Snow scores late, hands Broncbusters a heartbreaking defeat

Garden City, KS-Some questionable clock management ended up costing Garden City big time in the end. 

Donovan Smith threw three touchdown passes including the go-ahead scoring toss to Jared Wilson with less than two minutes to go, and No. 4 Snow escaped with a 33-32 victory over Garden City at Broncbuster Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The loss guaranteed the second straight losing season for Tom Minnick. 

"We should have won the game," the veteran coach said. "We had every opportunity, and our guys fought."

Jalen Daniels threw for 290 yards and two scores for Garden City, which dropped to 0-3 lifetime vs. Snow. Alexander Lines caught six balls for 90 yards. 

"This one was frustrating because we were right there," Minnick added.  

Garden City (4-5, 2-3) had the Badgers, who were on the cusp of clinching one of the four national playoff spots, on the ropes when Fred Davis plowed in from four yards out to give Garden City a 32-21 advantage with 5:57 to play in the third.  

However, what some considered a knockout blow was merely a cross that only staggered the high-powered visitors from Utah. The Badgers answered right back, and when Hyrum Boren sprinted 20 yards for a touchdown, Snow was within five with less than a minute to play in the third. 

"When we had a chance to step on their necks, we didn't do it," Minnick stated.

But what was even more costly was on that Snow scoring drive, the Broncbusters burned two timeouts, one of them because they had 13 men on the field. 

The Broncbusters also missed a chance to put the game away after Jordan Polart intercepted Donovan Smith's wobbly spiral at the Garden City 27. But the home team went three downs and out. Then, the next time the Broncbusters had the ball, they went backwards, and a third down false start penalty ended up short circuiting the possession.  

Snow made them pay dearly after that. 

Trailing by five with all three timeouts, Snow marched 77 yards in just over three minutes. The big play came on first-and-15 when Smith zipped a pass to Ayo Shotomide-King for 39 yards down to the Garden City 12. Two plays later, Smith went back to the air, this time finding Wilson, who made a tremendous one-handed catch in the back-right corner of the end zone to give the Badgers a one-point lead with less than two minutes remaining.  

"You always go back and think about what you could have done differently," Minnick said. "That's every game." 

Because Snow missed the two-point conversion, all the Broncbusters needed was a field goal to win it. But because they burned their two timeouts in the third quarter, there wasn't much margin for error. Couple that with Jalen Daniels' knee injury, which happened on a third-down pass play near midfield when the freshman's leg buckled as he rolled to the right, Garden City's hopes faded quickly. Then on fourth down, Kody Kirk hit University of California transfer, Aiden Lee streaking across the middle. But the sophomore was tracked down by Bryan Cuthberts and Damarion Hollow a yard shy of the sticks.

Snow ran out the clock from there. 

Daniels finished 23-of-33 for 290 yards and two touchdowns for Garden City, which fell to 4-6 overall. Howard Iongi had a team-high eight tackles, and Keshawn Washington added six tackles, a forced fumble, and a momentum-shifting interception in the third period.  

Smith was 24-of-39 for 317 yards for Snow, which won its fourth consecutive game to improve to 8-2 overall. 

After a scoreless first quarter, the two teams combined for 39 points in a back-and-forth second period. Smith connected with Wilson for an 18-yard score to put Snow up 7-0 before Daniels answered with an 11-yard td strike to Khamran Laborn, capping off an eight-play, 75-yard drive that pulled the Broncbusters to within one (Stockton Bramwell blocked the extra point). On the Badgers' ensuing possession, AJ Tillman raced 68 yards to the end zone to give the visitors an eight-point edge. 

The fireworks didn't stop there. 

Laborn returned a punt 74 yards for a score to make it 14-12. Daniels then threw a 60-yard bomb down the middle to Oregon transfer Isaiah Brevard that gave the Broncbusters an 18-14 lead with 56 seconds left in the half. But the Badgers had the last laugh, driving 75 yards in just six plays. On second-and-10 from the Broncbuster 24, Smith fired a bullet to Shotomide-King, who hauled it in while dragging across the back chalk of the end zone to put Snow up, 21-18 at the break.