Fort Scott Community College defensive end (22) sacks Garden City quarterback Eugene Smith during first-quarter action in a Jayhawk Conference game at Frary Field Saturday afternoon as linebacker Jacquain Williams (2) follows up. The Greyhounds sacked Smith nine times, with Grace getting 1 1/2 of them, in a 31-24 victory. (Fort Scott Community College photo/Matthew Brandt)

Fort Scott Community College defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul and Isaiah Grace brought Garden City's comeback to a crushing end at Frary Field Saturday afternoon when they brought down quarterback Eugene Smith on a fourth-down play in Greyhound territory with 15 seconds remaining in a 31-24 victory over the Broncbusters.

Those two combined for what was the ninth sack of the game for the 12th-ranked Greyhounds. Horace Hubbard was in on 2 1/2 of them for 19 yards in losses while Grace, who played on Fort Scott High's 2000 State championship team, had 1 1/2 for 9 1/2.

Grace played for FSCC, currently ranked No. 12, in 2001 and returned to the program this season. He's the oldest player on the team but he's playing with the intensity he displayed as a Tiger linebacker at 18.

Fort Scott Community College receiver Brandon Kinnie (84) hauls down a touchdown pass over Garden City's Keenan Mathies near the end of the second quarter of play Saturday. This score gave the Greyhounds a 21-14 lead at the time. Kinnie caught six passes for 88 yards in Fort Scott's 31-24 victory. (Fort Scott Community College photo/Matthew Brandt)

"When he first came out, I asked people about him and they'd tell me and how played on the State championship team and how good he played when was a freshman here," Fort Scott head coach Jeff Sims said. "Sometimes, it takes a little time to get a feel for it. I felt like we've played two first games because of that bye week. And I think you saw Isaiah in a second-game mode. He made some good plays and he put on great pressure.

He's older than most of the other guys but he takes coaching just like the rest of them."

Fort Scott (2-0 in the Jayhawk Conference and 3-0 overall) now sits atop the conference standings tied with Butler (3-1 overall) and -- surprise! -- Independence (2-1). Butler beat Air Force Perp in a non--conference game Friday while Indy drew the bye.

Meanwhile, Garden City (0-2, 2-2) is ahead of only Dodge City (0-3, 0-4) in the standings and in real danger of not making the four-team Region VI Playoffs.

Two weeks ago, Garden rallied at home, scoring 22 points in the fourth quarter but still falling short against No. 6 Butler, 34-29. The fact that the Broncbusters don't seem to be out of games until the final whistle is of no consolation to head coach Lucas Aslin.

"Zero positive because we've done that twice and still didn't win," Aslin said. "We're close and that's great but you can't get anything done."

Fort Scott was out-gained in total offense by Garden City, 338-294, but another defensive score and a punt return as well as four Broncbuster turnovers, more than turned things the Greyhounds' way.

"Our players played hard today," Sims said, "I am so proud of the guys we have here today. They've worked hard from July all the way to today and they fought hard today."

This is Fort Scott's fourth consecutive win over Garden City, a string that began with a 37-7 rout at Garden City in 2006 and continued with wins in consecutive weeks -- the regular-season finale at Garden and the first-round playoff game at Frary Field -- last year.

This was also the Greyhounds' second victory this season over a ranked team. The 40-20 season-opening win over then-No. 18 Kilgore (Texas) was the other.

Jacquain Williams' 96 yard return of a Eugene Smith fumble put Fort Scott up 31-17 with 4:49 remaining in the contest. It was the second consecutive week the 'Hounds have posted a defensive score.

Garden City fumbled seven times and lost three of them and also threw an interception. Fort Scott had just one turnover.

The Broncbusters returned the ensuing kickoff to the Fort Scott 44. Smith found Cameron Kenney on a fourth-and-one pass for 22 yards to the seven. Three plays later, Smith hit an open Cameron Horesky in the end zone from eight yards out to bring the Busters within a touchdown.

The Busters elected to kick off and held the 'Hounds to a three-and-out. The punt went out of bounds at midfield. The defense forced a fourth-and-10 there but a pass interference penalty extended Garden City's life and put the ball at the 35.

Smith found Kenney for 12 yards on the next play. But Coryell Judie batted down a pass on first down and Sean Glades broke through to sack Smith by his wristband on second.

