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Grizzlies' offense too much for Busters
Published 9/8/2008 in Sports : GCCC
By MIKE KESSINGER
mkessinger@gctelegram.com
When Butler County expanded its lead to 21 with 2:11 left Saturday, Garden City could have just run a couple of plays and allowed time to tick away at Memorial Stadium.
But that's just the not way Broncbusters head coach Lucas Aslin would have allowed it to end. Garden City scored with 17.4 seconds left, then recovered the onside kick. With 1.7 seconds left, the Busters tacked on one more touchdown when quarterback Eugene Smith hit running back Ryan Smith in the middle of the field for a 10-yard score. Eugene Smith connected with Cameron Kenney for the two-point conversion making the final score a Butler 34-29 win.
"It was a game of big plays," Aslin said. "We gave up a lot of big plays on defense, and we just didn't make enough plays on offense. We can take something from this game. I thing I think I liked was the kids didn't quit. They fought back and got within five."
As impressive as the late rally was, the performance of Eugene Smith may have been even more so. The Busters' sophomore signal-caller picked apart the Grizzly defense all game. His final game line read: 45-of-62 passing for 395 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Smith's passes went to eight different receivers. His top two receivers combined for 29 catches as Adrian Jones had 15 catches for 139 yard and a touchdown, and Cameron Horesky added 14 catches for 151 yards.
"He's a really good quarterback," Horesky said of Smith. "He was putting it on the money, he was doing a really good job out there."
Smith completed all six of his pass attempts on the Busters opening possession when Garden City (1-1, 0-1) took a 6-0 lead. The touchdown came when Smith hit Kenney on a 17-yard fade. The only real problem for Smith was that Butler quarterback Press Taylor was just as consistent. Taylor followed Smith's march with one of his own when he took the Grizzlies 65 yards on 11 plays. The quarterback completed the drive with a two-yard toss to wide receiver Tyrece Gaines.
"A little surprised," Taylor said of the Busters offense. "It was a new look we hadn't seen. They're a good offense, they're going to move the ball, so we weren't worried about that, we just came out and responded."
The Grizzlies would respond a little faster on their next possession after Smith made the first of his very few mistakes. With a blitzing attack, Smith threw a pass that defensive end Zac Clark deflected and caught. It was Smith's first official incompletion after nine completed passes to his offense.
Taylor followed the turnover by hitting Gaines for a 41-yard score on the first play from scrimmage on the ensuing possession. From there the Busters were made to chase the No. 1 Grizzlies.
"I'm getting sick and tired of it, The last three, four years its been the same thing," Aslin said. "We go down, we've thrown the first blow, then we have no counter punch."
Butler, the defending national champions nine days removed from a 23-20 loss to No. 2 Blinn in Wichita, methodically pulled away from Garden City. Most of the damage come from Taylor, who finished with 257 yards through the air on 17-of-24 passes and five touchdowns. The Grizzlies led 20-6 at halftime and in the third quarter Taylor gave Butler its first 21-point lead when he hit tight end Alex Estes for an 11-yard score.
"We just didn't have enough answers for them early," Aslin said. "Beyond that, I thought (offensive coordinator Brian) Hill did a great job with what he did for our guys offensively. We just have to do a better job on defense and get the ball back to these guys better."
The Busters finished with 477 yards of total offense while Butler (1-1, 1-0) finished with 333.
Garden City will be at home Saturday in a non-conference game against Air Force Prep. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.
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Butler 34, Garden City 29
Butler 13¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 7¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 7¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 7¬ ¬ ¬ -- 34
Garden City 6 0¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 0¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 23-- 29
First quarter
GCCC -- Kenney 17 pass from Smith (kick blocked), 9:58
Butler -- Gaines 2 pass from Taylor (kick blocked), 9:58
Butler -- Gaines 41 pass from Taylor (Ortiz kick), :40
Second quarter
Butler -- Bell 1 pass from Taylor (Ortiz kick), 7:45
Third quarter
Butler -- Estes 11 pass from Taylor (Ortiz kick), 9:46
GCCC -- Jones 4 pass from Smith (Kenney kick), 4:51
Fourth quarter
Butler Hamm 5 pass from Taylor (Ortiz kick), 2:11
GCCC -- Kenney 2 pass from Smith (Smith pass to Hickel), :17.4 seconds
GCCC -- R. Smith 10 pass from E. Smith¬ (Kenney pass from E. Smith), :01.7 seconds
Game stats
¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ Butler¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ GCCC
First Downs¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 18¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 28
Rushing¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 28-76¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 27-74
Passing¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 257¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 403
Pass Att-Comp-Int¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 24-17-0¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 63-46-2
Total Offense¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 52-333¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 90-477
Fumbles returns/yards¬ ¬ 0-0¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 0-0
Punts¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 3-42.0¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 3-33.0
Penalties¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 8-57¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 10-81
Possession time¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 23:06¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 36:49
Individual statistics
Rushing
Butler -- Bell 18-63, Hubbard 9-15, Taylor 1-(-1). GCCC -- E. Smith 16-28, R. Smith 5-24, Beiberle 5-17, Kenney 1-5.
Passing
Butler -- Taylor 17-24-257. GCCC -- E. Smith 45-62-2-395; Powers 1-1-0-8.
Receiving
Butler --¬ Theliar 3-63, Gaines 3-60, Hamm 2-30, Davis 2-22, Hornes 2-15, Williams 1-22, Edwards 1-13, Jock 1-11, Estes 1-11, Larkins 1-10. GCCC -- Jones 15-139, Horesky 14-151, Kenney 8-55, Beiberle 3-2, Sperber 2-23, R. Smith 2-21, Balman 1-15, Hickel 1-(-3).
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