MULVANE, KS - On Thursday, the Mulvane Wildcats defeated the Clearwater Indians 54-14, advancing into the playoffs with the win.
The Wildcats scored 26 points in the first quarter. Senior Michael Mason, junior RJ Rieger, and senior Conner Wilkes all scored touchdowns, setting the tone for the rest of the game and increased the confidence and morale of both the Mulvane players and their fans.
“I don’t know the last time we put 26 points up in the first quarter,” Mulvane coach Dave Fennewald told varsitykansas.com. “A fast start, that was huge. Defensively, we were able to shut down the run between the tackles, and that really limited them with what they wanted to do on offense.”
Wilkes scored two touchdowns, including one on a fumble recovery and one on an interception return. Wilkes also had 10 tackles.
“It feels great,” said Wilkes. “There’s no better feeling right now. I feel on top of the world. We played great tonight on all three parts - special teams, offense, and defense.”
Mulvane started off the second quarter with a touchdown by senior Collin Dempsey. Clearwater answered with a touchdown by Dane Rausch.
Mason's 24 touchdowns are a Mulvane record, breaking the record of Jimmy Crawford (1969) who had 22.
The Wildcats are practicing hard this weekend to prepare for Tuesday’s game, in which Mulvane will play at Collegiate against the Spartans. Collegiate beat Augusta 49-3 this past week to earn a spot in the playoffs. Collegiate’s Jaques Williams had 296 rushing yards, 26 carries, and five touchdowns against Augusta, and is expected to be a player to watch for during Tuesday’s game.
This year’s seniors have carried on the season with the motto “Erasing the Doubt,” and this is what they intend to do. After losing 18 seniors last year (including 10 defensive starters and five offensive starters), the Wildcats had a lot of pressure in living up to the performance of last year’s seniors, who led the team to the best season in Mulvane history.
For the 5-4 Indians, the season came to an end with this defeat.
