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'G.C.', defense have way with G.C.
At the start of this season, Fort Scott Community College's football team was looking for its first victory in three years.
Saturday night at Frary Field, the Greyhounds were staring a possible bowl bid in the eye.
No one can say for certain if Fort Scott assured itself of a bid, but a 34-7 victory over the nation's 10th-ranked team, Garden City, definitely makes the 'Hounds a strong candidate for an extra game in November.
With the win, Fort Scott finished third in the Jayhawk Conference regular-season standings with a record of 5-2 (6-3 overall), moving ahead of Garden City, which finished fourth at 4-3, 6-3.
"I'm just thrilled," Fort Scott rookie head coach Rion Rhoades said. "This has been a wonderful season and just a blessing. This team is something special and God continues to provide for us. I'm happy for the kids. They've paid the price. They've bought into everything we've asked them to do. It's nice to see them get a little payoff."
The last time Fort Scott beat a ranked team was Oct. 6, 2001. The victim was Garden City, which was ranked No. 1 at the time, by a 24-17 score at Frary Field.
The Greyhounds will go to Coffeyville, 6-1, 7-2, Sunday afternoon for a Region VI Playoff first-round game. Garden City faces regular-season champion Butler in the other first-round game at El Dorado. Both games kick off at 1:30 p.m.
Butler, despite a shocking 43-29 loss at seventh-place Highland Saturday, is the No. 1 seed at 6-1, 8-1 because it beat Coffeyville during the regular season.
The 'Hounds led 28-0 before the Broncbusters scored early in the fourth quarter on a four-yard run by tailback Jeff Blanchard. The scoring drive was set up by a 44-yard kickoff return by Dee Brown to the Fort Scott 38-yard line. It was the only time all night that Garden City started a drive beyond its own 38.
Blanchard was the conference's second-leading rusher coming into the game (115.4 yards per game) and the closest to having a 1,000-yard season. The Greyhounds held him to 72 yards on 20 carries. As a team, the Busters had only four yards rushing at halftime and 40 for the game on 29 carries.
The Broncbusters also had the conference's second-leading passer, Sean Setzer. But although he finished with 194 yards, he was picked off four times and sacked five times. Fort Scott sophomore defensive back Patrick Roberts had three interceptions, two of them in the first quarter.
"Their quarterback has a real strong arm," Rhoades noted. "Maybe tonight wasn't his best night but our guys up front deserve a lot of the credit for those interceptions. Those guys were getting some pressure on him and we were just able to be in position to make the interceptions."
Fort Scott quarterback Greg Cross had a much more efficient night. He completed 10 of 13 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns.
"We feel like when Greg Cross is on, we're going to be a tough football team to contend with," Rhoades said of the Georgia freshman. "I know that if I had one quarterback I would not want to play against in our conference, it'd would be No. 14 for the Greyhounds."
While defense was a big factor in the game, it was especially dominant in the first quarter. Scooter Rogers stopped Blanchard in the backfield when Garden decided to go for it on fourth-and-one at the Fort Scott 48 on the Broncbusters' first possession. Unfortunately, the Greyhounds' possession ended only three plays later on a fumble but Roberts got his first interception on the very next play.
Garden City got the ball back after a punt halfway through the quarter and possessed it for only three plays before Roberts caught a tipped ball for his second interception. The Greyhounds turned it over again two plays later on another fumble but the Busters were unable to turn it into points.
Fort Scott took the ball at its own 16 on a punt with 1:02 left in the first quarter. Jovani Franklin, the conference's leading rusher, gained 15 on the first play of the second quarter to his own 48 and a personal foul face mask penalty pushed the ball to Garden's 37.
Fort Scott's fullbacks played a role on the drive as Jon Dukes caught consecutive passes for 15 and 12 yards to get the ball to the two. Then Sean Bloesser powered through the line from two yards out for the first score with 12:31 to go in the second quarter. Jared Oshel kicked the extra point.
Garden City's next drive, hindered by a personal foul, was a three-and-out. Fort Scott took over on its own 33 and Franklin went up the middle for 22 on the first play.
It looked like the drive had stalled at the Garden 39 but punter Jacob Lawrence -- a quarterback when he plated for Fort Scott High -- ran 10 yards on a fake and got the first down at the 29. A pass interference penalty later got the ball down to the 13, where Cross rolled right and found tight end Sembe Ndebo in the end zone for the score. A bad snap on the extra point forced holder Kelly Zumbehl to try to run but he was unable to make it. It was 13-0 with 8:07 left in the half.
An unsportsman-like conduct penalty after the failed PAT allowed Oshel to kick off from midfield and Garden City took over on its own 19. The drive stalled at its own 34.
After an exchange of punts, the Busters got a couple of big passes from Setzer -- for 17 yards to Eldred King and 25 to Blanchard on consecutive plays -- as they advanced down to Fort Scott's six.
But Matt Glades sacked Setzer on a second-down play and Quentin Oliver sacked him on third down, pushing the ball back to the 20 for fourth down. Setzer tried to get the ball to Blanchard in the end zone but Rogers, who is the conference leader in passes defended, tipped the ball away.
