The Abilene Cowboys fell to McPherson 48-3 on Homecoming night. Congratulations to Anna Zey, who was named Homecoming Queen. The game was called at halftime due to severe weather. The Bullpups used a big second quarter to pull away in the game. They scored 34 points and touchdowns on their final six drives to finish the contest.
McPherson scored on the opening possession of the game on a 45 yard touchdown from back up Quarterback Dylan Rinker to Trey Buckbee at the 9:54 mark of the first quarter to give the Bullpups a 7-0 lead. The Abilene defense would then step up as Brandon Parker would come up with a fumble recovery on the McPherson’s next possession. Abilene took over at the Bullpup 30 yard line and got a 42 yard field goal from Kaleb Becker with 6:43 left in the opening quarter to cut the McPherson lead to 7-3. The Bullpups would go three and out on their next possession but then their offense would wake up. Starting Quarterback Kaleb Hoppes would score on a 40 yard run with 1:30 remaining in the first quarter to give McPherson a 14-3 lead.
In the second quarter, Abilene turned over the football on downs at their own 44. Hoppes needed just one play, as he connected with Gus Ruddle on a 44 touchdown pass to extend the lead to 20-3 with 10:19 left in the half. Future K-State Wildcat, Cody Stufflebean, a 6’5” 238 Senior, blocked an Abilene punt attempt and the Bullpups would recover at the Cowboy 2 yard line. McPherson’s Aiden Hoover would carry it in on the next play to extend the Bullpup lead to 27-3 with 8:28 left in the half. The Cowboys would fumble the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by McPherson’s Anthony Brooks at the Abilene 16 yard line. Two plays later it would be Inman transfer, Matt Ramey, who carried it in from 16 yards out to make the score 34-3 with 7:37 left. Starting Running Back Jakob Feil would get into the act, on McPherson’s next possession, with a 14 yard touchdown run to push the score to 41-3 with 4:20 left in the half. Finally Buckbee would score his second touchdown of the game on an 8 yard reception from Hoppes with just :37 seconds left in the half to give the Bullpups a 41 point victory.
It was the fourth straight victory in the series for McPherson. The Bullpups improved to 4-0 with the win and host Buhler next Friday. Abilene fell to 0-4 for the first since 2012 and the Cowboys will travel to Augusta next week in a neutral site game against Pittsburgh Colgan. Abilene defeated Colgan last year 22-20.
