Broncbusters set school record in blowout win over Fort Scott

By Mike Pilosof

Photos by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-You want to know what makes Tom Minnick great? That strive for perfection, something most coaches never attain. Yet, there he was on Saturday, walking off the field shaking his head; this after his team thoroughly embarrassed Fort Scott. Why was he upset? Because despite a 67-point win over an inferior opponent, Minnick demanded more.

Still, Garden City's performance in week two was one for the books, and it sent a loud and resounding message to the reset of the nation.

Jordan Ford rushed for 164 yards and three scores, Devion Hodges added two rushing touchdowns, and Garden City set a school record for points scored, beating the Greyhounds into submission, 76-9 at Broncbuster Stadium. The 76 points surpassed the old mark of 75, set back in 1999 vs. Highland.

"I hate doing that to other teams," Minnick said afterwards. "As a coach, you hate playing in these types of games because there isn't a lot gained. I would rather play 10 games a year vs. East Mississippi, Hutchinson and Butler."

The Broncbusters will get their shot at the top-ranked Blue Dragons, which blew out Butler on Saturday night, in three weeks. But in the meantime, the brown and gold are wasting no time thrashing their way to the top of the league standings, even if that meant beating the breaks off a longtime rival.

"We could have played much better, and I know that sounds funny because the game was so lopsided," Minnick explained. "But we have to improve in many areas. We didn't practice well this week, and there were times where it showed."

And while the passing game may be a work in progress, Iowa State transfer, Devin Larsen, threw one of the prettiest balls of the young season on the Broncbusters' second possession, lofting a rainbow down the right sideline to Jalen Williams, who snagged it away from defensive back, Mondo Walker for a 26-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. It was the first of two beauties from the redshirt freshman signal caller, who dropped a fourth-down dime on Garden City's next possession to Austin Simmons, who dragged across the back of the end zone before Larsen hit him right in the chest for a 14-0 advantage with 7:36 to go in the quarter.

"Don't get me wrong, we did some good things in this game," Minnick added. "But the problem was as soon as our guys watched the film, they knew they were going to beat them. And that's not good.

After forcing a Fort Scott three-and-out, the Broncbusters wasted no time getting the running game going, and Ford's 63-yard dash to the end zone on the first play of Garden City's ensuing drive, gave the brown and gold a three-touchdown lead before some fans had even filed into the stadium. It was all part of a first quarter in which the home team put up nearly 200 yards of total offense while limiting the Greyhounds to just one first down.

"Our goal is just to keep getting better," Minnick said. "We have next week to get better, and then the week after that."

The Broncbusters added to their lead in the second. University of Florida transfer, Jonathan Huggins capped off a six-play, 45-yard march with a one-yard plunge out of the wildcat that stretched it to 28-0. Then, after the Broncbusters surrendered a 61-yard pass play from Jiya Wright to Mystikal McGhee that led to a 40-yard Ishmael Roy field goal, Garden City immediately answered when Khamran Laborn took the ensuing kickoff back 95 yards to the house to make it 35-3. Ford added a 10-yard rushing touchdown in the final four minutes, and the Broncbusters had a 42-3 halftime edge.

"It will be hard to gauge if we got better from this game until we watch the film," Minnick stated.

Garden City showed no signs of slowing down in the third. And to be honest, there wasn't much resistance.

Following Fort Scott's lone touchdown of the day: a 39-yard scoring toss from Wright to Reece Thomas, the Broncbusters landed a knockout blow. Hodges' 24-yard run the next time Garden City had the ball, pushed Minnick's squad inside the red zone. A couple of plays later, Ford barreled into the end zone for a 49-9 lead with 9:26 to go in the period. Xavier Peters tacked on a pair of rushing touchdowns late in the quarter, and Hodges reached the end zone twice in the final frame, including a 15-yard jaunt that polished off a five-play 60-yard drive that helped break a 22-year-old mark.

"Let's see what we can do moving forward," Minnick said. "We've got Highland, and then we play Independence. So, we have our work cut out for us."

The Broncbusters racked up 570 yards of total offense, gained 28 first downs and totaled 453 yards on the ground. They played turnover free football for a second straight week, and Huggins' diving third-quarter interception provided Garden City's lone takeaway. Meantime Larsen finished 7-of-20 for 106 yards and two touchdowns for the Broncbusters, which won their fifth straight game over Fort Scott.

Wright was 14-of-26 through the air for the Greyhounds, which were limited to just 137 total yards and minus-47 on the ground. They were 2-of-14 on third down and surrendered five sacks.

Next up: Garden City vs. Highland-Saturday, April 10-1 p.m. CDT