att., 41 yds.
- Justin Bagby: 2 att., 4 yds.
- Carter Bengtson: 2 att., 3 yds.
- Carter Allen: 8 att., 2 yds., 1 TD, Long: 13 (Sacked once)
Receiving:
- Ashton Malm: 5 rec., 65 yds., 1 TD
- Bo Barkley: 4 rec., 56 yds.
- Izyck Puhalla: 4 rec., 27 yds., 1 TD
- Bishop Brown: 1 rec., 26 yds., 1 TD
- Aaron Winter: 2 rec., 13 yds.
- Nolan Pearcy: 1 rec., 9 yds.
Defensive Leaders:
- Chase Koehn: 10 tackles, 6 TFL, 5 Sacks
- Catch Delaney: 10 tackles, 3 TFL
- Takoda Linn: 2 interceptions
- Dane Becker: 1 interception
- Braxton Burgess: 1 TFL, 1 Sack
