The Garden City Telegram

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Offense in good hands

Published 8/30/2010 in Sports

By BRETT MARSHALL

bmarshall@gctelegram

Johnson and Johnson is a recognized health care industry corporation that puts the needs and well-being of the people they serve first.

Garden City Community College's football team now has its own version of Johnson and Johnson.

And it served the team well Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, where the two wide receivers — sophomore Corey and redshirt freshman T.J. — accounted for three touchdown passes from Wes Winfrey to propel the Broncbusters to a 32-23 season-opening victory over the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen.

The moral compass for success that guides the industry giant was the moral compass for success for the Busters' offense and its freshman quarterback, Winfrey.

"I just told him (Winfrey) to relax and get the jitters out," Corey Johnson said after the Busters' victory. "Throw it to me, I'll get it. I just thought I'd take him under my wing since I'm a sophomore. He (Winfrey) made some really good passes, some big plays."

After holding a precarious 10-7 halftime advantage, the Busters watched NEO take its first drive of the third quarter 43 yards in three plays, with a 37-yard scoring pass from Beau Marsaln to Jermaine Sherman accounting for the TD. That put the Norsemen up 17-14.

"I thought we showed some character once we got down," said GCCC coach Lucas Aslin. "I thought Wes did a good jump; a little nervous at first, but he had a big second half with a lot of good throws."

The first of those big throws came just two minutes after the Norsemen took their first lead of the game. Corey Johnson had taken the ensuing kickoff 32 yards to set the Busters up at their own 49. A couple of short runs by Deschion Baskerville and a 15-yard completion from Winfrey to sophomore Taylor Headrick set the Busters up at the NEO 23. On the next play, Winfrey found Corey Johnson on a crossing pattern at the 10. Corey Johnson then broke free of a tackler and raced to the end zone, giving the Busters a 17-14 lead, and they never trailed again.

"The defensive back took my outside move and that got me open to the inside," Corey Johnson said. "Wes just put the ball in there perfect."

After an NEO drive stalled, the Busters went back to work on offense. This time it was three plays and again it was Winfrey to Corey Johnson on a 54-yard touchdown pass. Winfrey lofted the pass high down the sideline and Johnson snared the ball at the 28, cut back and headed to the end zone.

"That one, the defensive back bit on my move and then it was off to the house," Johnson said. "I'm just excited for everyone. Everyone did great and we got the win. We had some busted plays, but we did what we needed to do."

The other Johnson — T.J., the redshirt freshman from Kannapolis, N.C. — got in on the scoring in the fourth quarter to help put some distance between the Busters and Norsemen.

NEO had closed a 26-14 deficit to 26-23 in the early stages of the fourth quarter. After an NEO punt was downed inside the 1-yard line, GCCC's Keion Wade was tackled in the end zone for a two-point NEO score, making it 26-16 at the 14:04 mark. After the teams exchanged possessions, the Norsemen went 67 yards in 10 plays, getting its final score on a 16-yard pass from Beau Marsaln to Jakiel Everheart, to close to 26-23 with 7:30 to play.

The Busters set up on their 37-yard line after Corey Johnson's 29-yard kickoff return. Three plays and a 15-yard personal foul penalty later, Winfrey found T.J. Johnson at the 8-yard line. T.J. Johnson then broke free and barreled his way into the end zone for the score at the 5:06 mark.

From there, the Busters' defense kept the Noresemen at bay. The Busters posted four sacks on the final two NEO possessions, including two from sophomore linebacker Mark Spaight.

"We had some open lanes to the quarterback, and coach said if you see the opening, just go for it," Spaight said. "We played pretty sloppy at times, but we played hard. I thought we did some things good, but we missed on a number of plays and we'll have to get better."

The Busters looked impressive at the game's outset, taking their first drive of the game and marching 87 yards in five plays, all on the ground. Keion Wade's 2-yard burst got the Busters off to a 7-0 lead and it was Wade's 58-yard scamper that set everything up.

"I think when we hit people in the mouth, we thought it was going to be easy," Aslin said. "But I thought we got a good tempo going in the second half. We ran the ball OK and had some good play-action passes."

Aslin was especially happy with his receiving corps and the second-half performance of Winfrey, who went 8-of-14 for 134 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions.

"People are going to have to figure out that Corey is a very, very good player," Aslin said of his sophomore wideout. "He's a hard worker and a good kid. I thought Wes did a good job for his first start. He didn't take a sack all night. He threw it out of bounds when he needed to. I thought the toughness of the team was pretty good."

The Busters will take their 1-0 record on the road Saturday when they travel to northeast Kansas to face the Highland Scotties at 1 p.m. NEO heads home to get ready for a Thursday night home game against No. 9-ranked Ellsworth, Iowa.

N.E. Okla. 7 0 7 9 -- 23

Garden City 7 3 16 6 -- 32

First Quarter

GCCC — Keion Wade 2 run (David Gonzalez kick), 10:38, 7-0

NEO — Terrance Olds 8 run (Collin Yeary kick), 4:02, 7-7

Second Quarter

GCCC — Gonzalez 36 field goal, :12.5, 10-7

Third Quarter

NEO — Jermaine Sherman 37 pass from Beau Marsaln (Yeary kick), 10:51, 10-14

GCCC — Corey Johnson 23 pass from Wes Winfrey (Gonzalez kick), 8:42, 17-14

GCCC — C. Johnson 54 pass from Winfrey (kick failed), 5:25, 23-14

GCCC — Gonzalez 44 field goal, :43, 26-14

Fourth Quarter

NEO — Safety, Wade tackled in end zone, 13:58, 26-16

NEO — Jakiel Everheart 16 pass from Marsaln (Yeary kick), 7:30, 26-23

GCCC — T.J. Johnson 16 pass from Winfrey (kick failed), 5:06, 32-23

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NEO GCCC

First downs 8 13

Total Net Yards 186 319

Rushes-yards 46-50 27-125

Passing 136 194

Comp-Att-Int 10-19-1 13-27-1

Punts 7-45.7 4-26.7

Fumbles-Lost 5-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 7-65 6-40

Time of Possession 37:40 22:20

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — NEO, Crowder 3-(-14), Dan 1-1, Marsaln 11-(-56), Everheart 1-4, Olds 20-75, Griffin 8-36, Hampton 2-4. GCCC, Baskerville 9-14, Winfrey 1-(-1), Wade 17-112.

PASSING — NEO, Crowder 0-1-0--0, Marsaln 10-19-1--136. GCCC, Winfrey 13-27-1--194.

RECEIVING — NEO, Sherman 4-95, Morris 1-3, Everheart 2-13, Robinson 1-4, Sparks 1-12, Thompson 1-9. GCCC, Headrick 3-29, C. Johnson 4-90, T.J. Johnson 3-45, O'Rourke 1-22, Baskerville 1-6.

MISSED FIELD GOALS — GCCC, Gonzalez, 36 (WR).

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