Smith spiked the ball to stop the clock on third down with 15 seconds left. But then Pierre-Paul and Grace broke through for the game-ending stop.

"We talked to (the defense) during the week about how the Giants won the Super Bowl this year," Sims said, "And they beat the Patriots with a great defensive line. And we recruited to try and get some great defensive linemen. And they play hard. They didn't get tired. They refused to get tired. And they kept coming. And I don't know if Garden City's seen that kind of pressure before. We're fortunate because the kids gave it their all."

Fort Scott converted an early fumble recovery into points in the first quarter when Zac Dickey snuck the ball into the end zone a little under three minutes into the contest. His own 40-yard scramble on the second play of the drive helped set that up.

Garden City took advantage of a turnover itself later in the period as J.J. Williams' pick put the Broncbusters at the Greyhound 23-yard line. Three plays later, Smith found an open Jared Sperber for the tying touchdown.

Judie posted Fort Scott's next score Garden had to punt from its own four midway through the second period. He fielded the kick, ran over to his left, then bounced it back to the right sideline to score from 41 yards out with 6:24 remaining, putting Fort Scott up 14-7.

Garden City tied it again when Chase Beiberle took a lateral 36 yards to paydirt with 2:53 to go in the half. But the Broncbuster offense also gave Fort Scott good field position for its next score.

Hubbard sacked Smith on a first-and-10 play from midfield with under a minute to go. The hit caused a fumble, which Pierre-Paul recovered at the Garden 37. Smith was also penalized 15 yards for a personal foul after the play, which allowed the Greyhounds to start at the 22.

On the very next play, Dickey hit a leaping Brandon Kinnie in the back of the end zone to put the 'Hounds up 21-14 with 36 seconds to go. This was Kinnie's fifth TD reception of the season.

Kenney brought Garden City within four at the half by hitting a 40-yard field goal with six seconds remaining.

The Greyhounds received the second-half kickoff and went into a no-huddle offense. They drove to Garden City's four-yard line before an incomplete pass ended the drive. Garden City only got to its own 24 before punting and Fort Scott was able to get a 26-yard field goal by Luke Halsey on the ensuing drive. That was the only score of the quarter.

"Our offense changed field position every time we had the ball," Sims said. "We would have liked to pounded it in a couple of more times. I may have made a silly call here or there that might have hurt us but our guys really controlled the ball."

Garden City drove to the Fort Scott 35 on the next possession but David LaVonte intercepted Smith to end the drive.

The Busters got the ball back shortly after as Dontrell Johnson picked Dickey off after a receiver broke the wrong way on his route. But Garden couldn't take advantage of the miscue as Kenney's 50-yard field-goal attempt bounced off the left upright early in the fourth quarter.

Fort Scott appeared to be in better shape as the second half wore on. The running game continued to eat up yards and clock. Jasmine Hopkins carried the ball 42 times himself for 150 yards.

"We're not afraid to give it to our running backs," Sims said. "That goes back to our conditioning. That's what we want to do. We want to pound people. If you saw people in the third quarter, some of their players were getting hurt. I hope it was more that they were tied. And I think that's what it was. I think guys got tired and we wear them down.

"We have a saying: 'We don't get tired, we get tougher'. And I really believe we have some tough young men."

Fort Scott's nine sacks were the most since the Greyhounds put Highland quarterback to the ground 14 times in a mid-season game last year. In this game, 62 yards were lost on sacks.

"We talked to them during the week about how the Giants won the Super Bowl this year," Sims said. "And they beat the Patriots with a great defensive line. And we recruited to try and get some great defensive linemen. And they play hard. They didn't get tired. They refused to get tired. And they kept coming. And I don't know if Garden City's seen that kind of pressure before. We're fortunate because the kids gave it their all."

Garden City actually out-gained Fort Scott 338 yards to 294 and had one more first down, 19-18. Smith passed for 157 yards on 18 of 31 passing while Dickey completed only eight of 23 passes for 108 yards.

Kenney caught eight passes for Garden City for 82 yards. Kinnie caught six for 88 yards for Fort Scott.

The Busters had two 100-yard rushers as Ryan Smith gained 120 on 16 carries and Beiberle had 111 on only seven totes.

Fort Scott will travel to Hutchinson Saturday for another Jayhawk Conference battle at Gowans Stadium. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.