DODGE CITY, Kan. - Hosting the No. 1 ranked team in all of the NJCAA, the No. 12-ranked Dodge City Communitiy College football team fell behind early and could never recover in a 36-7 loss to Garden City on homecoming night at Memorial Stadium in Dodge City on Saturday, Oct. 22. 

DC3 is now 6-3 on the season and 3-2 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Broncbusters remain perfect at 8-0 and claim the outright conference title.

In the first quarter, Dodge City would string an opening drive together to get in to Garden City territory and into the red zone, but would stall out as the Conquistadors could not convert on fourth down. The Broncbusters would then jump out quickly on a three-play, 84-yard drive that would take only 32 seconds with the big hit to the Conqs coming on an 82 yard pass and capped by a Tra Minter touchdown run. 

DC3 would then see their next drive end on the third-play when quarterback Caden Walters would be intercepted by Rashaun Croney and returned 38 yards for a touchdown to put the Conquistadors in a 14-0 hole midway through the first quarter. Dodge City would only get the ball into Broncbuster territory once more in the half, with another turnover on downs sending the Conq defense back out onto the field. Garden City would add another touchdown to go up 21-0 in the half with the Conquistadors fans having little to feel good about. 

Receiving the ball to start the second half, GCCC would need only six plays to drive 66 yards and score on a 12 yard touchdown run by Minter before Peyton Huslig would add a two-point conversion to go up 29-0. Defenses would take over for the rest of the third quarter as Dodge City would finally get on the board with a 17-play 90 yard drive that would end when AJ Walker would find the endzone from two yards out. After recovering an onsides kick, DC3 would reclaim possession but again see their drive stall out about midfield. Neither team would be able to do much throughout the rest of the game as Garden City would chew up clock to end the game. 

"We didn't make enough plays, and at the end of the day we didn't do that" said head coach Gary Thomas in a post-game interview. "We have to redirect our focus, as we have a chance to get second-place and hopefully attract a bowl game." "Going to a bowl-game three out of four years is something that Dodge City has never done before and we still have a good opportunity to do that."

Garden City outgained the Conquistadors 280-254 and held a 181-75 yard advantage on the ground. Third and fourth-down conversions really hurt Dodge City tonight, as DC3 was a dismal 5-of-20 on third down and only 1-of-5 on fourth down. 

Individually, Tyler Minor led the Conqs on the ground with 43 yards on 11 carries while Murphy had 35 yards on 14 rushes. Walters struggled through the air tonight, going only 14-43 for 179 yards and two interceptions while being sacked four times. Defensively, Gary Johnson had 9.5 total tackles and one sack to move up to No. 2 all-time on the career charts in sacks at DC3. Ovenson Cledanord had six tackles, and Marquise Blair had 5.5 total tackles. 

Dodge City will have their final regular-season home game next Saturday when they play host to Coffeyville Community College at 1 p.m. on October 29th. The Red Ravens -are currently ranked No. 17 in the country and were 47-6 winners over Iowa Central earlier today.