McLouth’s homecoming game Friday against Wathena was a case of Murphy’s Law for the Bulldogs. Pretty much whatever could go wrong, did, as Wathena went home with a 48-8 win.
The Bulldogs lost two fumbles, saw an interception returned for a touchdown and incurred nearly 100 yards in penalties during the game as Wathena had a shutout going until the Bulldog offense got a late score on the second-string defense.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats ran heavily on McLouth as senior running back Colton Bauman scored four times and junior quarterback Bryce Paden threw for two more scores.
Both teams struggled on their first possession but Wathena scored on the first play of its second possession as Bauman broke free for a 41-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0 with 8:41 left in the first quarter. The teams traded punts before Bauman added his second TD on a 23-yard tuchdown run and added the extra-point kick to make it 13-0 Wildcats with 47 seconds left in the quarter.
McLouth picked up its first first down on a 10-yard run by senior quarterback Derrick Crouse just before the end of the quarter but was forced to punt. The Bulldogs got a break when Wathena senior Blake Haynes muffed the punt and McLouth junior Cody Winborn was in the right place at the right time to recover the ball at the Wathena 15. A holding call crippled McLouth’s chances, however, and the Bulldogs ended up turning the ball over on downs at the Wildcats 28.
The teams traded bad snap fumbles midway through the quarter and McLouth was set up again in Wildcat territory. A personal foul call on Wathena gave McLouth first down at the Wathena 15 with 5:07 left in the half but, again, the Bulldogs went backwards and turned the ball over on downs at the Wildcats 26.
Wathena responded by driving 74 yards in eight plays and were helped by a pass interference call on McLouth. Bauman finished the drive with a 5-yard TD run and Paden connected with senior Aron Sharp on the 2-point conversion play to make it 21-0 Bulldogs, which held as the halftime score.
The score remained 21-0 through most of the third quarter until a 29-yard Bauman run was followed by two Paden passes to get the Wildcats the rest of the way to the end zone. Paden found senior Matt Koelliker for a 16-yard pass play to score and the Bauman extra-point kick made it 28-0 Wathena.
The Wildcats recovered a fumble at the Bulldogs 19 on the next McLouth possession and, four plays later, Paden connected with Haynes on a 4-yard TD pass to make it 34-0 Wildcats.
The fourth quarter started with another stalled Bulldog drive and Bauman scored on a 55-yard TD run before junior Collin Schultz returned an interception of Crouse for 43 yards for the final Wildcat score to make it 48-0 with Bauman’s extra point.
Wathena put the second string defense in after the ensuing kickoff and McLouth drove 58 yards on six plays as senior Jake Hullinger scored on a 46-yard run and Crouse threw to senior Jarrod Bechard for the 2-point conversion to make it 48-8 with 6:11 to play. Wathena’s second-string offense ran out the clock to preserve the win.
McLouth was led by Hullinger’s 64 rushing yards on 6 carries and 17 carries for 44 yards by Crouse. Crouse was 3-for-15 passing for 5 yards and an interception in the loss as McLouth fell to 2-2.
Wathena was led by 12 carries for 164 yards and 4 TDs by Bauman. Paden was 5-for-11 passing for 75 yards and 2 TDs.
