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Open and shut

Published 8/27/2007 in Sports : GCCC By Tony Adame

F or all of the questions surrounding his team headed into Saturday's season opener against Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College, the one answer Garden City Community College College rookie head coach Lucas Aslin wanted, he got.

So, can his team win football games?

According to a 28-19 victory, yes they can.

"I'm going to go take a look at the film, but we competed hard on both sides of the ball tonight," Aslin said. "We've got some stuff to work on, but I'm proud of how our kids did. Some parts were ugly, but I'll take it."

Things started off rough for the Broncbusters, with a couple of botched long snaps to freshman punter/kicker/wide receiver Cameron Kenney in the first quarter. The first miscue set up a 29-yard field goal by Angel Nava for a 3-0 Trinity Valley lead, and Kenney had to scramble to get a punt off the second time trouble struck.

"Problems happen, so you just have to be ready for them," Kenney said. "The one I did get off was kind of scary because they already had a field goal and that would have put us in a deep hole."

Kenney didn't waste much time making up for the special teams error.

After an interception by J.R. Bryant on Trinity Valley's opening drive of the second quarter, Garden City quarterback Eugene Smith found Kenney for a 47-yard touchdown pass.

It was the first collegiate touchdown pass and catch for either player and staked the Busters to a 7-3 lead.

"Things were going a little fast at first," Smith said. "Once we got into the second quarter I felt like I calmed down a little bit and was more in control of what I was doing."

On the Broncbusters next offensive series, Smith hooked up with Anthony Chalmers on a 47-yard pass to the Trinity Valley 1-yard line. Garden City got into the end zone on the next play as tailback Maurice Greer bulled his way in for the touchdown and a 14-3 lead.

After a fumble by Eugene Smith deep in Garden City territory set up a six-yard touchdown run by the Cardinals' Lloyd James, Trinity Valley went into halftime trailing just 14-10.

On the Broncbusters first offensive series of the second half, freshman Ryan Smith took a short pass from Eugene Smith and darted his way across the field for a 45-yard touchdown and a 21-10 lead.

Garden City's offense then stalled out for the rest of the third quarter and most of the fourth, as another Nava field goal cut the lead to 21-13. But the Broncbuster defense stepped in, forcing a pair of turnovers, including an interception by DeMarcus Robertson and a fumble recovery by Bryant.

With 6:30 to play in the fourth quarter and still clinging to a 21-13 lead, Kenney made what was arguably the biggest play of the day for Garden City.

Attempting to punt from his own 15-yard line, Kenney fielded another botched snap, and instead of looking to run sideways and shank a punt to midfield, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound speedster got vertical in a hurry, sprinting through a pack of Cardinal defenders for a 67-yard run.

Kenney's jaunt set up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Eugene Smith to J.J. Williams for a 28-13 Broncbuster lead with 5:45 to play.

"I saw the snap was kind of low so I knew I had to get out of there," Kenney said. "I got a good angle and once I was at full throttle and they were standing still there wasn't much they could do. Once I hit the 50 I thought I was going to go all the way but I just ran out of gas."

Aslin had high praise for Kenney's debut.

"Cameron does it all. He's explosive and we saw that tonight," Aslin said. "He's impressed me more than I could imagine."

Eugene Smith went 12-of-26 passing for 202 yards and three touchdowns. Greer had 14 carries for 38 yards.

It was the first game since 2005 for both players. Smith played baseball at Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College last season and Greer sat out 2006 while battling cancer.

Greer played for Garden City in 2005, running for almost 500 yards in a backup role.

Jahbari McLennan led Trinity Valley with three catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.

McLennan's touchdown came with just 34 seconds left in the game after a fumble by Greer as Garden City was trying to run out the clock.

"Our boys played hard, so they got no reason to be down on themselves," said Trinity Valley head coach Brad Smiley. "Give Garden City credit, they made more plays than we did. No question, though, we had opportunities to win."

Garden City now has a bye week, and will take on No. 3-ranked Butler County at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 8.

"We got some of the pressure off of us with this," said Bryant, who had a sack to go with his interception and fumble recovery. "All along I've been telling everybody not to think, to just react. When we started doing that tonight we started forcing turnovers.

"I still think we can play much, much better. Now we've got to start working on Butler."

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GARDEN CITY 28, TRINITY VALLEY 19

Trinity Valley 3 7 3 6 -- 19

Garden City 0 14 7 7 -- 28

First quarter

TV--Johnson 29 FG, 7:26

Second quarter

GC--Kenney 47 pass from E. Smith (Kenney kick), 11:25

GC--Greer 1 run (Kenney kick), 7:09

TV--James 6 run (Nava kick), 1:51

Third quarter

GC--R. Smith 45 pass from E. Smith (Kenney kick), 11:17

TV--Nava 26 FG, :32.4

Fourth quarter

GC--Williams 18 pass from E. Smith (Kenney kick), 5:45

TV--Mclennan 17 pass from Brennan (run failed), :34

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Garden City: Greer 14-38, E. Smith 13-24, R. Smith 3-(-4), King 1-10, Kenney 1-68. Trinity Valley: James 22-68, Cook 2-13, Lofton 1-10.

PASSING--Garden City: E. Smith 12-26-202-0, Miller 0-0-0-0. Trinity Valley: Cook 11-25-207-1, Barrett 1-3-17-1.

RECEIVING--Garden City: Chalmers 2-50, Kenney 3-54, Carpenter 2-18, King 2-11, Smith 2-52, Williams 3-30, Greer 1-2. Trinity Valley: Turner 5-41, James 2-(-9), McLennan 3-107, Pittman 2-5, Gibbs 2-75 3.

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