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Late fake field goal seals the victory

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Wayne beat Dibble 27-21 Friday night after deciding to fake a field goal with two seconds left in the game.

The gamble paid off for the Bulldogs when Ethan Mullins found Brannon Lewelling for a touchdown and they claimed an impressive District win over the Demons (3-3).

“They called a time out to ice the kicker and when they came back out they had loaded one side,” said Wayne head coach Brandon Sharp. “They called another time out and they came out set up the same way so we called the play.”

It was Mullins’ second touchdown pass of the game, with the first one going to Kevin Bynum in the fourth quarter on a 29-yard play.

Wayne scored their first touchdown in the first quarter on a fumble recovery by Brian Ibarra in the end zone. The play set Wayne on the right foot for the evening.

Mullins scored a touchdown in the second quarter on a nine-yard run.

“Overall Dibble did a good job defending us,” Sharp said. “They did about the best anyone’s done so far. They were physical and whipped us up front more than we’re accustomed to. We bucked up and had a good drive at the end and punched it in.”

Wayne twice missed out on scoring opportunities from the red zone.

“That’s uncharacteristic for us,” Sharp said. “Normally our red zone offense is pretty good.”

Mullins finished the night with 215 yards rushing on 35 carries and one touchdown on the ground. He added 33 yards through the air and two more scores.

Lewelling ran for 64 yards on 14 carries and caught the game-winning touchdown.

D holds tough

The Wayne defense, especially their run defense, was stout all night.

The Bulldogs held Dibble to negative five yards rushing on 28 attempts.

“For the most part our defense played pretty well,” Sharp said. “The passing game killed us and they big played us.”

The Bulldogs gave up 190 yards on five Dibble passes, but other than that played sound.

Ibarra registered six tackles and caused a fumble to go along with his fumble recovery in the end zone for the first points of the game.

Lewelling had 10 tackles and Mullins tallied nine tackles and a sack.

Ryan Redus had five tackles and a sack and Maddox Mantooth had six takedowns.

Wayne controlled the clock and time of possession, running 55 plays to Dibble’s 33 plays.

Big District game

Wayne hosts the Elmore City-Pernell Badgers (3-1) Friday at 7 p.m. The game will have extra ramifications after the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association changed their Playoffs policy due to COVID-19 game cancellations.

With the new policy all schools will have the option to participate in the state Playoffs.

Seedings for the games will be based on District rankings, which will begin Oct. 23.

“It’s a huge game,” Sharp said. “They have a great quarterback and their offensive line is probably the best we’ve seen to this point.”

Sharp said ECP’s running game will go through their fullback, who runs behind the big offensive line.

The Badgers are very multiple on offense and will run everything from wishbone to open backfield with triple wideouts.

“It’s like they have a series for each formation. They’re a balanced team and they are deep and will substitute during the game - that’s a key for them.” Sharp said. “We’ll have to have a good outing and play with good leverage on defense to have a chance.”

Defensively the Badgers run a 3-4 with two big defensive tackles to jam up the middle.

“If you double team them the linebackers make plays,” Sharp said. “If you don’t double team them they’re in the backfield.”

ECP’s only loss was to Class 2A Frederick this season.

“It’s exciting to be in this situation with these two teams,” Sharp said.

Notes

Wayne head coach Brandon Sharp nominated Ethan Mullins for Offensive Player of the Week. 

The Defensive player of the Week was Brian Ibarra.

Maddox Mantooth was the Defensive Lineman of the Week nominee.

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