BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
GARDEN CITY — Defending Western Athletic Conference football champion Great Bend passed a major test with a hard-fought 28-21 victory over Garden City Friday.
The Panthers pieced together four scoring drives and a few crucial defensive stops to outlast the big-play Buffaloes who torched the Panthers for 273 yards passing.
Great Bend's offensive line answered the challenge by dominating the line of scrimmage.
All-stater Ohnmacht delivered the game's biggest offensive play with a crafty 9--yard reception off Cristian Alcala's block to ignite the Panthers' final three first downs.
Back-up tailback Alcala rode to the rescue with perfectly executed 11- and 19-yard runs for first downs to run out the final minutes.
All-WAC Kale Kern teamed with Spore and Josue Bustamante to pave the way for Great Bend's final third-down conversion, a point of emphasis for offensive wizard Erin Beck.
"We came out with a big win. When we needed it, Cal Schartz gained tough yards," Beck said. "Kale Kern carried a load and blocked his butt off. We ran behind Colby Spore and Josue (Bustamante). Christian Alcala ripped two huge runs. We made adjustments and did good things after halftime.
Great Bend (3-0, 1-0 WAC) won its 21st consecutive regular-season football game to drop Garden City to 2-1, 0-1 WAC.
The Panthers controlled the second half after Blake Suppes and Colby Spore stuffed Garden City quarterback Tatum Heavner on a 4th-and-1 at the Buffalo 30-yard line on the first drive of the second half.
The Buffaloes elected to run shotgun formation, always risky on short-yardage situations. Heavner faked the ball to tailback Jakobe Rathburn and was tackled short of the first down.
"Our defense made some big stops," Beck said. "Our defense made some huge plays."
Quarterback Maxson Smiley made the Buffaloes pay with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Alec Premer for a 21-14 lead on the 30-yard scoring drive.
The Panthers missed a chance to build a 2-touchdown lead. Suppes snared a 7-yard punt by Drew Strecker and returned it 39 yards to the Buffalo 23 yard-line. Gabriel Gurrola saved the Buffaloes with a touchdown-saving tackle that kept the score 21-14.
Premer deflected a potential lengthy Buffalo pass away and the Panthers roared 79 yards keyed by Premer's 25-yard reception and clutch runs by Cal Schartz.
Receivers Cooper Ohnmacht and Premer blocked perfectly near the goal-line to free Cal Schartz on a 13-yard touchdown run for a 28-14 lead.
"Those were huge blocks by Cooper Ohnmacht and Alec Premer to get Cal in the end zone," Beck said.
Buffalo quarterback Heavner passed for 273 yards and completed a 65-scoring strike to Carr to draw the Buffaloes within 28-21.
Kale Kern started the scoring on a 5-yard touchdown reception. Buffalo Drew Strecker answered with a 40-yard touchdown reception. Schartz started a 109-yard night with a perfectly executed 21-yard scoring dash keyed by Kale Kern's crushing block.
Rathburn tied the score 14-14 on a 5-yard touchdown.
"We had some uncharacteristic (offensive) mistakes," Beck said. "Garden City created issues with us running the ball. We haven't put this thing together. We need to get back to work and learn from this."
Great Bend (3-0) 7 7 7 7 — 28
Garden City (2-1) 7 7 0 7 —21
GB—Kern 5 pass from Smiley (Cruz kick); GC—Strecker 40 pass from Heavner (Sanchez Tena kick); GB—Schartz 21 run (Cruz kick); GC—Rathburn 5 run (Sanchez Tena kick); GB—Premer 12 pass from Smiley (Cruz kick); GB—Schartz 13 run (Cruz kick; GC—Carr 65 pass from Heavner (Sanchez Tena kick);
RUSHING—GB—38-183; Schartz 24-109, Smiley 7-37; Alcala 2-30, Ohnmacht 3-12; team 2-(-5); GC—23-98; Rathbun 10-59; Valembrun 8-29; Heavner 5-10
PASSING—GB—Smiley 18-32-0, 190; GC—Heavner 15-21-0, 273
RECEIVING—GB—Premer 4-73; Ohnmacht 7-64; Kern 3-21; Jaxon Wondra 220; Schartz 2-12; GC—Carr 5-137; Strecker 5-72; Hemmert 2-38; Serrano 2-25; Rahburn 1-1
