GREAT BEND – At first, Garden City coach Brian Hill “had no idea” what occurred on the game’s final play Friday night at Great Bend. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, Great Bend senior quarterback Jacob Murray barreled in on the left side of line.
Then, he fumbled the ball and went to the ground. Great Bend senior running back Cal Marshall picked up the drop.
“They didn’t blow the whistle right away,” Hill said.
Hill moved his eyes to the official on the side of the play. The official waved his hands and signaled the Panthers were short of the goal line. By a matter of inches, Garden City won at Great Bend, 21-14, in an overtime thriller.
“It was just celebration after that,” Hill said.
Garden City, which missed an angled 20-yard field goal by senior Zeke Herrera at the end of regulation, never led until scoring first in overtime. Great Bend and Garden City exchanged the first four scores of the contest.
The Buffaloes, ranked No. 5 in Class 6A, moved to 8-0 and captured the Western Athletic Conference title for the first time since 2013 with a 4-0 league mark. Great Bend, No. 1 in Class 5A, dropped to 7-1, 3-1 in the regular season finale.
“Three feet stands between us and a championship,” Hill said. “The way that these kids played, they’ve just got a lot of guts.”
The officials, on the Great Bend side of the field, turned and walked off the field shortly after the play concluded. The sold-out Panther fan base briefly booed the close call, but quickly cheered the team as it walked to the sideline. It marked the first overtime game for Great Bend coach Erin Beck in his six-year career, first as Panther head coach. Garden City’s players had never had an overtime game.
“That was a heck of a ball game,” Beck said. “Obviously that one hurts to end the way it did, but couldn’t be prouder of our kids. Like I told them in the locker room, there is nothing that I can tell them to make it feel better, but just look them in the eye and said, ‘Remember this feeling, and let’s try not to have it again the rest of this year.’”
Garden City mobbed on the field, but standout junior defensive tackle DeMarcus Elliott knelt by himself near the 20-yard line, relishing the moment.
“Just adrenaline,” Elliott said. “I can’t feel nothing in my body. I am just happy to finish our regular season undefeated and we just need to keep rolling as Coach Hill says, ‘We’ve got to keep the train going, and if you don’t get down, you are going to get ran over.’ I just couldn’t explain how I felt – I just felt amazing.”
Elliott (1.5 tackles for loss) helped hold Great Bend’s offense to 31 points below its season average. Murray rushed 30 times for 105 yards and a score. He completed 14 of 22 passes for 181 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Hill said the defensive line did a “super job” up front. The line allowed Garden City to usually keep five Buffs in the box and allow more players to roam the sideline against the Panthers’ spread look.
“It was just all-around a great game, but give a lot of the credit to their defense,” Beck said. “They played a heck of a game. There’s some men on that side of the ball. Their front four occupies so well, give those linebackers a chance to run, and their DBs did a good job of keeping everything in front of them.”
In the first quarter, Murray scored from eight yards out for a 7-0 Panther lead. Garden City tied it in the second quarter on a 1-yard run from senior quarterback Jesse Nunez. On the final play of the first half, Great Bend missed a 30-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Carlos Franco, a play that Coach Hill believed provided momentum for the second half.
Senior fullback Peyton Hill had just five rushes for 40 yards in the first half. At the break, Peyton Hill pulled Nunez aside.
“This is our ball game,” Hill said. “It’s in our hands. Let’s go get it,’ and that’s what we did.”
In the second, he tallied 17 carries for 107 yards as Great Bend played without senior linebacker Payton Mauler (head) the majority of the game. Mauler is the Panthers’ all-time leading tackler.
“Our defense really played a heck of a game especially after losing our leader Payton Mauler there in the second half,” Beck said.
Hill has exceeded 100 rushing yards in all three games since he returned from a shoulder injury sustained against Wichita South. In the third quarter, Murray threw a 23-yard scoring pass, and Hill tied the score on a two-yard run. On regulation’s final drive, Hill rushed four times.
“That’s what he does,” coach Hill, Peyton’s father, said. “He is 226 pounds. When he carries it 20 times, he is a tough guy to tackle, especially with our offensive line just kind of wearing on them. I thought that’s something that we could do. I was hoping that it could take effect late in the game.”
With eight seconds left, Garden City gave Herrera a 20-yard field goal try from the left side that was a challenging angle. His line drive kick, his third attempt of the year, missed.
“We all make mistakes,” Elliott said. “We don’t have to penalize him for nothing. It’s a kick that probably none of us could have made.”
Before the overtime, coach Hill talked with his players. Great Bend won the toss and elected to play defense.
“Just because we missed the kick doesn’t mean we lose the game,” Hill said.
Offensively, Hill didn’t want to pass the ball. Nunez (19 carries, 93 rushing yards) carried it the first time, and then Hill followed with two rushes, including a four-yard score. Defensively, Garden City stopped Murray three straight times.
On fourth down, Peyton Hill was on the sideline. He was on a knee and couldn’t watch.
“Praying to the Lord,” he said. “It was dead silent for about three seconds after. Neither side was cheering, so I was pretty confused, and then the ref said no good, and our side erupted, and I just turned around and celebrated with my guys.”
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