GARDEN CITY — The Great Bend High School junior varsity football team, trailing 3-0 at halftime after Garden City kicked a 21-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, uncorked a second-half scoring explosion to knock out the Buffaloes for a 27-9 win on Monday night.
Great Bend (3-0) scored 27 unanswered second-half points, including 14 in the third quarter to lead 14-3 entering the fourth quarter.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Beck threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Zach Reynolds and Jonathan Allende had a 78-yard interception return for a score to make to 12-3 in the third quarter. Beck threw to Danny Herrman for the two-point conversion to make it 14-3.
Raydell Jones had a 22-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter and Gustavo Apadaca kicked the exta points for a 21-3 Panthers.
Beck had an 8-yard TD run in the the fourth quarter to hike the margin to 27-3.
Garden City scored on the final play of the game to make it 27-9.
Great Bend entertains Wichita Heights on Monday at Memorial Stadium in the Panthers’ home opener, starting at 6.
GB frosh beat Garden City 20-14
GARDEN CITY — Great Bend High School’s opportunistic freshman football team caused six Garden City turnovers and held on for a 20-14 victory over the Buffaloes on Monday afternoon.
The Panthers (2-0) raced to a 14-0 first-quarter lead after running back Trent Uselton busted out a 65-yard touchdown scamper, followed by quarterback Shade Wondra’s 3-yard TD run and Uselton’s conversion for a 14-0 edge.
After Garden City closed to 14-8 at halftime, there was no scoring in the third quarter before the Panthers’ Nick Gerdes caught a 20-yard scoring pass from Wondra at the nine-minute mark to increase the margin to 20-8.
Garden City closed to 20-14 after returning the ensuing kickoff to the Great Bend 10-yard line.
The Buffaloes had two other scoring opportunities snuffed out — once on a fumble recovery by Josh Crawford, caused by Uselton, and Gerdes’ late interception at the 5 and returned to the 25 to help seal Garden’s fate.
Great Bend (2-0) plays its home opener next Monday against Wichita Heights, starting at 4.