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No. 1 Busters get by 'Hound gridders
GARDEN CITY -- Fort Scott Community College's football team was hoping to play spoiler but No. 1-ranked Garden City scored 19 points in the second quarter without a response and went on to a 27-6 victory in Jayhawk Conference play at Broncbuster Stadium here Saturday.
The loss puts Fort Scott in last place in the eight-team conference for the second consecutive season at 1-6, 4-7 overall. The Greyhounds had not finished in last place in back-to-back years since 2004-05, which was in the midst of a school-record 24-game losing streak.
Garden City, which clinched the conference title three weeks ago, remains undefeated (7-0, 10-0). No. 2-ranked Arizona Western (11-0) defeated Scottsdale, Ariz., 41-9 later Saturday night to wrap up the Western States Football League crown. The NJCAA announced Wednesday that the teams will meet for the national championship in the El Toro Bowl at Yuma, Ariz., on December 3.
Garden City scored first when Taylor Thomas scored on an 18-yard run with 7:36 left in the first quarter. Ben Phillips ran in the 2-point conversion.
Fort Scott got on the board when Harry Trotter ran in from 12 yards out with 3:31 left in the first. The Greyhounds went for two but were unsuccessful.
Mike Hughes scored on a 17-yard run for Garden City with 10:19 left in the first half to make it 14-6. Buster quarterback Peyton Huslug found Harley Hazlett with 6:21 to go and Luke Herring's kick made it a 15-point lead.
Lotravious Minter scored on a one-yard run with 3:38 left to provide what held up as the final score of the game.
Huslig completed 12 of 24 passes for 141 yards for Garden City. His counterpart, Nathan Rourke, was just 12 of 33 for 154 yards and an interception. Rourke had seven 200-yard passing games this season, a school record which also ties Greg Cross (2006-07) for the school's career record, but was unable to break that barrier in his final two games.
Trotter led Fort Scott's rushers with 46 yards on 21 carries. Garden City held the 'Hounds to 94 yards on 36 carries, an average of 2.6 yards per rush. Minter rushed for 234 yards on 35 carries for the Broncbusters, who out gained the Greyhounds in total offense 444 yards to 247.
Dominic Cizauskas led the Greyhound defense with 22 tackles, seven of those solo. The conference's leading tackler (13.9 per game 153 total) averaged 23 tackles over the course of the final four games of the season.
NOTES -- Garden City ended up winning the conference title by three games after Dodge City, Highland, Independence and Butler all finished tied for second with 4-3 conference records. The last time a Jayhawk Conference team won the title by three games was in 1988 when Coffeyville was 6-0 and Garden City, Butler and Independence were all tied at 3-3.
The only other time a team won the conference by three games came in 1957 when Dodge City finished 8-0 and Arkansas City was second at 5-3. Fort Scott (8-0) had four more wins than Coffeyville (4-2-0) in 1935 but the margin in terms of games behind was three....
Despite finishing three games under .500, Fort Scott outscored its opponents this season, 321-276....
Head coach Curtis Horton coached his 58th game Saturday, tying Charles Erickson (1924-30) for second in school history. Only Jack Welch (1987-92) coached more games, 63. However, Welch was 36-27 as Fort Scott's coach while Erickson was 29-25-4. Horton is just 20-38. But Horton, Welch, Erickson and Warren Littrell (1931-36) are the only men who have coached at Fort Scott for six seasons or longer....
FORT SCOTT....... 6 0 0 0 -- 6
GARDEN CITY..... 8 19 0 0 -- 27
| Team stats | Fort Scott | Garden |
| First downs | 15 | 20 |
| Rushes-yards | 36-94 | 62-303 |
| Passing yards | 154 | 141 |
| Total offense | 248 | 444 |
| Passing | 12-33-1 | 12-24-1 |
| Punts-avg. | 9-36.8 | 8-34.9 |
| Fumbles-lost | 3-3 | 4-2 |
| Penalties-yards | 10-87 | 10-116 |
First quarter
GC -- Thomas 18 run (Phillips run), 7:36
FS -- Trotter 12 run (run failed), 3:31
GC -- Hughes 17 run (run failed), 10:19
GC -- Hazlett 10 pass from Huslig (Herring kick), 6:21
GC -- Minter 1 run (kick failed), 3:38
RUSHING: Fort Scott -- Trotter 21-46, Hankins 4-29, Rourke 11-19. Garden City -- Minter 35-234, Thomas 13-59, Hughes 2-32, Lawson 4-6, team 1-minus 2, Huslig 7-minus 26.
PASSING: Fort Scott -- Rourke 12-33-1-154. Garden City -- Huslig 12-24-1-141.
RECEIVING: Fort Scott -- Aldred 4-92, Love 3-48, Green 3-8, Daughtry 1-4, Trotter 1-2. Garden City -- Davis 3-57, Campbell 3-41, Phillips 2-20, Hazlett 2-15, Minter 1-9, Hughes 1-minus 1.
MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.