Wayne eyes playoff football

Wayne opens the State Playoffs with the Savanna Bulldogs Friday night at 7 p.m.

Savanna (4-5) will try to run the football and their offense will look similar in style to Wayne’s.

“They’re primarily a run team,” said Wayne Head Coach Brandon Sharp. “They run a spread offense but it’s a run game.”

Savanna will line up in multiple formations and run power run and counter plays out of them.

“They have a good offensive line and a strong running back behind them,” Sharp said. “Their quarterback is a good player too.”

Savanna runs a 3-4 defensive front. But Wayne should have some level of familiarity against it.

“We saw that defense in 8 of 10 of our games,” Sharp said.

The coach also said they have a physical group at linebacker who Wayne will need to account for.

“We’ll have to block their outside linebackers to have success,” he said.

Kickoff for the game is 7 p.m. at Zack Powell Field.

Allen

Wayne narrowly avoided stubbing their toe against Allen in the final District game of the season by taking a 36-28 overtime win.

The game had no ramifications for Wayne in their Playoff picture and Sharp was able to take away some positives from the night.

“We gave effort but the kids were really ready for the playoffs,” Sharp said. “It was a dog fight and was probably good for us to get woken up. We played poorly at times but still found a way to win.”

The Bulldogs were never able to put the Mustangs away in the game, mostly due to two kickoff returns and an untimely turnover deep in their own territory.

The defense persevered and preserved the win.

“The defense came up big in overtime and we found a way to win,” Sharp said. “They played pretty well.”

The Wayne defense held Allen to 38 yards rushing.

Conner Crawford played a big game and finished with 11 tackles and a sack to go along with a forced fumble.

Ryan Redus registered five tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery.

Freshman Rhett Kennedy had five tackles and a sack.

Allen found a little success through the air with 125 yards, but most of those yards really came on three plays.

“They had three short passes that turned into long runs after the catch. We knew their receiver was good,,” Sharp said. “It was the just the two kick off returns that killed us.”

Any time Wayne would get a two-touchdown lead the Mustangs would answer with a big play.

A Wayne fumble in the fourth quarter on their own 20 yard line proved to be huge when it led to an eventual Allen touchdown and overtime.

Still rolling

The Bulldog offense was able to move the ball mostly at will but mistakes again kept them from pulling away.

As a team Wayne rushed for 403 yards.

“We were still effective on the ground,” Sharp said. “We had a couple long runs but our runs were mostly three to six yard runs.”

Ethan Mullins ran for 302 yards on 41 carries and scored four touchdowns.

He also put the ball in the end zone three times on two-point conversions. He ran it in twice and hit James Spencer on a pass for the conversion during overtime.

Mullins has 2,328 yards on 290 carries this season. He has scored 33 touchdowns.

Brannon Lewelling ran for 72 yards on 16 carries and scored a touchdown.

Brian Ibarra had 27 yards on seven carries.

Notes

Wayne Head Coach Brandon Sharp nominated Ethan Mullins for Heart of Oklahoma Offensive Player of the Week. 

The Offensive Lineman of the Week nominee was Andy Lee and Lane Meyer. Lee and Meyer both graded out at 84%.

Sharp nominated Connor Crawford for Defensive Player of the Week.

Ryan Redus was nominated for Defensive Lineman of the Week Nominee for his five  tackles, fumble recovery and sack.

Wayne and Savanna’s lone common opponent, Liberty, was defeated 22-0 by Savanna and 50-6 by Wayne.

Unlike most Playoff games Friday, Wayne and Savanna will kick off at 7 p.m.