The Greyhounds scored on the opening possession of the second half. Cross found Avery Kelly on the right side on a second-and-two play from Garden's 19. Kelly caught it at the 10, made a move to the left and scored easily with 12:08 to go. Cross scored the two-point conversion on a quarterback draw to make it 21-0.
Roberts got his third interception on the Busters' ensuing drive. He ran it down the far sideline for an apparent score but an illegal block called that back. The Greyhounds kept possession.
Later in the third, Cross saw a blitz coming and hit Anthony Riley with a quick pass to the left side. Riley slipped a tackle at the Garden City 40 and ran the rest of the way to complete a 64-yard scoring play with 1:18 to go. Oshel's PAT made it 28-0.
Blanchard's score followed at 14:09 of the fourth quarter. On the play before the score, the Busters had to blow two time outs -- one to figure out what they wanted to run on the fourth-and-three play and another to avoid delay of game when they broke the huddle after the first TO.
Garden City recovered a fumble later in the quarter. Setzer found Michael Choate for 12 yards to Fort Scott's 49 on the first play. He then hit tight end J.J. Ford for 14 on the second. But Kenny Hutcherson intercepted Setzer on the third play. His momentum was taking him out of bounds near the goal line but he alertly lateraled the ball behind him to Lucien Antoine who ran it to the Fort Scott 27.
The Greyhound offense took over there with 6:28 to go and had the luxury of using as much time as they wanted since Garden City was down to one time out. Franklin gained nine yards on the first two plays and Cross hit Ryan Westmoreland for 13 on third down. Two plays later, Cross rolled left and found Kelly over the middle for a 51-yard scoring play with 3:19 to go. Another errant snap resulted in a failed PAT but it was 34-7.
Oshel "pooched" the kickoff, which was fair-caught at the 28. Garden City got only to its own 37 before Setzer fired an incomplete pass on fourth-and-five from his own 37 with 1:49 to go.
Three plays in the "victory" formation -- the one where the quarterback kneels down -- ended the game.
Fort Scott's offense finished with 387 total yards -- exactly 100 yards over its season average -- with 158 coming on the ground. Franklin finished with 118 yards on 20 carries. Riley had three catches for 92 yards while Kelly had two for 70.
"Tonight, we had a nice mix," Rhoades said of his offense. "We were able to get the ball on the perimeter and throw it down the field on the sprint-outs and the boots. We were able to get the running backs loose up the middle a few times. The fullbacks did a nice job."
The defense held Garden City to 234 total yards, only a little bit over the average that has the Greyhounds on top of the Jayhawk Conference list. Oliver had two sacks, giving him seven on the season.
Garden City's rushing attack was held 96 yards under its season average.
NOTES -- The Region VI championship game will be played at Wichita State University's Cessna Stadium on Nov. 12. This will be the first time since the playoffs were first held in 1981 that the game has been scheduled for a neutral site. Kickoff that day will be at 1:30 p.m.
The move to a neutral site is part of a sponsorship agreement with AT&T that will also see the Region VI men's and women's basketball tournaments, men's and women's tennis tournaments, baseball tournament and softball tournament all move to Wichita (football, basketball and tennis) or continue to be held there (baseball and softball)….
Butler didn't lose the No. 1 seed in the playoffs despite its loss to Highland but will certainly lost the No. 1 national ranking it had just reacquired last week after Snow, Utah was upset by Eastern Arizona. This leaves No. 2 Blinn (Texas) and No. 11. Lackawanna. Pa. as the only undefeated teams in the country (unless they, too, also lost, which we have not heard as of this morning). Blinn is 8-0 while Lackawanna is 7-0.
The No. 3 team is Pearl River, Miss., followed by Mississippi Gulf Coast and Glendale, Ariz. All three are 7-1 while No. 6 Snow is 8-1….
Butler's loss was a sign that things are different in the Jayhawk Conference. The days when you could assume that Butler, Coffeyville and Garden City would only lose to each other appear to be over.
"I was shocked," Rhoades admitted when he head about Highland's shocker. "When coach Josh Gooch told me that, I didn't believe him. I thought he was pulling my leg, so I went in and got on the computer and, sure enough, saw it.
"It just goes to show you that anything can happen on any given Saturday. I think it's a little sad for coach (Troy) Morrell. If we don't have a chance to win (the national championship), I'd love for someone from our conference win it all. I think it's neat for coach (Keith) Majors and (Highland's) program. The conference is getting back to where anyone can win on any Saturday. I think that's good to see. I think people were tired of seeing the 65-0 blowouts that happened. That shows there's a lot more parity. I thought that might be the case this season."…
Can Fort Scott appear in the national poll next week? Well if a 4-3 team (Scottsdale, Ariz., No. 19) can be in it, there's got to be room for a 6-3 team from what's considered the toughest conference in the nation. The last time Fort Scott was ranked was the week after it beat Garden in 2001. The Greyhounds appeared at No. 13….