Dodge City was as good as advertised. Maybe even better. The Demons used a brutal 503-yard offensive assault and coasted to a 51-7 victory in a homecoming spoiler against the Panthers on a chilly Friday evening at Memorial Stadium.

The loss drops the Panthers to 3-2 on the season and 1-2 in the WAC while the Demons bump their mark to 3-2 and 2-0.

Great Bend mustered 83 yards on the ground and combined 122 aerial yards for 205 yards of total offense. Jacob Murray recorded 19 carries for 67 yards and the Panthers’ only touchdown in the effort.

“This one is going to hurt for a while,” said coach Tony Crough. “We played a very good football team tonight and it showed.”

The Panthers were flagged seven times for the night and coughed up the ball four times repeating their turnover total two weeks ago at Garden City.

“It just boils down to a lack of mental toughness,” Crough said. “Obviously we’re going to get some penalties called against us like a hold or an effort penalty and we can live with those but others like false starts and even some personal fouls are just foolish and those are things that good teams just don’t do.”

The Demons pounced early, less than two minutes into the game as quarterback Caden Walters scampered from three yards away. Dayton McGroarty’s extra point kick cleared the uprights with Dodge City sporting a 7-0 lead.

The Panthers responded on the ensuing possession as Murray hauled in the mail on an 18-yard run. Freshman kicker Carlos Franco converted the PAT and tied the game at seven with 10:01 left in the first quarter.

It was all Dodge City from that point onward as Walters hit Tyler Trent on a 38-yard scoring strike. The point after kick was good with the Demons leading 14-7 at the 8:43 first period mark. Walters hit the ground on Dodge City’s next two touchdowns on seven and six yards trots. McGroarty was good on the first but missed the second extra point kick but the Demons held a comfortable 27-7 advantage to close out the first quarter of play.

Walters connected to McGroarty on a 23-yard touchdown pass late in the second period. Dodge tacked on a two-point conversion and spread the gap up 35-7.

Carlos Fernandez came on with one second remaining until the break and nailed a 20 yard field goal giving the Demons a 38-7 favor at intermission.

Walters found Trent again with 8:48 left in the third on a short seven yard touchdown throw. McGroarty bingoed on the extra point kick giving Dodge a 45-7 lead. Trent then scored from 86 yards away in the closing seconds of the third. The PAT kick by Fernandez sailed wide but the Demons were in control leading 51-7 which led the final margin.