Wayne advances to round two

Wayne defeated Savanna 33-14 in the opening round of the State Playoffs last Friday night.

The Bulldogs again went to their ground and pound run game, led by Ethan Mullins, to wear out the visiting Bulldogs.

Mullins clocked in with another video game-like performance, rushing for 301 yards on 30 carries and scoring five touchdowns.

He only had seven carries in the second half, but three of them went for runs of 55, 58 and 27 yards and ended in touchdowns.

After taking a 14-0 lead over Savanna, Wayne let them work their way back into the game by allowing 14 unanswered points.

With 2:39 left in the third quarter the game was tied at 14-14.

Wayne Head Coach Brandon Sharp said his team didn’t put Savanna away early in the game when they had opportunities.

“We were a little sloppy,” he said. “We turned it over two times and had some crucial penalties. That caused us to stub our toe a little.”

Wayne was solid on defense except for a few plays, which Savanna capitalized on.

The play that hurt Wayne the worst was a slip screen that Savanna ran several times with success, including one that went for 50 yards.

It was a short pass but the Savanna receivers made the most of it in gaining yards after the catch.

Savanna had 196 total yards in the game – 177 of which were from the passing game – and Wayne’s front seven all but shut down the run game.

“The defense played really well against the run,” Sharp said. “They hit us on the screens and that killed us. But besides a couple passes our defense played really well.”

Brannon Lewelling had a monster game from his linebacker position and finished the night with 21 tackles.

Brian Ibarra tallied eight and Mullins had four tackles and an interception.

Maddox Mantooth had six tackles from his defensive line position.

Stepping up

Wayne played their best football late in the game when it mattered most.

“When Savanna tied the game Ethan stepped up,” Sharp said. “Our offensive line took over and we imposed our will in the fourth quarter and Ethan did what he had to do.”

Wayne scored 19 unanswered points in the second half to slam the door on any thoughts that Savanna would come away with an upset over the hosting Bulldogs.

“I was really happy with the intensity the guys played with in the second half,” Sharp said. “It was one of those games that we had our backs against the ropes. They had all the momentum after they got the second score.”

Lewelling shouldered some of the load on the ground and racked up 84 yards on 13 carries.

Dustin Scoggins ran for 21 yards on three carries and Ibarra had four carries for 16 yards.

“It seems like every time we run a jet sweep with Scoggins it gets called back,” Sharp lamented.

As a team Wayne finished the night with 428 yards rushing.

“We continued to rush the ball,” Sharp said.

Pawnee

Wayne will face a stiff Pawnee Black Bear club Friday night in the second round of the State Playoffs. 

Pawnee (11-0) was the Class A District 5 champion and is coached by Russell Cook.

“It will be a tough game,” Sharp said. “At this point in the season there are no teams left that can’t play.”

Pawnee is a heavy running team similar to Wayne.

“They’ll be in double (tight end) wing T out of the shotgun,” Sharp said. “It’s going to be smash-mouth football and they will line up and say ‘here we are’. They run their offense well.”

Defensively they have run a 3-4 in several games but have also shown a 4-3 look. Sharp expects them to have plenty of defenders in the box.

“We may even see a five-man front with three backers,” he said.

They aren’t overly big up front but the team plays fast and their linebackers are active and physical.

Their secondary is made up of their running backs, Sharp said.

“I hope we can continue the trend of playing good run defense,” Sharp said.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.