SALINA CENTRAL 51, ARK CITY 14

The Central Mustangs continued their brilliant play away from home on Friday in Arkansas City, shaking off a slim first half deficit and scoring 45 unanswered points on their way to a 51-14 win over the Ark City Bulldogs.

Central scored on the opening drive, when Treven Cole caught his first touchdown of the season, a 9-yard reception from quarterback Parker Kavanagh. The PAT missed and the Mustangs led 6-0.

The Bulldogs would respond just 77 seconds later when Wyatt Bahm scored from 12 yards out and the extra point put Ark City up 7-6. Then, the Mustangs would lose a fumble and Ark City took over at the Central 24. They moved down to the one-yard-line and faced 4th and goal when the first quarter ended.

Poised to take a larger lead when the second period began, the ball was snapped to Bulldog QB Gabe Welch. He was stuffed inside the 1 as the Mustangs made the goal-line stand. To make matters worse, Welch was injured on the play and did not return to the game. Central took over inside their own 1 and proceeded downfield. Kenyon McMillan took it in from 39 yards out for a 12-7 lead. The Mustangs never looked back.

On the next drive, Logan Losey caught a pass from Kavanagh and raced down the sideline for a 64-yard touchdown. That was followed by TD runs from Micah Moore and Kavanagh. Suddenly, the game was out of hand and the Mustangs led 32-7 at the half.

Unlike the prior week at Valley Center, when the Mustangs took their foot off the gas with a big lead in the second half, there was none of that at Ark City. The Central defense forced two three-and-outs which led to short fields for the offense, and they took advantage. Moore and McMillan scored their second touchdown runs of the night. Kenyon would finish with 168 yards on only ten carries.

Backup QB Gunnar Gross entered with 5:33 to play in the third and led a TD drive for a 51-7 lead. Ark City would get another rushing score by Baum in the fourth to complete the scoring.

Unofficially, the Mustangs (3-2) compiled 545 yards of offense (323 rushing) compared to the Bulldogs’ 196 yards. Kavanagh finished 10/15 for 210 yards and two passing scores. He also rushed for 43 yards. Moore had 57 yards and Gross 50.

Central will look to take the momentum back home where they will next face a stern test, going up against the Andover Central Jaguars.