Mulvane knocks out Rose Hill
MULVANE There are 10 senior starters on the Mulvane defense, each with the same motivation, each playing with the same purpose.
And that’s a scary thing.
“I would say they are very focused ... very aggressive but they don’t let themselves get flustered,” Mulvane coach Dave Fennewald said.
Led by a stifling defense that racked up eight tackles for loss and held Rose Hill in check almost the entire night, Mulvane rolled to a 37-14 win over the Rockets on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs.
Rose Hill was the defending 4A champion. Mulvane advances to play Maize South on Saturday at Maize South.
“They got a lot of pressure on us in the passing game and they slowed our running game down,” Rose Hill coach Greg Slade said. “They’ve got a great team.”
The Rockets took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter when Bret Waddell got behind the Wildcats’ defense for a 52-yard touchdown pass from TJ Slade.
It would be Rose Hill’s longest offensive play of the night.
“We didn’t get down (on the defense),” Fennewald said. “We knew they’d bounce back. They’ve played really well the last three or four games.”
Mulvane answered back in dramatic fashion on a 15-yard touchdown run by senior Michael Mason, who broke several tackles at the line of scrimmage then ran over Waddell at the 5-yard line and coasted into the end zone.
“A play like that is exciting, it gets your team going,” Fennewald said. “You can’t help but kind of feel the boost after that.”
Mulvane quarterback Ty Redington guided the Wildcats the rest of the way, throwing for 217 yards and one touchdown and running for one more.
Mulvane stretched its’ lead to 22-6 at halftime on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Redington to Smith, a safety and a 26-yard touchdown run by Redington.
“We had a great week of practice, first of all,” Redington said. “We’ve got 18 seniors on our team so I think that really helps.”
Waddell and Slade connected again, this time for a 25-yard touchdown in the third quarter to cut Mulvane’s lead to 22-14, but touchdown runs by Redington and Mason and the inability of Rose Hill to get running back Jonny Pearson yardage sealed the win.
Pearson finished with 47 yards on 17 carries and was tackled six times behind the line of scrimmage. Slade threw for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
“We knew if we could shut down (Pearson) and their running game that would be key,” Mulvane defensive end Jarrett Price said. “Our offense was really sharp in practice this week and gave us some great look so we knew we’d be ready.”
| Rose Hill | 6 | 0 | 8 | 0 | — | 14 |
| Mulvane | 14 | 8 | 8 | 7 | — | 37 |
RH—Waddell 52 pass from Slade (pass failed)
M—Mason 15 run (kick failed)
M—Smith 15 pass from Redington (Evans pass from Redington)
M—Safety
M—Redington 26 run (run failed)
RH—Waddell 25 pass from Slade (Clark pass from Forsberg)
M—Redington 15 run (Smith pass from Redington)
M—Mason 23 run (Wayman kick)
Rushing– Rose Hill, Pearson 17-47, Slade 9-72. Mulvane, Redington 12-65, Mason 22-88, Smith 1-(-10)
Passing – Rose Hill, Slade 8-17-129-0. Mulvane, Redington 12-21-217-0.
Passing – Rose Hill, Waddell 3-84, Forsberg 5-45. Mulvane, Smith 4-51, Dempsey 1-56, Evans 5-94, Mason 2-16.