By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WELLSVILLE -- With a repeat trip to the Class 3A state championship game on the line, No. 3 East seed Hayden turned in a dominating performance Friday night at Wellsville, rolling to a 35-7 victory over the previously-unbeaten Eagles, the top East seed.
The 11-1 Wildcats, who built a commanding 35-0 lead before the Eagles scored a late touchdown, advanced to next Saturday's 12 p.m. 3A state championship game at Hutchinson Community College's Gowans Stadium to face 12-0 Andale, a 55-14 semifinal winner over Holcomb.
Senior fullback Broderick Desch scored a pair of TDs Friday as Hayden advanced to the Class 3A title game with a 35-7 win over Wellsville. [File photo/TSN]
Unofficially, Kade Mitchell carried the ball 11 times for 72 yards and two scores Friday as Hayden advanced to the Class 3A title game. [File photo/TSN]
"I felt like our kids did a really good job on both sides of the ball,'' Hayden coach Bill Arnold said. "The field was treacherous. It was so wet and the grass was so tall, but I thought our kids handled it really well.
"I was proud of the kids. I thought they did a good job of executing the game plan and I thought the coaches did a good job of getting people in the right spots defensively and it was just an all-around good opportunity to execute some good football.''
Hayden took a 7-0 lead on a 12-yard touchdown run from senior Broderick Desch in the opening quarter and added a huge TD just 20 seconds before halftime on a 5-yard Kade Mitchell run.
After a scoreless third quarter the Wildcats turned the game into a rout in the fourth stanza.
Mitchell, a junior, scored his second TD of the night with 10:36 left to play from 18 yards out and sophomore Mason Becker tacked on his third extra point of the night to put Hayden in command, 21-0.
Senior Jensen Schrickel made it a 28-0 game on an 8-yard run (Becker kick) and then Hayden recovered Becker's ensuing kickoff deep in Wellsville territory when the Eagles failed to cover the kick.
Desch scored his second TD of the game (Becker kick) to put the Wildcats in command 35-0 before Wellsville star junior running back Armond Graves broke loose for a 68-yard run to finally get the Eagles on the scoreboard.
Unofficially, Mitchell carried the ball 11 times for 72 yards and his two scores while Desch had 14 totes for 58 yards and his pair of TDs.
Hayden senior quarterback Jett Wahlmeier completed 7 of 14 passes for 129 yards unofficially and set up Wildcat touchdowns with big passes to Treyton Tetuan and Connor Hanika.
Graves, who entered the game with 1,125 yards and 24 touchdown on the season, finished with a game-high 131 yards on 16 carries, but was held in check for most of the night by the Wildcat defense except for his 68-yard scamper.
"We did a really good job of flowing to the ball, tackling and hanging on and finishing off with three or four guys every time,'' Arnold said.
Wellsville was held to 11 passing yards
Hayden dropped a 34-7 decision to Cheney in a 2023 title game played in deplorable weather conditions. The early forecast for Saturday in Hutchinson is a high of 40 degrees with mostly sunny conditions.
Arnold said that making it to the title game in back-to-back years is a nice reward for all the hard work the Wildcats, and particularly the senior class, has put in.
"Our seniors have done a really good job leadership-wise,'' Arnold said. "Across the board, the seniors, it means something to them. We had a good group of seniors last year and we're going to have a really good group of seniors again next year.''
