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Busters shake off feisty Conquistadors

Published 10/20/2008 in None : GCCC

By BRETT MARSHALL

bmarshall@gctelegram.com

Statistics sometimes can fool you when you look at football games. Scoreboards never do.

And that's exactly what happened here Saturday night at Memorial Stadium when the Garden City Broncbusters defeated Dodge City for the 30th consecutive time, 53-34.

But looks are deceiving and the Busters, especially head coach Lucas Aslin, left the stadium perplexed at just what they had experienced.

"It wasn't what I expected," Aslin said afterward. "It was extremely frustrating, and we didn't play defense at all. We rarely stopped them, and we turned the ball over a lot (two interceptions and a lost fumble). We dropped passes, had early penalties. It was really bad at times."

Bottom line, though, Garden City left with its fifth straight victory, sixth overall, against just two losses and now has a week off to heal injuries and perhaps get a number of starters back for the Nov. 1 home game against Hutchinson that will determine positioning for the Jayhawk Conference playoffs.

"I'd rather win ugly than lose looking good," Aslin said. "That's what we did tonight. We've got to dial it up for Hutchinson and put a good game together. It we don't, we become just an average team."

With the Broncbusters leading 23-12 at halftime, Aslin had little to say to his team.

"I told them, 'I'm not saying a lot,'" Aslin said. "I did tell them that they better fight and play hard and that they better win because losing wasn't going to be part of what we were going to do. We were embarrassed the way we were playing, the kids were embarrassed. I told them that Dodge City would bring the fight to the game, and they did that and more. You've got to give them credit."

Dodge City was never completely out of the contest until the final two minutes of the game. With 3:19 remaining, the Conquistadors drove 80 yards in 10 plays, scoring when DCCC reserve quarterback Craig Venters connected with wide receiver Scott Donaldson (10 catches, 151 yards) from 11 yards out. A failed two-point conversion left the visitors trailing only 39-34.

But the ensuing onsides kick attempt failed miserably. Kicker Kareem Robinson shanked the ball and it went straight right across the 30-yard line and then was downed at the DCCC 29. A five-yard procedure penalty moved the ball down to the Dodge City 24, where the Busters took just four plays -- three of them running plays by Eugene Smith -- to score when the sophomore quarterback barreled in from the 4-yard line to put the Busters up 46-34 with 1:39 left in the game.

Then, just 11 seconds later, GCCC's Dontrell Johnson picked off Venter's pass and raced 26 yards untouched into the end zone to cap a bizarre night of plays to give the Busters their 30th straight triumph over the Conqs. The last DCCC victory, 19-13, came in Dodge City in 1986.

"It was a great game, and Dodge played us hard," said GCCC's Ryan Smith. "We knew they would do that to us. They started scoring, and we just had to buckle down."

It was the elusive Smith who played a big role in this Broncbuster victory. On only 12 carries, he rushed for 194 yards and three touchdowns. Two scores came on long runs of 50 and 99 yards, and his third was on a five-yard run late in the second quarter to extend what was then a narrow lead. The electrifying 99-yarder -- believed to be a school record -- came in the fourth quarter and put the Busters up 39-28.

Johnson had intercepted a Venters pass in the Busters' end zone and attempted to run it out rather than take a knee for a touchback. He was tackled inside the one-yard line and that's where GCCC started with its back to the wall. On the first play, a power play up the middle, Ryan Smith broke free five yards into the secondary and then outraced defensive back Jamarcus Ballard all the way to the end zone.

"He just hit the crease and outran their guy," Aslin said. "I think that play was the one that broke their back."

Smith said his offensive line had done a great job of blocking for him, but really opened a big hole on that play.

"Ray (offensive tackle Carter) told me to just follow him," Smith said. "I came off his hip and took off. (Ballard) wasn't going to catch me. It was homecoming, we needed the win. Now we can rest up and get ready for Hutchinson."

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Dodge City (0-7, 0-5) 6 6 16 6 -- 34

Garden City (6-2, 4-2) 9 14 6 24 -- 53

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

GCCC -- Eugene Smith 8 run (Colton McFerrin kick), 8:30

DCCC -- Jacques Seward 3 run (kick blocked), :51.2

GCCC -- Darrell Young 97 return of blocked kick, :51.2

Second Quarter

GCCC -- Ryan Smith 50 run (McFerrin kick), 13:04

DCCC -- Mike Jones 9 pass from Jean Julmiste (kick failed), 4:12

GCCC -- Ryan Smith 5 run (McFerrin kick), 1:49

Third Quarter

DCCC -- Seward 9 run (run failed), 11:58

GCCC -- Chase Beiberle 7 run (kick blocked), 8:49

DCCC -- Safety, GCCC holding penalty in end zone, 4:27

DCCC -- Seward 9 run (Mike Jones pass from Craig Venters), :39.8

Fourth Quarter

GCCC -- Cameron Kenney 33 field goal, 13:10

GCCC -- Ryan Smith 99 run (McFerrin kick), 7:53

DCCC -- Scott Donaldson 11 pass from Venters (pass failed), 3:19

GCCC -- Eugene Smith 4 run (McFerrin kick), 1:39

GCCC -- Dontrell Johnson 26 pass interception (McFerrin kick), 1:28

	DCCC	GCCC
First Downs	24	12
Rushes-Yards	49-182	33-300
Passing yards	290	157
Passes (Comp-Att-Int)	21-35-3	14-21-2
Penalties-Yards	5-40	7-55
Fumbles-Lost	2-0	2-1
Punts-Avg.	2-29.0	1-40.0
Possession Time	36:11	23:49

Individual Statistics

Rushing -- Dodge City: Quentin Robinson 6-26, Jean Julmiste 9-40, Jacquese Seward 22-73, Kareem Alexander 12-43. Garden City: Eugene Smith 8-52, Ryan Smith 12-194, Chase Beiberle 10-39, Adrian Jones 1-10, Cameron Horesky 2-4.

Passing -- Dodge City: Jean Julmiste 15-27-165-1, Craig Venters 6-8-125-2. Garden City: Eugene Smith 14-20-180-2.

Receiving -- Dodge City: Jacques Seward 6-72, Scott Donaldson 10-151, Kareem Alexander 1-15, Mike Jones 2-35, Jarrett Jones 1-13, Quinton Robinson 1-4. Garden City: Chase Beiberle 3-27, Adrian Jones 2-19, Cameron Horesky 2-21, Dan Rogers 3-20, Daniel Balman 1-2, Jared Sperber 2-20, Ryan Smith 1-48.

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