By Staff for www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
MCPHERSON – On Friday evening, the McPherson High football team turned several long offensive drives in the first two quarters and turned them into touchdowns on their way to rolling past visiting Augusta for a 42-7 victory.
The Bullpups put one score on the board in the first quarter on a one-yard run by Dawson Gottwald before scoring three times in the second quarter on two long pass plays from Hunter Alvord to Tucker Pelnar covering 28 and 20 yards plus a seven-yard run by Alvord. Blaise Hoover converted all four of the first half extra point attempts and finished the game with six total. This put the Bullpups up 28-0 at the halftime break.
After Jaytin Gumm scored from four yards out in the third stanza McPherson added an insurance score in the fourth when Alvord scampered into the end zone from 23 yards out to take a commanding 42-0 lead before Augusta found the end zone for the one time of the game with less than four minutes to play.
When you look at the team stats it appears that maybe the Bullpup defense did some bending without breaking although all but 18 yards of the Augusta 226 yards in offense came on the ground, but it took 56 carries to get to that point which breaks down to just 3.8 yards per attempt.
For McPherson, they rang up 323 yards in total offense on 46 plays, with 191 coming from the running attack while Alvord put up 132 yards through the air. The Bullpups averaged just a hair over seven yards per rushing attempt.
Individually, Jaytin Gumm just missed breaking the 100-yard barrier as he ended up with 91 yards on 10 carries while Alvord ran for 66 on just five totes.
Tucker Pelnar was Alvord’s favorite target throwing the ball as he caught five passes for 62 yards.
Next Friday the Bullpups make their first road trip of the season as they travel northeast to Junction City. The Blue Jays are 1-1 for the season after doubling up Dodge City 42-21 Friday after losing to Hays in week one.
McPherson Bullpups hosting Augusta
Scoring: Augusta 0-0-0-7=7; BULLPUPS 7-21-7-7=42
1st Quarter:
BULLPUPS (7:51) – Dawson Gottwald 1-yard run (Blaise Hoover Kick) 0-7
2nd Quarter:
BULLPUPS (5:33) – Tucker Pelnar 28-yard pass from Hunter Alvord (Blaise Hoover Kick) 0-14
BULLPUPS (2:25) – Tucker Pelnar 20-yard pass from Hunter Alvord (Blaise Hoover Kick) 0-21
BULLPUPS (0:14) – Hunter Alvord 7-yard run (Blaise Hoover Kick) 0-28
3rd Quarter:
BULLPUPS (5:37) – Jaytin Gumm 4-yard run (Blaise Hoover Kick) 0-35
4th Quarter:
BULLPUPS (10:04) – Hunter Alvord 23-yard run (Blaise Hoover Kick) 0-42
Augusta (3:59) – Scored on a 1-yard run (Kick was Good) 7-42
Team Stats:
Augusta – 1st Downs 18; Rushing 56-208; Passing 3/10-18-1; Total Offense 66-226; Fumbles 4/0.
BULLPUPS – 1st Downs 15; Rushing 27-191; Passing 12/19-132-0; Total Offense 46-323; Fumbles 1/0.
BULLPUP INDIVIDUAL STATS:
Rushing: Jaytin Gumm 10-91; Hunter Alvord 5-66; Dawson Gottwald 10-33; Gavin Roth 2-1.
Passing: Hunter Alvord 12/17-132-0; Owen Fetsch 0/2-0-0.
Receiving: Tucker Pelnar 5-62; Gunner Schumacher 2-25; Blaise Hoover 2-23; Sam Becker 1-8.
(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)