Broncbusters finish spring season with win over Butler

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

El Dorado, KS-Jordan Ford comes from a football family. His dad, Glenn played defensive back at Georgia, and his brother Christian was a wide receiver at Mississippi State. So, it was no surprise when the younger Ford took the nation by storm in 2021. And Saturday night's performance brought him that much closer to history.

The sophomore ran 31 times for 222 yards and two scores, his backfield mate Devion Hodges added 179 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 5 Garden City outdueled Butler 52-40 at BG Products Stadium. With his showing, Ford nudged in front of New Mexico Military's Anthony Grant for the NJCAA lead in rushing yards. If he holds on, he will become just the fourth Broncbuster in history to win the rushing title.  

"It feels good to close this way," Head Coach Tom Minnick said afterwards. "But truthfully, we should have won the game in 2019. We didn't finish that one. At least we finished tonight."

That game, which almost seems like a lifetime ago, eliminated Garden City from the National Championship game. And while there was nothing on the line Saturday, there was a sense all week that Minnick and his guys wanted to dish out a little payback.

Mission accomplished.

Right from the start, Garden City's offense, which struggled with inconsistency over the previous month, produced its best game of the season. On their opening drive, Mike Irwin navigated the Broncbusters eight plays, 78 yards, which was highlighted by the sophomore's 24-yard run that set the brown and gold up first-and-goal at the 4. Two plays later, the transfer from Oregon powered across the goal line, giving the road team a 7-0 advantage four minutes into the contest.

"Our running game was solid, especially in the second half," Minnick added. "I really hope this game shows Kansas kids what they can do for our program. I don't know what the great thing about going to Butler is. Garden City is just as good."

The Grizzlies, which finished with a losing record for the first time since 1997, answered back the first time they touched the ball. Tevin Petrie's 40-yard rumble to paydirt got Butler on the board, although the extra point was blocked.

"Our defense didn't practice well at all this week," Minnick stated. "And they struggled tonight."

Butler gashed Jerry Dominguez's vaunted unit for 478 total yards. But during a season where that side of the ball had done most of the heavy lifting, offensive coordinator Mike Orthmann, who was coaching in his final game, put together a masterful plan.

Ford extended the Broncbuster lead a few minutes later when he torched the Grizzlies' defense for a 40-yard touchdown run. Then, following a Butler punt, Joe Carol salvaged another scoring drive with a 30-yard field goal early in the second to make it 17-6.

But Tim Scaffner's group never mailed it in, and Kevontae McDonald's 53-yard touchdown run with 13 minutes to go in the half, made it a four-point contest.

"One thing I've learned is that you have to be ready to go in this league," Minnick explained. "Every week, you're going to face teams with pretty good defensive tackles, offensive lines and running games."

Garden City countered with the next 14 points, starting with Ford's 37-yard scoring dash that capped off a six-play, 67-yard drive that put the Broncbusters up 24-13 with 10:03 left in the second period. That was followed by Tyrese Gibson Battle's spectacular interception on Butler ensuing possession where the freshman batted Nick Davenport's line-drive pass up in the air before falling backwards with the ball in his lap. Less than a minute later, Hodges turned the turnover into a 43-yard rushing touchdown that made it 31-13.

"We are disappointed because we wanted to play for the National Championship," Minnick said. "We told the kids that the one team standing in their way was Hutch, and if we make a few more plays in that game, we could have won."

With the game appearing to get out of hand, Butler saved face late in the second when Davenport took advantage of a coverage bust and found a streaking Eddie Lewis for a 49-yard touchdown that closed the gap to 31-19 going into the locker room.

That setup a fireworks' show in the second half.

Hodges polished off a long 13-play, 86-yard drive that ate up almost eight minutes of the third quarter with a 27-yard scoring run to stretch the lead back to 19, 38-19. But Butler answered quickly, and McDonald's 16-yard sprint down the sideline, pulled the Grizzlies back to within 12.

The problem? Schaffner's bunch couldn't stop the Broncbuster offense on this night.

Irwin's five-yard touchdown pass on a perfect slant early in the final period put Garden City on top 52-33. And even after the Grizzlies retaliated with Davenport's 39-yard scoring toss to one-time TCU commit, Karter Johnson, the life had been sucked out of BG Products Stadium. Butler never scored again as Minnick's team, which held the ball for almost 43 minutes on Saturday, put a once proud program out of its misery by running out the clock. Ball game over. Pandemic season in the books.

"We don't have much time to relax now," Minnick said. "We have to get ready for the fall. And it starts right now."

Garden City finished the night with 480 rushing yards on 63 carries, averaging nearly eight yards per tote. Irwin was 10-of-13 for 112 yards and a touchdown, and Exzavieus Roberson led the way with four tackles. The Broncbusters amassed 30 first downs and ran 33 more plays (76-43) than Butler.

Meantime, Davenport was 8-of-20 for 195 yards, two touchdowns and an interception for Butler, which finished with its fewest wins since 1995 when they were 1-8. McDonald totaled 113 yards on six carries, and Lewis caught four balls for 100 yards and a touchdown.