By Matt Newbery
sports@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — The St. Mary’s-Colgan Panthers held Moundridge to just 38 yards of offense in the first half as they advanced to sectional round of the Kansas Class 2-1A football playoffs with a 41-6 victory over the visiting Wildcats Saturday afternoon at Hutchinson Field.
The Panthers (10-1) will face either Centralia or Central Heights on the road next Friday in the quarterfinal round.
The Wildcats (4-7) turned the ball over three times in the first 24 minutes — all three leading to points for SMC. The first miscue came during wild play in the opening quarter.
Moundridge forced a bad pitch by Panthers senior quarterback Jesse Watt, which was scooped up by defensive back Lance Loganbill at the Wildcats’ 45. Loganbill started down the sideline, but lost the ball at the SMC 44, where offensive guard Adam Barnes gave the Panthers new life by making the recovery.
Andy Farmer, who came in while Watt tended to an injury suffered on the fumble, then rolled to his right and found senior slotback Stuart Mitchelson at the Moundridge 25. Mitchelson caught the under-thrown pass, which just cleared a leaping Alex Otte in coverage, and raced to the end zone to open the game’s scoring.
“The play was called for me to run outside, and I thought it was coming to me no matter what,” Mitchelson said. “Andy made a good pass, and the cornerback fell over so it was pretty easy to run to the end zone.”
Senior Mason Ray’s point-after kick made it 7-0 at the 7:41 mark.
That was just the start of the Panthers’ first-half onslaught. SMC had 296 yards of offense in the half — 143 on the ground and 153 through the air. Most of the big plays came against the inexperienced defensive backs and linebackers of Moundridge, either in the passing game or on the option.
“Tackle to tackle, they’re as tough as anyone we’ll play,” St. Mary’s-Colgan head coach Chuck Smith said. “We weren’t going to run up the middle. It looked like it would be there and they’d cave it in.”
“Coach Smith did a real good job of exploiting that,” Moundridge head coach Courtney Moddelmog said. “We just don’t have the playmakers on the perimeter and our youth showed.”
Sophomore Zach Smith took an option pitch and turn it up the right sideline for a 37-yard scoring jaunt to raise the St. Mary’s-Colgan lead to 14-0 with 4:29 left in the first period.
“I thought Stuart Mitchelson made some nice blocks on those option plays,” Coach Smith said.
“Coach is always nice about saying, ‘Good block on that.’ It‘s a pretty big part of the play and I always try to do my best on it,” Mitchelson said of his contributions to the running game.
After Barnes picked off sophomore Trey Unrau to give the Panthers possession at the Moundridge 33, Watt found fullback Alex Evans on a post route to set up first-and-goal at the 5. Three plays later, Watt punched it in from a yard away to make it 20-0 with 1:10 on the first quarter clock.
It was the first of three touchdowns in which SMC’s senior signal-caller would have a hand. He followed up with a 35-yard scoring toss to Tyler Jeck less than two minutes into the second period, and reached the end zone on a second 1-yard run at the 7:14 mark to capitalize on Christian Smith’s interception of Unrau. That turnover came on Moundridge’s first play following the Watt-to-Jeck scoring play.
“The defense gave the offense some opportunities with a short field, and we capitalized on it in the first half,” Coach Smith said.
Farmer capped off the SMC scoring for the half, and what turned out to be the game, when he finished off a six-play, 52-yard drive with a 12-yard run with 1:10 to go.
With a 41-0 halftime lead, the Panthers went with mostly reserve players in the second half and only had 78 yards of offense to finish the game with 374 (162 rushing, 212 passing).
Farmer was 6-of-8 passing for 122 yards and a TD to lead the aerial attack. Christian Smith’s 42 yards on five carries paced 10 ball carriers for St. Mary’s-Colgan.
Jeck had three receptions for 56 yards, while Evans added 58 yards on two grabs.
The Wildcats avoided the shutout when Unrau scored on a 15-yard run 35 seconds into the fourth quarter. The scoring drive was set up when Aaron Fast blocked Christian Smith’s punt to give MHS the ball at the Panthers’ 44 late in the third period, and a pass interference call against SMC on fourth-and-3 kept the possession alive for the Wildcats.
