LIBERAL — Two first-quarter turnovers by Great Bend High School translated into a 14-7 lead for the Liberal Redskins on Friday night.
Early deficit? No problem.
The Panthers exploded for 30 unanswered points and won going away, capturing a 37-20 victory in a penalty-filled game on the road. With its third straight win, Great Bend improved to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Western Athletic Conference, setting up a showdown with Hays at Memorial Stadium this coming Friday night at 7.
“More than anything, we’re really happy with the win,” Great Bend head coach Bo Black said. “We still feel like we’re capable of playing better than we did, but coming here, the whole purpose was to win the football game and be 5-1 going into next week.”
It will be the Class 5A District 6 opener against Hays (6-0, 3-0), along with the WAC finale, as the Panthers will be vying for a share of the conference championship.
Against mistake-plagued Liberal, the Panthers, who surged ahead 23-14 at halftime, torched the Redskins for 544 yards in total offense, including 458 on the ground. Running backs Josh Lopez and Jonathan Allende each scored two touchdowns, as Lopez had a game-high 109 yards in 13 carries and Allende had 15 carries for 104 yards.
Speedy Bryce Hofmeister added 81 yards in three carries, including a momentum-swaying 64-yard touchdown scamper, and running quarterback Bryce Beck, who shared the snaps with Matt Marshall, had 73 yards in 11 carries, effectively getting to the outside on option runs.
After Lopez scored his second touchdown of the first half, a 14-yard burst at the 11:19 mark in the second quarter, tying the game at 14, the Panthers would seize the lead and command for the remainder of the game after Hofmeister’s lengthy touchdown run, where he made a cut and broke into the clear.
“It was just a little outside run, where he cut back inside and when he gets going, he has some wheels for sure,” Black said of Hofmeister. “Offensively, we executed very well when we didn’t have a holding call or make mistakes, again, and we just have to eliminate that going into the last three games.”
Hofmeister made an interception from his defensive secondary position in the end zone at the outset of the fourth quarter, negating a Liberal red-zone opportunity. He also had a 46-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter negated because of a holding penalty, the Panthers’ only eyesore in the game as they were penalized 14 times for 130 yards.
Liberal (1-5, 0-4) was flagged nine times for 95 yards and its top player, Trenton Hammond, the WAC’s leading receiver, was a non-factor and ultimately was ejected for jaw-jacking.
“I’m not going to get into the way I think the opposing team plays on the field,” Black said. “There’s a lot of jawing out there and our kids have to keep their mouths shut. It ended up costing (Liberal) in the second half by running their mouth. No. 21 (Hammond) gets thrown out.
“I thought our defense played well all night against a high-powered offense. Fourteen points were a direct result of our turnovers. We didn’t hang onto the football in the first quarter and we coughed it up twice in our own territory. All in all, I thought, with a lot of penalties and not taking care of the ball, our kids had a good game and put us into position, right where we need to be going into (the Hays game).”
In the third quarter, Great Bend ate up the game clock with Lopez playing a starring role in its running game.
“They showed a lot of resolve to come back and we physically ran the football,” Black said of his team. “We had two drives over 90 yards and kept the ball out of their hands in the third quarter while they had the wind at their back. That was a big plan to run the football, and keep them off the field.”

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Western Athletic Conference

Friday

At Liberal

Great Bend 37, Liberal 20
                1      2     3     4        F
GBHS      7    16   14    0  —  37
Liberal  14     0     0     6  —  20

SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
Great Bend —  Josh Lopez 2 run (Mario Espino kick), 9:31
Liberal —  Britton Abbott 4 run (Cody Arellano kick), 6:41
Liberal — Christian Torres 4 run (Arellano kick), 3:27
Second Quarter
Great Bend —  Lopez 14 run (Espino kick), 11:19
Great Bend —  Bryce Hofmeister 64 run (Espino kick), 6:32
Great Bend — Safety (Liberal punt snap sailed out of end zone), 5:01
Third Quarter
Great Bend —  Jonathan Allende 1 run (Espino kick), 4:58
Great Bend —  Allende 10 run (Espino kick), 35.3
Fourth Quarter
Liberal —  Abbott 27 run (pass failed), 5:14

TEAM STATISTICS
                          GBHS    LIB
First Downs         26    17
Total Net Yards   544    268
Rushes-yards   55-458  26-90
Passing              86    178
Comp-Att-Int   8-12-0 17-36-2
Punts-Avg.       3-34.0  7-34.0
Fumbles-lost       4-3    0-0
Penalties-yds    14-130  9-95

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Great Bend, Lopez 13-109, Allende 15-104, Bryce Beck 11-73, Matt Marshall 5-22, Hofmeister 3-81, Tyler Uselton 5-32, Brock Ibarra 2-36, Shade Wondra 1-(minus-2); Liberal, Abbott 19-90, Christian Torres 3-6, Heronemus 3-(minus-6), Trenton Hammond 1-0, Miguel Beltran 1-0.
PASSING — Great Bend, Marshall 8-10-0 86, Beck 0-1-0 0, Wondra 0-1-0 0; Liberal, Abbott 17-36-2 178.
RECEIVING — Liberal, JJ Lewis 8-71, Hammond 4-28, Torres 2-45, Heronemus 2-17, Nolan Larkin 1-12, Chrystian Symons 1-5.

GBHS DEFENSIVE STATISTICS
Hunter Harrison 13 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss; Chad Touslee 12 tackles, 3 tackles for loss; Ethan Henderson 11 tackles; Marshall 7 tackles; Greg Burley 6 tackles; Chris Burley 5 tackles; Michael Haines 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, one sack, Hofmeister 7 tackles; Brock Ibarra INT.