🔊 Buffaloes Earn First Win of Season with 35-32 Thriller In Hays (Highlights, Brian Hill interview, Stats)
Garden City came into Hays on Friday night with an 0-3 record but looking to start fresh in Western Athletic Conference play.
It was an inauspicious start yet again for the Buffaloes who gave up a 73-yard touchdown run Hays’ Roy Moroni on Hays’ second play of the game. After punting, Garden City was able to recover a bad snap by Hays High in the endzone for their second defensive touchdown of the season as Paul Perez fell on the football. A mishandled snap on the extra point still gave Hays a 7-6 lead going into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, Hays gets another big play with a 65 yard run by sophomore quarterback Dylan Dreiling to make it 13-6. Garden City would answer with a 9 play drive highlighted by a 33-yard catch by freshman Gerardo Arteaga on 3rd & 7 and a three-yard touchdown run by Josh Janas to make it 13-12 after the missed extra point.Â
Hays came back on the next drive with yet another big play from Moroni, this time a 33 yard touchdown run to top off a seven-play drive to give Hays a 20-12 lead. Garden City would answer again, this time on a 10-play drive with Carlos Acosta scoring from four yards out. A successful two-point conversion tied the game at 20-20 going into the halftime.Â
In the third quarter, Acosta hit fellow senior captain Lane Durst in stride on a 51-yard touchdown pass to make it 27-20, but Hays answered right back with a six-yard Hayden Brown score on the next drive. A missed extra point by Hays gave the Buffaloes a one-point lead going into the final quarter.
Brown tossed a seven-yard score to Dylan Ruder in the fourth, but a failed two-point conversion by the Indians gave them a five point advantage for Garden City with just under 10 minutes left in the game. Garden City on a 12-play drive, again highlighted by a third down catch by Arteaga, went down the field to the Hays 19-yard line. That’s when Acosta, on a five yard run out of bounds, fell awkwardly and exited the game with a left-knee injury. Sophomore Zane Burns took over and two plays later, Janas ran in for a score to give the Buffaloes a one point lead. On the two-point conversion, Janas threw a pass to Alex Rodriguez in the endzone to make it 35-32 Garden City.
The Buffaloes got a huge stop on 4th and 23 to end the game and get their first win of the year. Garden City is now 1-3 on the season and 1-0 in WAC play. The Buffaloes will travel to Liberal to take on the Redskins next Friday night.Â
