Broncbusters roll Dodge City

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Dodge City, KS-To say the Broncbusters dominated on Saturday night would go down as quite possibly the biggest understatement in the history of college football. And no, that's not hyperbole. In fact, the verb frankly has no place in this story. Even obliterate, annihilate, and extinguish still might not do this performance justice.

William Knight rushed for two scores, Dedrick Talbert hit the century mark on the ground, and Aaron Cheatwood's defense limited Dodge City to a mere 35 yards in a 49-0 shutout victory over Dodge City at Memorial Stadium that put the Broncbusters right back in the thick of a jumbled conference race. With the win, Garden City improved to 3-2 overall and 3-2 in the Jayhawk.

"Was it perfect? No. But, we needed this type of performance in all facets," Head Coach, Tom Minnick said afterwards."

Just how lopsided was this game? Well, for starters, Garden City outgained their bitter rivals from the east 539-35. The Conquistadors were held to just six first downs (four of them came via penalty) and averaged a miniscule 0.8 yards per play. Even crazier: Dodge City had more penalty yards (120) than total offense.

"Our defense has played great all season," Minnick added. "That part doesn't surprise me."

Conquistadors signal caller, Rashad McKee, who just seven days earlier threw for a school-record 416 yards in a 61-34 win over Fort Scott, looked like a shell of himself. He finished 4-of-14 for 24 yards, was sacked three times and threw one horrendous interception before the half that preseason All-American Exzavieus Roberson returned 47 yards into plus territory. But that doesn't come close to telling the entire story. The Broncbusters recorded 15 plays for negative yardage, while limiting Dodge City, the same team that rushed for nearly 300 yards vs. the Greyhounds, to just eight on 29 carries. McKee himself tallied seven totes for minus-54 yards.

"It wasn't a matter of our defense taking control, we fully expected them to," Minnick said. "It was a matter of our offense taking advantage of those opportunities."

And boy did they.

On Garden City's second offensive possession, Knight busted loose off left guard for a 49-yard touchdown that put the finishing touches on a four-play, 63-yard drive that had Garden City up, 7-0. The next time they had the ball, the brown and gold marched 72 yards in 11 plays, and after the drive stalled, William Greig connected on a 27-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 3:21 remaining in the first.

"We still had some issues finishing drives," Minnick explained. "But, for the most part, we did a lot of really good things on offense tonight."

The Broncbusters' lone mistake came early in the second quarter when Rhett Ricedorff's second-down pass was batted up in the air and intercepted by Nico Perofeta. Other than that, it was an anxiety-free game for coordinator, Ryan Felker, who authored some video-game-type performances during his time calling plays in Arizona.

"Offense is all about rhythm," Minnick said. "We found a good rhythm in this game."

Greig added a 43-yard field goal, and Ricedorff connected with Favour Okhavhe on a three-yard score late in the half to put Garden City up 20-0 at the intermission.

The floodgates opened after the break.

Jacob Hollins and Wembley Mailei ripped down Tyler Curtis in the end zone for a safety, Knight polished off a 10-play, 68-yard drive with a 12-yard rushing touchdown, and Talbert galloped 45 yards to the house to put the Broncbusters up 36-0 with 3:27 remaining in the third. Backup quarterback Matthew Purnell added a two-yard touchdown run early in the final period, and Man Man Freeman capped the scoring with an eight-yard dash to paydirt with 6:18 left.

"We just need to keep building off these types of performances," Minnick stated. "There are a lot of things that we need to clean up before we play Coffeyville in two weeks."

What can't be overstated enough is just how one sided this game really was. Garden City forced 10 three-and-outs on Dodge City's 13 possessions and held the Conquistadors to just 10 total yards over the final 30 minutes of the game. In fact, the home team crossed midfield only once, and that was late in the second quarter before Roberson victimized McKee.

Ricedorff finished 19-of-31 for 193 yards, one touchdown and one pick for Garden City, which beat Dodge City for the sixth consecutive time. Knight carried the ball 14 times for 96 yards, and Devion Hodges caught four balls for 57.

Cameron Faison finished the night with five carries for 37 yards for Dodge City, which lost for the ninth time in their last 11 games.

Notes: Dodge City was just 1-of-11 on third down…Garden City converted 14-of-20 third downs and held the ball for nearly 37 minutes…The Broncbusters ran 84 plays to Dodge City's 45…This marked the first time since 2009 that Garden City shutout their rivals

Next up: Garden City at Coffeyville-Saturday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.