Conq football ends season with a win

FORT SCOTT, KAN. — The Dodge City Community College football team ended the 2018 season with a 27-7 win on the road at Frary Field over the Fort Scott Greyhounds.

Conq running back Anthony Watkins ended his sophomore campaign with a bang. The sophomore from Harvey, Illinois rushed for 232 yards on 34 carries and two rushing scores. Watkins’ performance gave him over 1,000 rushing yards on the season and will be a big boost for his recruiting status.

“Anthony has been strong for us all season long,” Dodge City coach Gary Thomas said. “He’s been the workhorse for us and it was good to see him go out on such a strong note. I wanted to take him out earlier in the game, but wanted to make sure he was rewarded for his great season.”

Dodge City (4-7, 2-5 KJCCC) took a 7-0 lead on a 65-yard touchdown run from Watkins. Watkins took the hand off through the left side of the line and busted free for the touchdown run. That gave a spark to the Conqs offense and defense throughout the rest of the game.

The Conqs defense was superb against the Greyhounds, as the Conqs intercepted three Fort Scott (2-8, 1-6) passes in the game. Two of which came as Fort Scott was driving down the field and in the red zone.

“Our defense has been pretty strong for us throughout the season,” Thomas said. “The fact that we were able to stop two of their drives deep in our territory was huge.”

The Greyhounds tied the game up at 7 apiece when Kareem Walker found the end zone from seven yards out. That would be the only points that Fort Scott would get the rest of the game.

Watkins got his second rushing touchdown from 15 yards out with 3:23 to go in the first half and give Dodge City the 14-7 lead back in their favor. That would be the score as the two teams went into halftime.

Dodge City received the kickoff to begin the second half, but nothing came from it. In fact, both teams struggled offensively in the third quarter, as there were a lot of punts from Devonta Guillory for Dodge City and Fort Scott’s Dustin Rieser.

The Conqs added a 31-yard field goal from Guillory with 13:01 to go in the fourth to extend the lead to two scores. Guillory then would add a 30-yard field goal after Dodge City’s defense got a big interception from Darshun Williams. Dodge City would find the end zone one more time when Drew Harris ran it in from six yards out to give the Conqs the 27-7 lead with 5:15 to go.

Dodge City’s defense held Fort Scott’s offense to just 189 total yards and forced six punts from Rieser. The Conqs finished with 402 yards of total offense, over 300 of which came on the ground.