WAMEGO – The Wamego Red Raider football team defeated Abilene 49-0 Friday night. With the victory, Wamego improved to 8-0 on the season, won the NCKL outright and clinched the #1 seed in the 4A West bracket.
The Red Raiders led 14-0 at the end of the 1st quarter, 35-0 at halftime and 49-0 after 3 quarters. Once backup Quarterback, Pruitt Nowlin scored on a 20 yard run with 6:35 left in the 3rd quarter, that started a running clock for the remainder of the game.
Wamego finished, unofficially, with 505 yards of total offense. They had 303 rushing yards and 202 on the ground. The Red Raiders limited Abilene to 55 yards on the night. Wamego was led by Senior, Hayden Oviatt, who finished with 6 carries for 104 yards. He scored on runs of 3, 14 and 54 yards. It was just his second game back after being out most of the season with an injury. Last year Oviatt was an All-State quarterback for the Red Raiders. Senior Quarterback, Collin Donahue, has been playing at such a high level that Oviatt moved to running back. Donahue, Friday, finished 12-16 with 202 yards and 2 touchdowns. His favorite target was Senior, Chase Cottam. Cottam had 5 catches for 101 yards and scored on touchdown receptions of 34 and 38 yards. Junior, Thomas McIntyre, got the start at running back and had 8 carries for 70 yards and a 25 yard touchdown run.
The Nex-Tech Player of the Game for Abilene was Sophomore, Joseph Welsh. Welsh caught 5 passes for 30 yards and stepped up to help a receiving corp that has been hurt by injuries. Welsh also starts at Free Safety and entered the game tied for the team lead in tackles with 78.
The Cowboy fell to 4-4 with the loss but it wasn’t all bad new for Abilene. The Cowboys needed either a victory over Wamego or a Wellington win at Rose Hill in order to host a first round playoff game. Wellington defeated Rose Hill 29-7 to give the Cowboys their first home playoff game since 2018 next Friday. Abilene, the #8 seed, will host #9 Rose Hill next Friday. The Cowboys lost to the Rockets 16-12 on September 30 in a game that was played at Cowboy Stadium. If Abilene can win the rematch, it likely will set up a return trip to Wamego in the 2nd round of the post-season.
