The Garden City Telegram
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Busters ride tough 'D' to win
Published 10/13/2008 in None : GCCC
By PHIL ERVIN
Special to The Telegram
HIGHLAND -- A stingy defense vaulted Garden City Community College to a 37-10 victory Saturday at Highland.
The Broncbusters' front four were relentless in pressuring Highland's Corey Ward, sacking the freshman quarterback eight times and forcing three interceptions. Two of the three thefts were snagged by defensive back Dontrell Johnson.
Highland had three red zone chances in the third quarter to cut into a 23-7 halftime lead, but was held to three points on a 35-yard field goal by kicker Zak King.
Broncbuster linebacker Aaron Anderson swatted away a fake field goal pass from Caylor Luther on Highland's first possession of the second half to stop the Scotties inside the six-yard line. Two possessions later, Ward coughed up the ball on a quarterback keeper and Garden City linebacker Aaron Racette pounced on the loose ball.
"We did a good job of stopping them in the red zone," Garden City head coach Lucas Aslin said. "We did a good job of keeping our composure and holding them out. Our defense just played very, very hard."
Things started off fairly even Saturday as Garden City (5-2, 3-2) drove 65 yards on the game's first possession, scoring on a 12-yard scamper around right end by running back Chase Beiberle. Colton McFerrin's extra-point attempt was blocked.
The Scotties came right back on their second offensive play with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Ward to wideout Paul Valiant to go up 7-6. That was the only touchdown the Broncbuster defense would give up.
After recovering a Ward fumble at the Highland 15, the Broncbusters went ahead for good on a 14-yard fade pass from quarterback Eugene Smith to receiver Cameron Horesky, who leaped between two Scottie defenders to pull down one of four receptions on the afternoon.
A squib kick of the ensuing kickoff was mishandled by Tegan Meadors and recovered by Garden City. Smith hooked up with receiver Adrian Jones five plays later as the Busters went up 20-7.
Meador's mishandled kickoff coverage was not the only bizarre special teams play seen at Kessinger Stadium. In addition to Highland's unsuccessful fake field goal, the Scotties kept a third quarter drive alive on a quick kick by Ward that was blocked and then mishandled by Broncbuster safety Taylor Elder, allowing the Scotties to jump on the live ball.
King also mishandled the ball in trying to get a punt off near the end of the first half. Garden City's recovery set up a 26-yard field goal by McFerrin, subbing for the injured Cameron Kenney, to put Garden City up by 16.
The Broncbusters also failed to handle a pooch kick in the third, giving the Scotties possession after cutting the lead to 13 on King's field goal.
"We had a hard time on some special teams plays," Aslin said. "We need to tackle better on those plays and get our defense off the field."
In addition to unconventional plays between series, the field was littered with penalty flags as the Broncbusters were called for 14 penalties, totaling 165 yards.
"We expect more effort than that," Aslin said. "We got kind of complacent in the second half, and there were flags all over the place."
Highland fared little better in the discipline category. A couple of personal fouls saw the Scotties face third and 37 after recovering King's high pooch kickoff in the third.
McFerrin's field goal in the waning minutes of the first half rounded out the scoring until a late fourth quarter 19-yard touchdown run by Nick Allen. That score was set up by a 73-yard fumble return by defensive tackle Jovontay Williams.
Johnson added an exclamation point in the game's waning minutes when he returned his second pick of the day 70 yards for a touchdown.
The win was the Broncbusters third straight Jayhawk Conference victory.
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Score by Quarters
Garden City 20 3 0 14 -- 37
Highland 7 0 3 0 -- 10
Scoring Summary
First quarter
GC -- Chase Bieberle 12 run (Kick failed)
H -- Paul Valiant 50 pass from Corey Ward (Zak King kick)
GC -- Cameron Horesky 14 pass from Eugene Smith (McFerrin kick)
GC -- Adrian Jones pass from Eugene Smith (McFerrin kick)
Second quarter
GC -- McFerrin 26 field goal
Third quarter
H -- King field goal
Fourth quarter
GC -- Nick Allen 19 run (McFerrin kick)
GC -- Dontrell Johnson 70 pass interception return (McFerrin kick)
| GCCC | Highland | |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 11 | 11 |
| Rushes-yards | 23-64 | 33-118 |
| Passing yards | 235 | 109 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 33-18-2 | 19-5-3 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 6-5 |
| Penalties-Yards | 14-165 | N/A |
Individual Statistics
Rushing
Garden City -- Chase Beiberle 11-49, Eugene Smith 3-10, Ryan Smith 7-11, Terry Vaughn 1-(-2), Jacob Deutsch 1-(-4).
Highland -- Devin Ray 19-135, Team 14-(-18).
Passing
Garden City -- Eugene Smith 18-33-235-1, Jacob Deutsch 0-1-0-1.
Highland -- Ward 5-17-109-2.
Receiving
Garden City -- Adrian Jones 6-82, Dan Rogers 1-4, Jared Sperber 4-60, Cameron Horesky 4-58, Beiberle 2-14, Ryan Smith 1-17.
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