Busters roll listless Greyhounds–audio highlights
Audio Highlights: GCCC vs. Ft. Scott highlights
Ft. Scott, Kan (westernkansasnews.com)-On Thursday, interim Head Coach Jeff Kelly promised a “Win one for the Gipper” speech. On Saturday afternoon, he delivered it with pure eloquence and was bathing in Gatorade after his first collegiate victory.
Playing without their Head Coach Matt Miller, who was back in Garden City dealing with health issues; a starting quarterback who tossed five touchdowns the week before and a staple at right tackle, the Busters rolled to a 33-14 victory over Ft. Scott on a rain-soaked Frary Field.
“The kids came out and played hard,” Kelly said afterwards. “They were thinking about Coach Miller the whole time.”
Making his first career college start, sophomore Jake Curran was steady, throwing for 96 yards and a touchdown while directing a rushing attack that pounded out 191 yards on 44 carries.
That ground game was on display on the third play of the game when Tryeek Hill, who finished the day with a 103 yards rushing on 14 carries took a third-down hand off 61 yards to the house, following the block of sophomore left tackle Dontavious Blar-giving Garden City a 7-0 lead.
Then it was the defense’s turn to make a play. On Ft. Scott’s opening drive, Kansas-State commit D’Vonta Derricott picked off quarterback Jason Stewart–one of four interceptions on the day-giving the Busters the ball back at the Greyhounds 21-yard line. But after Curran hit Brandon Snell for a 16-yard gain down to the five, the drive short circuited, and Tyler Peterson came on and drilled a 23-yard field goal making it 10-0 at the 10:38 mark of the first quarter.
“These guys are well coached,” Kelly said. “We asked them to go get the ball and they did that.”
Ft. Scott responded on the ensuing drive, marching ten plays-nine of those runs-capped off with Stewart’s quarterback sneak from three yards out, cutting the Garden City lead to 10-7.
The score would stay that way until early in the second quarter when the Busters went on their own methodical drive that took nearly five minutes. But Curran’s third-down pass from the Ft. Scott 15 fell incomplete, and Peterson was summoned for his second field goal-this one from 32 yards out, stretching Garden City’s lead to 13-7 with 14 minutes to play in the half.
Peterson would add another field goal later in the quarter, giving the Busters a 16-7 lead going into the locker room.
The defensive stalemate continued into the third until freshman Matt McDonald broke free and ran 34 yards to the end zone extending the Garden City advantage to 23-7.
The Busters next score was set up by the defense when Eric Wester intercepted a fluttering-Stewart pass and returned it to the Greyhounds 24-yard line. Five plays later, Peterson banged home a line-drive, 28-yard field goal-giving Garden City a 19-point lead.
But Ft. Scott (0-6, 0-5) wouldn’t go down quietly. A fourth-down punt by Peterson turned into some improvisation after the long snap bounced back to the punter. Peterson picked the ball up and try to run for a Garden City first down but was stopped five yards short-turning the ball over on downs at the Busters 22-yard line.
On the next play-Jonathan Alford-who rushed 47 times for 190 yards, knifed his way through the Garden City defense for a 22-yard touchdown; the Greyhounds trailed 26-14 with 4:55 to play.
However the onside kick was snagged by Snell, who returned it 17 yards to the Ft. Scott 30-yard line. Six plays later, Garden City finished off the Greyhounds when Curran found Snell in the back-right corner of the end zone.
The focus now, can finally shift to their looming showdown with Butler:
“They’re the champions of this conference,” Kelly said. “We’re just looking forward to playing them. We’ll see how we match up with them.”
Next up: Garden City (4-1, 2-1) at Butler (4-1, 3-1); Saturday, October 5-7 p.m. on KBUF AM 1030 and westernkansasnews.com
Final Stats: GCCC vs. Ft. Scott Stats
