Buffaloes grind out 7-0 win over Rural in playoff opener
Photos by Adam Shrimplin
Listen to the complete game in our archives section
Garden City, KS-Football fans were reminded on Friday night, that come postseason time, a win is a win, no matter how ugly it may look.
Garden City’s opening-round playoff game won’t go down as the most aesthetically pleasing contest, but it got the Buffaloes one step closer to their ultimate goal.
Garrett Doll threw for 115 yards and a touchdown, the Buffaloe defense allowed just 73 yards of offense over the final three quarters, and Garden City advanced to the second round of the 6A playoffs with a 7-0 win over Topeka Washburn Rural at Buffalo Stadium.
It was Garden City’s first playoff shutout since Nov. 15, 1991 when the brown and white blasted the Junior Blues 35-0 in the 6A state semifinals.
“It doesn’t matter how you win the game,” Hill said. “We can make corrections, but the most important thing is we have another game next week.”
What’s even more incredible is the fact that Garden City won despite not converting a single third-down all night, going 0-for-14. Ironically, it was a fourth-down play that proved to be the game winner.
Following a defensive stop where Ethan Crone stuffed Jordan White for a three-yard loss on fourth-and-5 at the Buffalo 26 early in the second, Garden City (7-2, 3-1) began to march. On second-and-11 at their own 28, Doll threw a tight spiral down the left sideline that Andrew Kreutzer reeled in over his shoulder for a 40-yard gain.
“Garrett made some tough throws tonight,” Hill said.
Now facing a fourth-and-7 at the Washburn Rural 29 (4-5, 4-4) 29, Hill left his offense on the field. The move paid major dividends.
Doll dropped back and looked left, moving safety Tyler Cummings out of the way while giving the senior quarterback a clear window to throw a pellet to Tye Davis on a post for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 8:30 left in the first half.
“Who would have thought that play would have decided it,” Hill said with a smile. “But that’s how it works sometimes.”
After that score, it was a defensive tussle the rest of the way, with each team blowing scoring opportunities.
Garden City’s first missed chance came late in the second quarter.
On third-and-10 from their own 36, Garden City defensive back Jonathan Gomez picked off White at the Junior Blues’ 40-yard line. The pass was thrown right into his lap.
“Our defense was tremendous tonight,” Hill said. “They really answered the call. The coaching staff had these guys ready to go.”
The interception appeared to swing the tide, but an illegal block and a false start doomed the drive before David Arteaga dropped a fourth-down pass at the Washburn Rural 15 that would have given the Buffaloes a first down.
“We will go back and look at the film,” Hill said. “But we definitely missed some chances tonight.”
Washburn Rural had an opportunity to even the score early in the fourth quarter. But once they reached the Buffalo 35, Jasper Partin knocked the ball out of White’s hands, and Demarcus Elliott recovered at the Garden City 40.
“Coach (Dominick) Dingle is so good at making adjustments,” Hill said. “That’s exactly what we did tonight.”
When Garden City got the ball back, they squandered a chance to put the game away.
The Buffaloes moved the ball 56 yards in 13 plays, chewing up more than six minutes. After reaching the Junior Blues’ 4, Hill called timeout to assess his options on fourth-and-goal.
“I felt we had a good play call there, and a touchdown ends the game,” Hill said. “I know we could have kicked the field goal, and we would have if we didn’t gain any yardage on third down.”
The ensuing play call was creative: Arteaga took the snap out of the wildcat and took two steps in. As the defense committed, the senior, who Hill calls his Swiss army knife, floated a pass to Elliott in the end zone. But the two-time, all-conference player bobbled the ball, giving Washburn Rural new life.
“That’s a play where David will be kicking himself when he sees it on film,” Hill said with a huge smile. “But David does so many things for this team.”
The Buffalo defense followed with another three-and-out, and Arteaga converted a fourth-and-1 with less than two minutes to go to seal the Buffaloes 13th home playoff victory.
“We did the things that we needed to do,” Hill said. “I don’t know what happened last week, but these guys knew what was at stake. And they played like it.”
Without the services of Quinton Lapointe, who missed the game with a concussion, Hill’s team use a combination of counters, traps and jet sweeps to keep the Junior Blues off balance. Arteaga ended up as their leading rusher, gaining 69 yards on 22 carries. Kreutzer caught four balls for 40 yards, and Crone recorded a team-best seven tackles.
Mike Schurig, who started the game at quarterback for Washburn Rural, finished just 10-of-20 for 78 yards for the Junior Blues, who dropped to 11-7 all-time in road playoff games. White had 21 yards on the ground while reeling in four balls for 29 yards.
Notes: The seven points scored are the fewest in a playoff victory in program history…The Buffaloes improved to 5-4 in postseason play under Hill
Next up: Garden City at Topeka-Friday, Nov. 3-6 p.m. kpreps; 6:30 p.m. pregame; 7 p.m. kick on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app
